Baby Blue (rapper)
Baby Blue is an English rapper and singer from London, England. She is known for her work with singer Estelle and collaborations with John Legend, Madness, Sway, Shystie, Ms. Dynamite and Lady Sovereign. Baby Blue has a sound that fuses hip hop with grime, R&B and soul.
Baby Blue | |
---|---|
Birth name | Rachel Prager |
Origin | London, England |
Genres | UK hip hop, electronica, R&B, soul |
Occupation(s) | Rapper, vocalist |
Years active | 2004–present |
Labels | 3 Beat Records, Universal |
Associated acts | Estelle John Legend Sway Shystie Ms. Dynamite Lady Sovereign Madness Idris Elba Kardinal Offishall Lisa Maffia Matrix & Futurebound |
Website | iambabyblue |
Biography
Baby Blue started rapping while at school and eventually recorded a track called 'I Woulda', which was inspired by her cousin's gang-related death in the US. The track received heavy rotation and was the start of Baby Blue's career as a recording artist. When she was 19 she sent her music to UK artist Estelle, who immediately invited Baby Blue to New York City to record the song 'Hey Girl' featuring John Legend, as well as 'Don't Talk', another track for Estelle's début album The 18th Day, which was certified gold in the UK and she was also featured rapping in the video for the hit top 20 track 1980.
Later that year, Blue released the mixtape 'Out of the Blue Vol I' (with Volume II released two years later) which featured Estelle, members of So Solid Crew, Shystie, Sway, and Akala. Her first solo music video was for the single 'Sometimes,' which was released to push Vol II of the mixtape. This led Mobo Magazine to dub her "The Uncrowned Queen of the UK" and MTV to list her as "one of the hottest up 'n' coming stars".
Baby Blue featured on British legends Madness' comeback single Sorry in 2007, which went to 23 in the UK pop chart and was on the soundtrack for FIFA 08. She recently toured with Estelle for four months, travelling around the US and Europe. Baby Blue has also worked with Ms. Dynamite, Kardinal Offishall, and Idris Elba.
In 2010 in an interview with thekoalition.com Baby Blue stated that she is working on an EP to be released in March 2010 and an album to be released later on in the same year. On 17 March Baby Blue released a digital mixtape entitled Firefly. It was revealed that the title of her latest album would be called No Smoke Without Fire.
On 20 July 2012 Baby Blue announced via Twitter that she has been signed by 3 Beat/Universal.
On 26 July 2013 Baby Blue announced she had spent time in the recording studio with So Solid Crew singer Lisa Maffia, with each artist both contributing to forthcoming albums.
Discography
Mixtapes
- 2005: Out of the Blue Vol. I
- 2007: Out of the Blue Vol. II
- 2010: Firefly
As lead artist
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [1] | |||||||||||||||||
"Target"[2] | 2012 | — | No Smoke Without Fire | ||||||||||||||
"Bump" | 2013 | 83 | |||||||||||||||
"—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||||||
Guest Appearances
(With Estelle)
- "Don't Talk", and "Hey Girl" (featuring John Legend) on "The 18th Day" (2004)
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [3] | UK Dance [4] | SCO [5] | |||
"Magnetic Eyes" (Matrix & Futurebound featuring Baby Blue) | 2012 | 24 | 5 | 29 | TBA |
References
- Peak positions in the UK:
- For "Bump": "CHART: CLUK Update 24.08.2013 (wk33)". Zobbel.de. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
- "iTunes - Music - Target (Remixes) - EP by Baby Blue". Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
- Peak positions for the featured singles in the UK:
- For "Magnetic Eyes": "Chart Archive > February 9, 2013". Official Charts Company. 9 February 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
- Peak positions for Dance singles in the UK:
- For "Magnetic Eyes": "Chart Archive > February 9, 2013". Official Charts Company. 9 February 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
- Peak positions for the featured singles in Scotland:
- For "Magnetic Eyes": "Chart Archive > February 9, 2013". Official Charts Company. 9 February 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2013.