Gabrielle

Gabrielle's career got off to an extraordinary start in 1993 when she broke the record for the highest chart debut by any act with the single Dreams – entering at Number 2 before rising to Number 1, where it stayed for three weeks.

A 23-year-old club singer from Hackney, London, she was the archetypal outsider: she didn't possess the sort of belting voice you'd expect of an R&B vocalist. "There were so many other girls with better voices and a hell of a lot skinnier than me that I thought I had no chance," she has said. She was wrong.

Launching her career wearing a distinctive eye patch and armed with a voice entirely her own, Gabrielle proved that difference could be a superpower. Her instinct for honest, emotionally direct songwriting – and a talent for connecting with audiences on a deeply personal level – would go on to define one of the most enduring careers in British music.

In an industry where longevity is rare, the hits have been remarkable: Give Me A Little More Time, If You Ever, When A Woman, Sunshine and Out Of Reach, which she wrote for the Bridget Jones's Diary soundtrack. Her studio albums – Find Your Way, Gabrielle and the chart-topping Rise – are multi-platinum landmarks of 1990s and early 2000s British soul, and her greatest hits collection Dreams Can Come True remains a staple of the genre.

More than three decades on, Gabrielle shows no sign of slowing down. Her 2024 album A Place In Your Heart demonstrated that her gift for emotional songwriting is as sharp as ever, and her 2025 headline arena tour – which included a sold-out night at London's O2 – confirmed her status as one of the UK's most beloved live performers. She continues to captivate audiences across generations, her catalogue as resonant today as the moment Dreams first entered the charts.

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