Early Life and Family
Lady Sovereign was born Louise Amanda Harman in 1985 to Colin Adien Harman and Nicola Parsons (née Wood), in Wembley, northwest London. She grew up in the run-down Chalkhill Estate — a council estate that has since been demolished — with her parents and two siblings, older sister Chloe Christie (born 1984) and younger brother Richie Colin (born 1987).
Lady Sovereign was a tomboy who played football and hated wearing dresses. She had difficulty fitting in at school and was expelled from Preston Manor High School at 15 because of her abysmal attendance record and bad behaviour. A number of menial jobs followed, until she decided to pursue rap after hearing Ms. Dynamite on the radio: "When I heard Ms. Dynamite's track 'Boooo!' in 2001 it inspired me. I hadn't heard a female MC before that... she's real... her presence... her image... the way she does everything... she opened so many doors for us girls, MCs are real, they write their own stuff, they rap about what they know, the stuff around them."
Lady Sovereign began uploading some of her songs and a picture to various music web sites when she was 15. She told Newsweek in 2006 that comments initially ran along the lines of, "You're white. You're a girl. You're British. You're crap."
Lady Sovereign signed with Universal in 2004. She released a number of solo records and opened for Basement Jaxx, The Streets, Dizzee Rascal, D12, and Obie Trice.
Her mother contracted a terminal brain tumour and passed away on 14 March (Mothering Sunday in the UK) 2010.
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