Sarah Whatmore

Sarah Whatmore stood out as one of five entrants from the debut season of ITV's Pop Idol who secured a Top Ten single, yet she courted the prospect of vanishing from view by postponing her first full-length release another six years. Born in Salford in 1981, the trained dancer completed a college course in performing arts and then juggled three separate jobs to fund repeated trips to London tryouts.

In 2001 she joined the television talent show Pop Idol, ultimately won by Will Young, and progressed into the opening round of live heats. Though she missed the final ten, her showing impressed judge Simon Cowell enough for him to propose to her and persuaded producer Simon Fuller to place her on the roster of his 19 Management company.

During 2002 she obtained a contract with RCA Records, issued her opening single “When I Lost You” at number six, and co-wrote fellow Pop Idol contestant Zoe Birkett’s debut track “Treat Me Like a Lady.” The next year the follow-up “Automatic” reached only number eleven and therefore fell outside the Top Ten, resulting in the shelving of her intended album Living Proof.

She declined an invitation to serve as a backing singer for Kylie Minogue so she could focus on her own career and spent the next five years sharpening her songwriting. Bolstered by manager Fuller and motivated by a troubled relationship, she produced as many as two hundred songs alongside collaborators that included Greg Fitzgerald and Peter John Vettese.

In 2008 the single “Smile,” her first release in five years and one that drew a sample from Hall & Oates’ “Sarah’s Smile,” appeared on 19 Recordings, with the album Time to Think scheduled for early 2009.