bshp | |
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Birth name | Gabriella Bishop |
Born | Kent, England |
Occupations |
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Labels | Island Records |
Gabriella Bishop, professionally known as bshp (pronounced 'bishop'), is an English musician from Kent. She featured on Nathan Dawe and Bru-C's "Oh Baby" featuring Issey Cross, which peaked at No. 35 on the UK Singles Chart. She has performed at Loud LDN events.
Gabriella Bishop [1] grew up in a large family [2] in Kent. [3] She attended weekly dance lessons while at school, and started writing songs while working as a university timetabler. [2] Her early work was released under the name Gabriella Vixen, a name given to her by a friend. [4] As Vixen, she released "Keep Your Love On Me" (with Freedo) on September 22, 2017; [5] she had originally come to Freedo's attention after demonstrating a track intended for Rita Ora.[ citation needed ] She then released "Golden" on February 26, 2018, [6] a love song about self-worth, [7] and on April 20, 2018, she released "Maybe", [6] which described relationship problems. [8] On September 20, 2018, she released "Old Mistake", [6] a warning against reuniting with ex-partners, [9] and on February 14, 2019, she released "Fool", [6] a song about showing strength after a breakup. [10] On March 20, 2019, she featured on the album track "Wait for You" from Talos' EP "Iridescent" featuring Coops, [11] and on May 3, 2019, she released "Wave" (with Jay Wilcox and MAFRO). [12]
Bishop then signed to Island Records and changed her stage name to bshp, as she wanted a fresh start. [2] She released "bshp" on January 17, 2020, which contained covers of "Passionfruit" by Drake and "Kissing You" by Des'ree. [13] The latter was one of seven covers of songs she loved and had always wanted to cover. [4] It appeared on the January 30, 2020, broadcast [14] of Love Island , playing during a kiss between contestants Nas Majeed and Demi Jones; [2] as of February 2022, the song has been streamed more than 3 million times on Spotify. [15] "Passionfruit" would later feature on the August 4, 2021, broadcast of the following series. [14]
On January 22, 2021, she released "Never Mind", [13] a song about a guilty pleasure romance, on Island; [4] an acoustic version would also be used on Love Island on July 10, 2022. [14] On March 19, 2021, she released "Solid Gold", a collaboration with Disciples, and on May 7, 2021, she released Every Song, a collaboration with Duvall [13] from Disciples. In 2021, she left Island Records, [3] and on December 9, 2021, she released a solo single, "STFU", [13] a song about reclaiming power after a bad relationship. [16]
On March 11, 2022, Bishop and numerous other musicians [a] all featured on I Know A Woman's "I Know A Woman", [17] a charity release designed to raise money for the MusiCares Foundation. [18] On February 3, 2023, she and Issey Cross were featured on Nathan Dawe and Bru-C's "Oh Baby", which charted at No. 35 on the UK Singles Chart, [19] and on February 21, 2023, it was used on the ninth series of Love Island . [20] In March 2023, she performed at Colours in Hoxton as part of a Loud LDN event, [21] and on July 7, 2023, she released "Sweet". [13]
Bishop told Purple Melon in October 2018 that her influences were Chris Brown, Mariah Carey, Ariana Grande, Whitney Houston, and Stevie Wonder, as well as "[a]nything soul-influenced, [and] old-school R&B". [9]