Camille O'Sullivan | |
|---|---|
| Born | London, England |
| Origin | Cork, Ireland |
| Genres | Alternative rock, baroque pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, musician, actress |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano, keyboards |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Labels | Little Cat Records [1] |
| Website | camilleosullivan |
Camille O'Sullivan is an Irish singer, musician, and actress. O'Sullivan is known for her unique, dramatic musical style and covers of artists such as Radiohead, Tom Waits, and David Bowie. [2] [3] As an actress, O'Sullivan has appeared in Mrs Henderson Presents , Rebellion , and Pick Ups. [4]
O'Sullivan was born in London, to Denis O'Sullivan, an Irish racing driver and world champion sailor, and Marie-José, a French artist. [5] She was raised in the town of Passage West, County Cork. [5] After finishing secondary school, O'Sullivan studied Fine Art at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. [6] She dropped out of her course after a year because she felt "if I study any more that might kill my love for it." [5] On her parents' advice, she enrolled in University College Dublin [6] and studied architecture for four years. Whilst in UCD, she became known as "the singing architect" as she performed in all available university productions [5] and was a member of Dramsoc. [7]
O'Sullivan took a year off from her studies[ citation needed ] and moved to Berlin, Germany, where she worked at an architect's office. During her time in Berlin, she regularly attended local cabaret clubs [5] and began listening to the narrative music of Hanns Eisler, Kurt Weill and Friedrich Hollaender. Upon returning to Ireland, she met Agnes Bernelle, a mentor who encouraged her to sing, saying "to do this right, you have to be a better actress than a singer, it's all about the story." [5] She graduated from University College Dublin with first class honours [8] and the highest marks at the university in a decade. [9] O'Sullivan then continued to work as an architect, winning an Architectural Association of Ireland award in the process, [10] [11] [12] while continuing to perform in local clubs at night.
In 1999, O'Sullivan was involved in a near-fatal car crash, in which she suffered a head fracture, [5] her pelvis was fractured in six places, her hips displaced and the tendons in her hand were shredded. [6] It was months before she could walk again, and she was hospitalised for a year; she still has a metal plate in her pelvis. [5] The accident encouraged her to follow her dream of singing and she performed her first show after the accident while still on crutches. [5]
After being spotted by Ewen Bremner performing La Clique in The Famous Spiegeltent, O'Sullivan appeared as the vaudeville star Jane in the film Mrs Henderson Presents , directed by Stephen Frears, opposite Dame Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins. [13] [14] She and Will Young are also on the soundtrack to the movie.
O'Sullivan has stated:
I feel it’s necessary to not just do things to please ... I sometimes worried about that in the past. I thought, 'If I don’t want to alienate people, I shouldn’t perform difficult provocative dark songs'. But I would have given up if I’d stayed doing Dietrich and Piaf in a studied way, that cafe-cabaret version, where you’re making it easy instead of pushing yourself. [7]
In 1994, she performed in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at University College, Dublin. [7]
O'Sullivan was in a relationship with The Waterboys' lead singer Mike Scott, [15] [16] with whom she has a daughter, Leila Élodie born in 2013. [17] [18] Since 2014 and as of January 2023 [update] she is in a relationship with actor Aidan Gillen. [19] [20]
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