Leslie Mills

Leslie Mills launched her career in music as a singer and songwriter fronting the rootsy pop outfit To the Moon Alice, a short-lived act that surfaced briefly amid the mid-'90s HORDE festival and granola alternative circuit. The group issued a promising 1997 EP on A&M before internal shifts at the label level led to its dissolution. Mills pressed on by pursuing a solo contract, ultimately aligning with CAA, joining the roster at Atlantic, and locking in a publishing agreement through Paul McCartney's MPL Tunes, Inc. This trajectory unfolded for an artist who had first connected with her eventual bandmates while taking breaks from seasonal work at a national park. She relocated to Nashville in 2002 and began shaping her debut album alongside Australian producer and co-writer Chris Pelcer. The project wound through multiple recording locations, including Nashville, New York, London, and L.A., before surfacing in September 2003 as Different for Girls, a rich and energetic set that fused Sophie B. Hawkins soul with propulsive, widely appealing adult alternative textures.