Her fans have no problem with her name or her music. Two years ago Dido released her debut album, No Angel—which thudded to earth. But after rapper Eminem sampled her sweet-natured single "Thankyou" in "Stan," his hit about a deranged fan, Angel took flight, selling some 6 million copies worldwide. So how is she celebrating? "I get up, go shopping, clean the flat, cook my boyfriend's dinner," she says. "It's great selling records, but it doesn't mean you have to turn into a freak."
Born on Christmas Day to book publisher William Armstrong and his wife, Clare, a homemaker, Dido began playing piano and violin as a girl in North London. She turned to singing in 1996, when her brother Rollo, now 34, was putting together the trip-hop troupe Faithless and they needed a backup vocalist. "I used to tell Rollo that Dido had a lovely voice," says Faithless lead singer Sister Bliss, "and he looked at me and said, 'My sister can't sing!' " Wrongo, Rollo. In fact Dido's vocals on that CD caught the attention of Arista Records, which signed her in 1997.
These days Dido is also on a roll in her personal life. She recently got engaged to her beau of six years, a 32-year-old lawyer she refuses to name and with whom she lives in a West London flat. And though he inspired her to write "Thankyou" and other romantic songs, that may soon change. On her next CD, jokes Dido, "will be songs like, 'Why Don't You Ever Do the Washing Up?' "
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
