Biography

Ella Maria Lani Yelich-O’Connor (born 7 November 1996), known by her stage name Lorde, is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Devonport, North Shore, Auckland, New Zealand, she performed in various singing and drama classes as a child, and at the age of thirteen signed with Universal. Yelich-O’Connor adopted her stage name due to her fascination with “royals and aristocracy”, but felt the name Lord was too masculine so added an ‘e’ to make it more feminine.

Her musical debut was an EP, entitled The Love Club, which was released in November 2012, and her first single, “Royals”, debuted at number one on the New Zealand Top 40, and also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2013, making her the first New Zealand solo artist to have a number one song in the United States. Her debut album, Pure Heroine, was released in September 2013 receiving critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide.

Her work has earned her numerous awards and accolades; in October 2013, for example, she jointly won the 2013 Silver Scroll award for “Royals,” which is an achievement in original New Zealand pop songwriting. For the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, Lorde is nominated for a total of four Grammys, which include Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Royals” and Best Pop Vocal Album for Pure Heroine.