Her career may well be defined by Murder On The Dancefloor, but Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s chart topping career trajectory began some years before the release of her biggest single.
The singer returned to the spotlight on Tuesday with her BBC New Year’s Eve Disco, during which she was joined by a host of special guests for a medley of her greatest hits.
Ellis-Bextor, 45, was rounding off the year in style following sold-out tours across Europe, the United States, and Australia as well as numerous festival appearances – among them a memorable performance with Peggy Gou at Glastonbury Festival.
But as she ushered in 2025, the singer had cause to celebrate for rather different reasons as she approaches a milestone quarter century of solo stardom.
Ellis-Bextor had already enjoyed moderate success before her guest vocals on Spiller’s iconic Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) propelled her to number one on the UK singles chart in 2000.
A continental hit, Groovejet turned the little known singer into a household name – but it all began several years earlier, amid the hedonism of nineties Britpop.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor returned to the spotlight on Tuesday with her BBC New Year’s Eve Disco, during which she was joined by a host of special guests for a medley of her greatest hits
Ellis-Bextor’s solo career began 25 years earlier, after her guest vocals on Spiller’s iconic Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) propelled her to number one on the UK singles chart in 2000
As lead singer of indie band Theaudience, Ellis-Bextor enjoyed moderate fame with the release of their self-titled debut album in 1998.
It would be the group’s only significant release, despite positive reviews and a warm reception pushing to an impressive number eight on the UK album chart.
Turning away from the band’s guitar based sound, Ellis-Bextor soon found her foothold in mainstream pop after signing her first major record deal with Polydor.
Reflecting on the success of Groovejet and her decision to embrace a more mainstream sound, she told The Guardian: ‘I’d just come out of my band, theaudience. We’d been part of the whole NME/Melody Maker indie scene, but elements of that world were tough, especially the press.
‘Groovejet was a breath of fresh air, a brilliant way of turning the page. The dance world didn’t intimidate me – it was welcoming and I felt at home.’
She added: ‘The song was everywhere. It was on heavy rotation on Radio 1 months before release. Things really blew up when it got the same release date as Victoria Beckham and Dane Bowers’ Out of Your Mind – Victoria’s first release post-Spice Girls.
‘Suddenly we were on the front pages and even the Six O’Clock News. Everyone was talking about who would be No 1.
‘The day before the result came in, I was waiting for a bus and thinking about rushing into Woolworths to buy a copy because I’d heard there were only 500 copies in it.
As lead singer of indie band Theaudience, the singer had enjoyed moderate fame with the release of their self-titled debut album in 1998 before going solo
In 2001 her hit single Murder On The Dancefloor became a top-10 hit across the globe
Twenty-two years after its initial release, filmmaker Emerald Fennell breathed new life into the track by using it for the one-shot finale of her award-winning 2023 movie Saltburn (pictured)
‘Murder on the Dancefloor is very much the sort of thing I do. I’ve been doing pop disco since I started. So if you’re intrigued, and you want to find more, there’s plenty of it’
‘In the end, Groovejet reached No 1, outselling Out of Your Mind by 20,000. I never did make that trip to Woolworths!’
And she would never need to, with subsequent debut solo album Read My Lips – released in 2001 – sailing to number two on the UK chart while spawning some of her biggest hits to date.
While the reviews were mixed, Read My Lips was favourably received by fans, selling 23,023 copies in its first week of release.
That figure was soon eclipsed however, when second single Murder On The Dancefloor became a top-10 hit across the globe, charting within the top three in Australia, New Zealand, and four European countries – including the United Kingdom, where it climbed to number two.
With its earworm chorus, infectious melody and iconic promotional video, the track became a club staple that helped define her career at a point where she was still establishing herself as a solo artist.
The singer entertained thousands of fans with her weekly Kitchen Discos, filmed from the sprawling London home she shares with her family at the height of the global pandemic
‘It was such an abstract notion, on the one hand so many people from around the world were coming over to our kitchen every Friday, but on the other hand we couldn’t see anybody’
Twenty-two years after its initial release, filmmaker Emerald Fennell breathed new life into the track by using it for the one-shot finale of her award-winning 2023 movie Saltburn.
A single camera tracks actor Barry Keoghan as he dances to the track in the nude while walking the corridors of his newly inherited stately home – a memorable scene that introduced Ellis-Bextor to a younger fanbase and helped push it back into the charts with a number two placement, her first top ten hit since 2007.
‘I know that there’ll be some young people that will only ever know me as the Murder on the Dancefloor lady,’ she told Billboard in 2024. ‘But to be honest, that’s absolutely fine with me.
‘Murder on the Dancefloor is very much the sort of thing I do. I’ve been doing pop disco since I started. So if you’re intrigued, and you want to find more, there’s plenty of it.’
