Elly Jackson

La Roux (pronounced Laruh) is the pseudonym of British singer-songwriter and music producer Eleanor "Elly" Jackson (born 12 March 1988).

History

Originally, La Roux was an electropop duo consisting of Eleanor Jackson, daughter of the English actress Trudie Goodwin, and producer Ben Langmaid. The latter had previously worked with bands such as Faithless. Langmaid brought his connections and musical experience to the work on the album La Roux (2009) and its production. Jackson wrote the compositions and penned all the lyrics. As a duo, they became Grammy award winners. They achieved their first success with the single In for the Kill, and their international breakthrough came with Bulletproof. The single even reached number 1 in Great Britain.

The band name, which contradicts French grammar ("the redhead" would actually be la rousse in French), refers, as Jackson explained, to her red hair and rather androgynous, boyish appearance. On the French-Canadian TV show "Tout le monde en parle", Elly explained that she found La Roux in a book for baby names. She nonchalantly explained the grammatical error with, "It was an English book!"

Elly Jackson coped with the great commercial success psychologically bad, she suffered at times from voice loss and panic attacks. Langmaid, who had already been her duo partner in the previous folk project Automan, no longer wanted to remain her companion. The record company wanted to continue earning money from the successful project La Roux and bridged the lean period with second-rate material for Sidetracked and a reissue as La Roux (Gold Edition).

The album Trouble in Paradise (2014) is Eleanor Jackson's second solo album as La Roux, on which she also served as music producer - five years after the first album sold two million copies. According to Rolling Stone, the nine songs bring back memories of The Human League and Yazoo, Tom Tom Club and Tears for Fears. This time, however, the 1980s retromania is looser and also enriched "with some funky elements". Together with her co-producer Ian Sherwin, Jackson has succeeded in creating a "neo-romantic" album in which everything revolves around sex and love.

Musical style

La Roux's sound is primarily influenced by the British synth-pop bands of the early to mid-1980s such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, The Human League, Yazoo and the Eurythmics. Jackson's androgynous appearance can also be associated with the latter. However, the album La Roux is also musically close to current electronic music like that of Zoot Woman and Robyn.