Biography
Jehnny Beth defies expectations whether she composes tracks, steps onto a screen, or puts words on a page, confronting established norms along with her listeners and her own assumptions. Recognition of her resolve to test limits spread after she joined Savages, whose Silence Yourself in 2013 and Adore Life in 2016 injected raw, unapologetic feminine force into post-punk and the broader U.K. rock environment of the 2010s. Once the group paused, her range expanded further. The 2020 solo debut To Love Is to Live fused jazz, industrial textures, and torch-song elements into its intense, sexually candid framework, while her film roles, published writing, and joint efforts such as the 2021 release Utopian Ashes with Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie confirmed her ability to remain arresting in any chosen form.
Born Camille Berthomier in Poitiers, Vienne, France, she grew up with theater-director parents who nurtured her imaginative impulses. Voice and piano training began at eight, and by ten she had already taken the stage in a production of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. Yet her extended family’s Catholic, conventional outlook left her feeling constrained. After completing dramatic-arts studies at the Conservatoire de Poitiers, she relocated to London in 2006 to focus on music. There she encountered Johnny Hostile, also known as Nicolas Congé, who became her enduring personal and artistic collaborator. Under the name John & Jehn they issued the 2008 album John & Jehn and the 2010 follow-up Time for the Devil before concluding the project in 2011. That same year Beth and Hostile established the Pop Noire label to support their wider creative ventures.
Savages formed late in 2011 when Beth united with guitarist Gemma Thompson, a prior John & Jehn participant, bassist Ayse Hassan, and drummer Fay Milton. Fronted by Beth’s forceful delivery, the quartet’s charged post-punk quickly drew praise: the BBC Sound of 2013 shortlist included them at the close of 2012, and their debut Silence Yourself, issued in May 2013, earned a Mercury Prize nomination.
Outside Savages, 2015 brought several independent projects. In March she appeared at the David Bowie Is … exhibition opening at the Philharmonie de Paris; July found her alongside Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie for Suicide’s concert at London’s Barbican; and November saw her and the Strokes’ Julian Casablancas release a cover of Danish punk outfit Sort Sol’s 1983 track with Lydia Lunch, “Boy-Girl.” Savages resurfaced in January 2016 with Adore Life, which likewise received a Mercury Prize nomination. While supporting the record on tour, Beth reinforced her solo identity by opening PJ Harvey’s June 2016 Eden Project show in Cornwall, England, sharing a duet of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra’s “Some Velvet Morning” with Gillespie at a Primal Scream performance, and guesting on Trentemøller’s album Fixion.
Savages entered hiatus at the end of 2016. Beth used the interval to refresh her approach, joining friend Romy Madley Croft’s group the xx for shows and contributing to Gorillaz and Noel Gallagher’s “We Got the Power” on the 2017 album Humanz. Returning to France, she settled in Paris and acquired a studio with Hostile. Acting resumed as well—she had appeared in earlier small French films—and earned a César nomination for her role in Catherine Corsini’s 2018 drama An Impossible Love. She and Hostile next supplied the score for the Chelsea Manning documentary XY Chelsea, released on Pop Noire in June 2019.
Flood, Atticus Ross, and Hostile produced her first solo album, with additional contributions from Madley Croft, Idles’ Joe Talbot, and actor Cillian Murphy. Released in June 2020, the wide-ranging To Love Is to Live traversed jazz and industrial alongside post-punk. That September brought the erotic-story collection Crimes Against Love Memories; later the same year she appeared in Kaamelott – Premier Volet, director Alexandre Astier’s cinematic continuation of his long-running King Arthur television series. June 2021’s Utopian Ashes paired her once more with Gillespie for a sequence of songs depicting the dissolution of an imagined marriage. Drawing on the country-soul duets of George Jones and Tammy Wynette as well as Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, the record also featured Hostile and Primal Scream members.
Born Camille Berthomier in Poitiers, Vienne, France, she grew up with theater-director parents who nurtured her imaginative impulses. Voice and piano training began at eight, and by ten she had already taken the stage in a production of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. Yet her extended family’s Catholic, conventional outlook left her feeling constrained. After completing dramatic-arts studies at the Conservatoire de Poitiers, she relocated to London in 2006 to focus on music. There she encountered Johnny Hostile, also known as Nicolas Congé, who became her enduring personal and artistic collaborator. Under the name John & Jehn they issued the 2008 album John & Jehn and the 2010 follow-up Time for the Devil before concluding the project in 2011. That same year Beth and Hostile established the Pop Noire label to support their wider creative ventures.
Savages formed late in 2011 when Beth united with guitarist Gemma Thompson, a prior John & Jehn participant, bassist Ayse Hassan, and drummer Fay Milton. Fronted by Beth’s forceful delivery, the quartet’s charged post-punk quickly drew praise: the BBC Sound of 2013 shortlist included them at the close of 2012, and their debut Silence Yourself, issued in May 2013, earned a Mercury Prize nomination.
Outside Savages, 2015 brought several independent projects. In March she appeared at the David Bowie Is … exhibition opening at the Philharmonie de Paris; July found her alongside Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie for Suicide’s concert at London’s Barbican; and November saw her and the Strokes’ Julian Casablancas release a cover of Danish punk outfit Sort Sol’s 1983 track with Lydia Lunch, “Boy-Girl.” Savages resurfaced in January 2016 with Adore Life, which likewise received a Mercury Prize nomination. While supporting the record on tour, Beth reinforced her solo identity by opening PJ Harvey’s June 2016 Eden Project show in Cornwall, England, sharing a duet of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra’s “Some Velvet Morning” with Gillespie at a Primal Scream performance, and guesting on Trentemøller’s album Fixion.
Savages entered hiatus at the end of 2016. Beth used the interval to refresh her approach, joining friend Romy Madley Croft’s group the xx for shows and contributing to Gorillaz and Noel Gallagher’s “We Got the Power” on the 2017 album Humanz. Returning to France, she settled in Paris and acquired a studio with Hostile. Acting resumed as well—she had appeared in earlier small French films—and earned a César nomination for her role in Catherine Corsini’s 2018 drama An Impossible Love. She and Hostile next supplied the score for the Chelsea Manning documentary XY Chelsea, released on Pop Noire in June 2019.
Flood, Atticus Ross, and Hostile produced her first solo album, with additional contributions from Madley Croft, Idles’ Joe Talbot, and actor Cillian Murphy. Released in June 2020, the wide-ranging To Love Is to Live traversed jazz and industrial alongside post-punk. That September brought the erotic-story collection Crimes Against Love Memories; later the same year she appeared in Kaamelott – Premier Volet, director Alexandre Astier’s cinematic continuation of his long-running King Arthur television series. June 2021’s Utopian Ashes paired her once more with Gillespie for a sequence of songs depicting the dissolution of an imagined marriage. Drawing on the country-soul duets of George Jones and Tammy Wynette as well as Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, the record also featured Hostile and Primal Scream members.
Albums
Live in London, Rough Trade East
2025
You Heartbreaker, You
2025
High Resolution Sadness
2025
No Good For People
2025
Xy Chelsea (Original Soundtrack)
2019
Singles