The track’s prominent placement in Saltburn – a film that earned two Golden Globe and five BAFTA nominations – gave the singer’s career a significant boost after commercial interest in her music had started to cool.
Released in 2003, second album Shoot From The Hip failed to replicate the success of her debut by stalling at number 19 on the UK chart.
Saltburn – a film that earned two Golden Globe and five BAFTA nominations – gave the singer’s career a significant boost after commercial interest in her music had started to cool
Having emerged from the pandemic unscathed, Ellis-Bextor is enjoying something of an Indian summer thanks to her growing reputation as an LGBTQ+ icon
Four years would pass before the release of her third, Trip The Light Fantastic – a more successful effort, both commercially and critically – landed in 2007.
By then, Ellis-Bextor was two years into married life with husband Richard Jones – a bass guitarist with British band The Feeling – and had already welcomed their first child, son Sonny, two months prematurely and eight months after they embarked on a relationship.
Reflecting on falling pregnant with Sonny just six weeks after she started dating musician husband, Ellis-Bextor recently admitted their life together had always been as a three.
But after adding to their family, with the married couple of 18 years sharing five sons together, the singer revealed that they are content watching them grow up and having a sixth is out of the question.
‘Like for every working parent, it is a bit of an ongoing thing, I don’t think you ever have it totally nailed, happily for me I love family life, I love my job and I have really good support where I need it for both things,’ she told MailOnline in 2023.
‘But the hardest part of my job is when I have to be away from them for long periods… the big picture is I really love what I do, and I have worked quite hard to do what I do, I might as well not waste it feeling guilty.
‘Even at the age of 44 I am still giving myself permission to do the thing I love because it does mean that there are certain times where I can’t be everywhere for my children, but I am a better mum for doing what I do, and I involve my kids quite a lot.
‘The older they have got, the more I appreciate that them seeing me do what I love is probably going to teach them some things about work ethic, plus it’s a creative house, which is good fun.’
Ellis Bextor’s husband is Richard Jones, a bass player for the British rock band The Feeling (pictured in 2022)
The couple are parents to sons Sonny, 19, Kit, 15, Ray, 11, Jesse, nine, and their youngest, Mickey, five
Ellis-Bextor met her husband in 2002 and six weeks later, she found out she was pregnant with their first son.
Since then, the couple have welcomed children Kit, 15, Ray, 11, Jesse, nine, and their youngest, Mickey, five.
She said: ‘My situation was a bit unusual because in my friendship group I was the first one to have a baby… I was 24 when I found out I was having my first.
‘It was an amazing adventure and for as long as Richard and I have been together there have been three of us, we had only been going out for six weeks when we found out we were having a baby… it was a bit of a surprise but luckily also a happy ending.
‘We are just watching them grow up now… it’s not something that I’m thinking about. I feel very happy, I love my family, I love my kids, and five is plenty!’
Her children became a regular fixture on her social media feeds in 2020, when the spread of COVID-19 forced the world into social lockdown.
With Brits adhering to strict social guidelines and urged to only leave the house for limited periods, many were forced to find their own entertainment – and often did through Ellis-Bextor’s Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Ellis-Bextor’s eldest son Sonny with his grandmother and her mother, Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis (pictured in Japan)
The singer entertained thousands with her weekly Kitchen Disco’s, filmed from the sprawling London home she shares with her family.
She would regularly be accompanied by her sons as she performed a medley of her biggest hits in her kitchen, which she subsequently streamed for her followers.
‘It was such an abstract notion, on the one hand so many people from around the world were coming over to our kitchen every Friday, but on the other hand we couldn’t see anybody,’ she told Australia’s Herald Sun in 2022.
‘The community that came out of it meant so much to us. Life has just gone back to normal now but for Richard and I it was so special.’
Having emerged from the pandemic unscathed, Ellis-Bextor is enjoying something of an Indian summer thanks to Murder On The Dancefloor and her growing reputation as an LGBTQ+ icon.
Speaking to Press Association at Glastonbury, where new femme-queer space Scissors was launched in 2024, she said: ‘Being part of Scissors and all that it represents, and that amazing celebration of the queer people here at Glastonbury is – I think it’s a really important space to have.
‘I think it’s completely part of Glastonbury’s ethos that they have, that wonderful, welcoming spirit.
‘And one of the questions was about being an icon in the LGBT+ community, but I always feel a bit that I’m not very good with thinking about myself objectively.
‘But also I feel like, all I really do know is that for me, the fans that I have in that community have helped me become the performer I am now.
‘So whether I’m an icon is completely subjective, but the significance it has to me, in terms of having that community has literally shaped who I am. It’s very precious.’