Gabrielle: a debut that went straight to number two, then number one

Gabrielle’s name is an accident of paperwork. Born Louisa Gabriella Bobb in Hackney, London, in 1969, she long thought she was “Louise Gabrielle” and only later learned her real middle name was Gabriella. When someone suggested using a version of it for the stage, she was delighted, since she did not have to invent anything. Her parents came from Dominica, and her mother Patricia raised her and her three brothers, nurturing a love of soul and reggae.

Pop filled her teenage years, from Madonna and Culture Club to Wham!, as well as a large poster of Michael Jackson. A school teacher asked her to write a poem; the poems became songs, and then she began to sing. She has had ptosis, a drooping eyelid, since childhood, and in public she covers the eye with sunglasses, an eyepatch, a hat or her hair. After her A-levels she gave up the idea of studying law and began singing in nightclubs.

Her debut single, “Dreams”, came out in June 1993, written with Tim Laws. An early version sampled the melody of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car”, which was removed after a copyright problem. It entered the UK chart at number two, then the highest entry ever for a debut act, and topped the chart for three weeks. It also reached number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. “Going Nowhere” followed, along with “Give Me a Little More Time”, “Walk On By” and a duet with East 17.

After a few quiet years she returned in 2000 with “Rise”, her second UK number one, and the album of the same name spent three weeks at the top of the album chart. “Out of Reach”, from the soundtrack of Bridget Jones’s Diary, reached number four. Her greatest hits compilation, in 2001, was called Dreams Can Come True, which suited a career that began with a chart record and survived a long absence.