Billie Piper

Born on September 22, 1982, in Swindon, Billie Piper shot to national prominence across England at the age of fifteen when her first single, “Because We Want To,” debuted atop the British charts in 1998. She had started performing in talent competitions while still very young and eventually earned a place at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, an institution that later counted Spice Girls member Emma Bunton and three All Saints vocalists among its alumni. Early screen work included an uncredited appearance in the film Evita, after which she secured a modeling assignment for an advertising campaign promoting the teen-focused pop magazine Smash Hits. An A&R executive at Virgin Records noticed the confident persona she displayed in those advertisements and offered her a recording contract. A concentrated schedule of television appearances built anticipation for “Because We Want To,” generating the visibility that allowed the track to enter at number one. In doing so, Piper became the first British female solo artist to achieve that chart placement, and she was also the youngest woman to reach the summit since Helen Shapiro’s 1961 success. Subsequent releases “Girlfriend” and “She Wants You” extended her run of hits. Her debut album, Honey to the B—sharing its title with her fourth British single—arrived in 1999; the project reached American stores the following May with a revised track sequence, and “She Wants You” served as her initial U.S. single.