Thank You

Irish folk music was a vital part of the soundtrack to Dido’s childhood in London, with her father, the late William O’Malley Armstrong – an Irish publisher – singing her to sleep with tunes by Van Morrison and The Chieftains. So, when her unique brand of folktronica hit Ireland, via her debut hit single ‘Thank You’, she drew comparisons with Irish singers, like The Corrs. And for good reason. Her lilting melodies and haunting melancholic verses would not have been out of place on the Dundalk outfit’s mega-seller, Talk On Corners (1997).

‘Thank You’ first made an impact on the 1998 soundtrack to Sliding Doors, before it was released on Dido’s debut album No Angel – which clocked up 21 million sales worldwide, at the time making it the top selling debut ever by a British female artist. ‘Thank You’ was a No.3 hit in the UK and the US, and No.5 in Ireland. It was also sampled for Eminem’s ‘Stan’ and was a key component in turning that into a multi-platinum No.1 hit in Ireland, Germany, the UK, Australia and other territories around the world. It is, in other words, a very big song...

The Story Behind The Song

Named after the tragic queen from Greek mythology, Dido (born Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O’Malley Armstrong) studied piano and violin at the Guildhall School of Music. The granddaughter of a Catholic from the south of Ireland and a Protestant from the North, by the time she reached her teens, Dido could play piano, recorder, and violin. She later dropped out of a Law degree to concentrate on music full time.

Music was a family obsession. Dido’s older brother Rollo – shorthand for Rowland – was a founder member of the major, hit-making electronic outfit, Faithless. With Rollo also in the role of producer, they became one of the leading British-based bands of the time when their albums Reverence (1996) and Sunday 8PM (1998) became million-sellers. Dido toured with the band and sang as a guest vocalist on their albums.

Similarly, her brother collaborated on her solo album No Angel, co-producing seven of the twelve tracks with Dido. It was a crucial interface, Rollo adding the electronic impulse that gave her heartfelt, folky songs – dealing with everyday domestic details and emotional narratives – a potent, contemporary feel and thus making her record perfect for coffee shops and late night listening.

The protracted negotiations over the sale of Rollo's record label, Cheeky, delayed the release of Dido's debut album No Angel, on this side of the Atlantic. As a result, unusually for a British or Irish artist, her album of well-crafted acoustic pop was released in the US on the Arista label a year before it’s assault on the charts on this side of the Atlantic. It quickly went platinum. Her popularity spread thanks to consistent touring and a growing word-of-mouth buzz.

Her music came into mainstream consciousness when ‘Thank You’ was used on the film soundtrack to the Peter Howitt-directed hit movie, Sliding Doors (1998); and, similarly, ‘Here With Me’ was used as the theme tune to sci-fi series Roswell High (1998).

Eminem (aka Marshall Mathers) heard ‘Thank You’ on the Sliding Doors OST, via a mix-tape given to him by an associate. He loved the vocal riff on ‘Thank You’ so much that he sampled it, and it became a central feature of his single ‘Stan’ from The Marshall Mathers LP. It was the kind of break that most songwriters can only ever dream about. The track went to No.1 in 12 countries, including the UK and Ireland, and exposed a whole new audience to Dido’s distinctive voice.

‘Stan' proved to be something of a cultural milestone: it’s been named among the The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone; the video (long version) has been viewed just under 500 million times; and the word ‘Stan’ has been entered into the Oxford English Dictionary directly as a by-product of its use in the song. Dido credits a lot of her early success to Eminem’s sampling and support, and she famously appeared in his video as the pregnant girlfriend of the titular obsessed, suicidal and homicidal Eminem fan (played by Devon Sawa).

In her solo guise, Dido went on to tour with Eminem, Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach. ‘Thank You’ was also sampled by Rihanna for ‘Never Ending’, released on her widely acclaimed 2016 album Anti. It has also been covered frequently, including by Polish jazz singer Monika Borzym, on her platinum debut album Girl Talk (2011) and by Chloe Kohanski (aka chloe mk), winner of The Voice USA, 2017.

Dido has had a number of other global songwriting smashes, including a co-write (with Max Martin and Rami) on Britney Spears’ ‘I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman’ (2001), which became a No.1 hit all over the world.

Dido: live in Dublin, photographed for Hot Press by Cathal Dawson

Meanwhile ‘Thank You’ – the official video for which has been viewed almost 240 million times – has become Dido’s signature track. Her biggest hit in multiple countries, it is her only song to reach the US top 10. Dido’s second album Life for Rent sold 400,000 copies in its first week on release. Two more albums followed before she took a break from music, She released her fifth album Still on My Mind in 2019.

Dido’s roots in Irish folk are so strong she used lyrics from the Irish rebel song ‘The Men Behind The Wire’ (“Armoured cars and tanks and guns/ Came to take away our sons...”) in her song ‘Let’s Do the Things We Normally Do’ (from Safe Trip Home, 2008), the chorus of which runs: “Let's do the things we normally do/ I’ll say see you later you’ll sing a line or two/ From your rebel songs sung out of tune/ Don’t hold my hand for longer than you need to.” Dido has Irish as well as British citizenship.

D stan(d)s for Dido, I suppose...