http://bethorton.astralwerks.com/

"It's interesting how some people pick up a gun, and some people don't. Some people write a song or draw a picture instead. I don't know what the defining moment is in people's lives to make one want to pick up a weapon and one want to write a melody, but there seems to be something going on that's like that. Maybe something happens to us, some defining moment happens that makes people do one or the other. Who knows how we make these choices" (Rolling Stone).

"Gotta light?" That was Beth Orton's defining moment. That's how she got her start ... not singing in coffee houses, not washing dishes and not waitressing. Jealous? Shouldn't be … she was way overdue for a bit of luck.

She describes her life as a "fucking minefield." Her father died of a sudden heart attack when she was 11. Growing up she was constantly teased and tormented. She dropped out of school at 13 and took off to the nightclubs. When Orton was 14, her family moved to London for a fresh start. Five years later, a week after Christmas Eve, her mother died of breast cancer. Just when she thought it couldn't get any worse she was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel disorder.

"Oh god, that's so boring. Honestly, I haven't suffered any more than anyone else. People suffer all the fucking time. You turn on the telly, you see genuine suffering. More than any suffering I've ever known. D'ya know wha' I mean? That's all I've got to say on that" (Rolling Stone). Beth Orton is a woman who will cry but not ask for a Kleenex. She was put into so many detrimental situations most people will never encounter in their lifetime. She had two choices … endure or expire. As she watched her life slowly unravel year after year she managed to grab onto one last thread, music ... the element that expended her emotions into powerful songs.

Discovering her niche in music happened rather simply. Orton was just hanging out at a club one night and bummed a light from William Orbit of all people. There's probably no better cigarette in the world than a cigarette lit by William Orbit. Next thing ya know the acclaimed electronica producer asked her into his studio. Under the name Spill she recorded her first project with Orbit, a cover of John Martyn's Don't Wanna Know About Evil. Orbit's album Water From A Vine Leaf was her first opportunity to write. She did some other things here and there but it wasn't until she showed up on the Chemical Brothers' single Alive:Alone that she really gained attention.

Ed Simmons of the Chemical Brothers says she has "the voice of an angel" and describes her as "a London girl at large. She's not some soppy girl with Laura Ashley dresses who reached grade seven on the violin. She drives a big old green BMW and lives in Hackney" (Rolling Stone). She never even thought of herself as a singer and is still surprised at what comes out every time she opens her mouth. "I used to sing in the bath - whole mini operas," she said. "And I've always written, since I was young. Poems, metaphors, little synopses of emotions." Orton says her inspiration comes from her mother. "She had a wildness to her. Her parents were quite religious, and she was kind of repressed. She had this thing that one day she'd stand up in church and shout 'Penis!' at the top of her lungs."

Today, Orton need not stand up and shout about any male genitalia to get recognition. Her defining mix of folk and dance combines acoustic chords with trance-like rhythms that puts her in a class by herself. "Although her unique sound brings to mind a shaker-ful of Kate Bush, Bjork and Tricky with a twist of Neil Young and Carole King thrown in for extra flavoring, that's just a small shred, because as a whole, her singular stylings and lyrics remind of no one else, a very good thing in this time of musical niches and comparison rock" (Rolling Stone).

She was christened "The Comedown Queen" and rightfully so. Her music is "like a raver’s after-party, a relaxed, five-string recollection of why people dance straight through the wee hours - - to sweat out the toxins of life" (MetroActive). Her solo debut Trailer Park came out in 1994 and Central Reservation followed in 1999. Between albums, she worked with Ben Harper, her hero folk-jazz legend Terry Callier, Everything But The Girl’s Ben Watt, Mazzy Star’s David Roback and Dr. John. She jumped back in the studio to focus on her third full-length album, 2002’s Daybreaker.

Life gave Beth Orton a good, hard slap in the face but she slapped back with a screaming "Bloody ‘ell!" She was an ordinary girl who didn’t even know she could sing and one flick of a lighter turned everything around. Music sparked new life in Orton and Orton sparked new life in music. Her "don’t wipe my tears, just give me a cigarette" attitude reflects how she could be the cutting edge in today’s pre-packaged, pre-destined mainstream "music."

-Amy Schaefer