Ella Henderson

An English vocalist and composer renowned for her commanding, sultry timbre, Ella Henderson blends soul influences into her buoyant electro-pop creations. Launching her professional path, she converted a sixth-place result on The X Factor during 2012 into a U.K. number-one debut full-length, Chapter One, which appeared in 2014 and featured the chart-topping single "Ghost." Establishing herself as a fixture on dance-oriented rankings, she built on that first effort through successive team-ups with prominent figures such as Kygo, Sam Feldt, and Leona Lewis. In 2022 Henderson returned to the U.K. album chart’s upper tier with the introspective Everything I Didn't Say, marking her initial full-length project in eight years, and followed it with further U.K. Top Ten successes including the 2023 Switch Disco collaboration "React" plus 2024’s Rudimental-assisted "Alibi."

Born in the Lincolnshire village of Tetney in 1996, Henderson cultivated an early passion for music, mastering piano performance on her own before turning ten. She earned admission to the distinguished Tring Park School for the Performing Arts on scholarship and remained a boarder until age 16. Shortly after departing the institution she tried out for The X Factor, presenting her original composition "Missed." Selected for the program’s ninth season in 2012, she quickly became a leading contender yet ultimately finished behind James Arthur via public vote; her elimination ranked among the competition’s most surprising outcomes then and prompted numerous supportive celebrity posts online. Simon Cowell, however, retained faith in her talent, placing her on his Syco imprint, after which she devoted a year to crafting and tracking her introductory album alongside contributors including Babyface, Salaam Remi, and Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, the last of whom co-authored her inaugural single, the rhythm-driven, retro-soul "Ghost." That track opened at number one in both the U.K. and Ireland while also registering on international lists, among them the U.S. Hot 100 at position 21. Her follow-up single "Glow," co-created and produced by Steve Mac, adopted a more synthesized texture and again reached the U.K. Top Ten; Chapter One itself mirrored that performance, topping the British chart upon its October 2014 release and attaining number 11 stateside.

After her opening success Henderson grew into a sought-after voice within electronic dance music circles. She registered multiple Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs placements, among them Kygo’s 2015 U.S. dance hit "Here for You," which simultaneously entered the U.K. singles chart’s upper reaches. Around the same period she achieved a U.K. Top Five entry with Sigma on the duet "Glitterball." Late in 2016 she completed an album under Max Martin that ultimately went unreleased, though she still opened for James Arthur on the 2017 Back from the Edge tour. That June she joined Leona Lewis, Liam Payne, and additional artists for a charity rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s "Bridge over Troubled Water," which ascended to number one on the U.K. singles chart. Subsequent features encompassed Sigala’s U.S. Top 30 dance single "We Got Love" and the 2019 Jax Jones partnership "This Is Real," which peaked at number nine domestically while also charting on the American dance/electronic tally. November of that year brought her first independent material in four years, the Asylum/Atlantic EP Glorious.

Henderson continued her run of dance-chart appearances in 2020 with Sam Feldt’s Top 30 hit "Hold Me Close," then issued the solo single "Take Care of You" that June, co-written with Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter, and Noel Zancanella. She further co-authored Nathan Dawe’s U.K. Top Three track "Lighter" during the same year. In 2021 the Tom Grennan duet "Let's Go Home Together" delivered another personal Top Ten placement. After extensive development involving more than a dozen producers, her sophomore album-length effort, Everything I Didn't Say, surfaced on Asylum in March 2022; it entered the U.K. chart at number eight and yielded the Top Five single "Crazy What Love Can Do," shared with David Guetta and Becky Hill.

Additional standalone collaborations followed throughout the ensuing year, among them tracks with Cian Ducrot, M-22, and Regard. The 2023 Switch Disco joint "React" rose to number four in both the U.K. and Ireland, while later that year "0800 Heaven," uniting her with Nathan Dawe and Joel Corry, reached number nine domestically. Henderson opened 2024 with the further Top Ten entry "Alibi" featuring Rudimental; an April remix of the song introduced Natasha Bedingfield.