DIDO: THE VOICE OF AN 'ANGEL'

(Eds: Fact box below. 'Tonight' refers to Dec. 16, 2000.)

By SANDRA BARRERA
c. 2000 Los Angeles Daily News

Until recently, few people had heard of Dido.

Never mind that the 28-year-old British chanteuse's sugary sweet song "Thank You" off her uneventful 1999 album debut "No Angel" was featured in the 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow flick "Sliding Doors." And forget about the fact that her single "Here With Me" is heard every week as the theme song to the WB's alien teen drama "Roswell."

All of that has helped her career, sure. But the reason people now know Dido is because rapper Eminem took such a liking to "Thank You," he sampled a portion of her song in his hit about an obsessive fan who kills
himself.

"People keep coming up to me and going, 'Oh, my favorite song is "Stan," ' " says Dido, referring to Eminem's hit single. "And I'm just like, 'Is this really happening?' "

Everyone is indeed discovering Dido and her slow-burning debut "No Angel." The album is certified platinum, and its latest single "Thank You" is getting ample airplay on top 40 radio stations across the country.

And she's performing tonight at the Wiltern Theatre for the Star 98.7 FM holiday concert "Not So Silent Night."

Ironically, Dido says she's not a big fan of Christmas, even though she did write and record a song called "Christmas Day" for the new holiday album "Platinum Christmas."

"It's a little bit depressing," she says.

On the song, Dido sings about a woman who waits for the man she loves to return for her on Christmas Day. But that day never comes.

"I wrote the lyrics to that one with Rollo, my brother, and he's definitely the one with the line in tragic lyrics," she laughs. "We just wanted to sort of touch on a different side of Christmas, not in a heavy way but in an old worldly way 'cause it's really like an old folk story."

While "Christmas Day" is meant to be a tear-jerker, Dido says her other songs are not, though they're usually interpreted as being sad.

"It's weird 'cause, like, 'Here With Me' is actually a happy song and when I was singing it, I meant it so happy," she says. "But people are always like, 'Oh, it's just so sad.' So I'm beginning too think there's something coming out of my voice that I never really noticed."

Dido's voice has been compared to pop-flavored folk singers such as Sarah McLachlan, but she sounds more like Beth Orton. There's a distant sadness in her voice. And like Orton, she's a fan of electronic music styles.

A classically trained pianist and violinist, Dido started her professional singing career as a backing vocalist for a number of bands. Her big break came when she backed Faithless, a band produced by her brother, and one that went on to sell 5 million records.

Dido toured with Faithless for two years, while working on her demos on the side. Her demos fell into the hands of Arista Records in 1997, and in that same year she was signed to the label and began recording "No Angel."

The album was released in 1999 to critical acclaim, but was ignored by the mainstream until Eminem brought her into the spotlight.

Dido admits she was a bit worried that "Thank You" was going to be
misused by Eminem, and then she heard "Stan."

"I got sent the tape, and I just thought it was brilliant," she says. "I was so pleased 'cause, you know, it's my favorite song of mine. So
obviously I don't want it used in some crappy way."

The kicker came when Eminem's song exploded onto the charts, and took Dido with it.

"That one really took me by surprise," she says. "To be sampled on, like, one of the big songs now was just a whole weird thing."

With Dido now on everyone's lips, the singer is gearing up for a worldwide tour in February. She plans to return to America in the summer before starting work on the follow-up to "No Angel."

But she's in no rush.

"Basically, as long as this record is working, it's nice to tour it," she says. "I mean, so many people come up and they're like, 'Love your new record.' And it's like, 'What new record? As opposed to my old one?' "