Camille Angelina Purcell (born 29 June 1988), known professionally as Kamille, is a British singer-songwriter and record producer.
Kamille's co-writing and co-production contributions have accumulated to over 10 billion streams, as well as over 30 UK platinum certifications, 6 UK #1 singles, over 20 UK top 10 singles, #1 singles in over 15 countries and hundreds of hours of airplay on radio across the globe.[1] She has also amassed over 117 million streams as an artist herself.[2]
She has solidified herself as one of the UK's most successful songwriters,[3] and has won several awards for her work, including a BRIT Award, 2 Grammy Awards, a Music Week Women in Music Award, and an Ivor Novello - becoming the youngest black female to receive the prestigious "Outstanding Song Collection" Award.[4]
Early life and career beginnings
Camille Angelina Purcell was born on 29 June 1984 in Streatham, London.[5] She is of Jamaican and Cuban descent.[6] Growing up Kamille felt she had "big shoes to fill" due to both of her parents being successful in their respective careers, with her mother being in receipt of an MBE and her father a successful business man.[7][8] Kamille grew up singing and even attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School part-time on the weekends where she developed her singing, dancing and acting skills, however her parents always encouraged her to focus on her education.[9][10] Following her parents advice, went on to gain a degree in economics, before working as a stockbroker.[11]
Kamille started her songwriting career when she was introduced to a producer by a family friend and began spending time in a studio after work.[12] She decided one day to leave her job on her lunch break and never went back.[13] Months later in 2012, Kamille had her breakthrough when a song she had co-written, "What About Us", was pitched to Polydor Records and given to The Saturdays featuring Sean Paul.[14] The track went straight to number one in the UK.[15]
Songwriting, production and Pure Cut
Following on from her success with What About Us, Kamille began writing with artists such as Leona Lewis, Jessie J, JLS, and most notably Little Mix. In November 2013, Little Mix released their sophomore album ‘Salute’ in which Kamille had co-written 3 songs. This began a long-term relationship between her and the girls which propelled them, and Kamille herself, to worldwide success. In 2015, Little Mix released the first single from their third album ‘Black Magic’, co-written by Kamille, which went straight to #1 in the UK and remained there for 3 weeks.[16] This also gained Kamille her first Brit Award nomination for Best British Single in 2016.[17]
Later that year she wrote ‘Shout Out To My Ex’, the first single from their 4th album Glory Days. The track also 3 weeks at #1 in the UK and has since been certified 4× Platinum in the UK,[18] becoming the first single by a girl group in a decade to achieve this milestone, and their most notable hit to date. The track won Kamille and Little Mix their first Brit Award in 2017, for ‘Best British Single’.[19]
In total, she has written 32 songs for Little Mix, which have contributed to seven consecutive UK Top 5 albums and ten UK Top 20 singles.[20] In 2018, Kamille wrote and featured on the song 'More Than Words' from their fifth album, about their close relationship over the years of working together.[21] She has been considered the group's unofficial 5th member, both publicly by Little Mix themselves,[22] and by the national press.[23][24]
Kamille has collaborated with countless other globally successful artists, achieving multiple successes. In 2018 she achieved two UK #1 singles back-to-back, first with ‘I'll Be There’ co-written for Jess Glynne, immediately followed by ‘Solo’ co-written for Clean Bandit featuring Demi Lovato, both of which were nominated for 'Best British Single' at the 2019 Brit Awards.[25] ‘Solo’ was named the ‘most-Shazamed’ song of 2018,[26] and has since achieved over 1 billion streams on Spotify.[27] Kamille's achievements were recognised at the A&R Awards 2018 where she won Songwriter of the Year.[28]
In January 2019 Kamille co-wrote ‘Don't Call Me Up’ for Mabel alongside Steve Mac. The song has become Mabel's most successful song to date. It peaked at #3 in the UK singles chart,[29] was nominated for a Brit Award for ‘Best British Single’,[30] it has achieved a 3× Platinum certification in the UK,[31] and has amassed over 1 billion Spotify streams. The song finished as the 9th best-selling single for a female artist in the UK in 2019, and fourth best-selling by a female artist.[32] Kamille has also co-written ‘Mad Love’ and ‘Boyfriend’ for Mabel which have both achieved Platinum UK certifications.[33][34] She also appeared as a featured artist on Mabel's debut album ‘High Expectations’, singing a verse on the track ‘Selfish Love’.
In November 2019 Kamille was further recognised for her “significant contribution to the making of music behind the scenes, through songwriting, studio production, or studio technology”, when she was awarded the 'Music Creative Award' at the Music Week Women in Music Awards.[35]
Also in 2019, Kamille officially launched her record label and publishing company, Pure Cut.[36] She cited fellow artist and businesswoman Beyoncé as an inspiration behind creation of the label, stating: "Seeing the empire Beyoncé's building now, it just cemented how I felt all along: that I want to be able to do that, and I want more for myself. I think that's driven me. What I want to do is be a helpful hand for artists with whatever they need, I can't have this knowledge and experience and not give that to others and share that with people. That's really where I'm coming from".[37]
Alongside the launch of Pure Cut, in 2020, Kamille built and launched her own recording studio called 'Saint Studios' situated within London's Metropolis Studios.
In 2020, Kamille co-wrote 'Cool', the third track from Dua Lipa's second album ‘Future Nostalgia’, which was nominated for a Mercury Prize award.[38] That year she also contributed to a further five UK Top 10 Singles. As well as co-writing, she also provided an uncredited vocal hook to Headie One, AJ Tracey and Stormzy's single ‘Ain't It Different’, singing the lyrics to the sampled track 'No Long Talking' by Lady Saw.[39] The song also appeared on Headie One's album ‘Edna’ which debuted at #1 in the UK Albums Chart.[40]
2020 lead Kamille to take active steps in the music industry to promote opportunities for women in music. She took up a year-long mentorship of songwriter and producer Griff as part of the Ivor's Academy Rising Star Award programme,[41] and she teamed up with producer and songwriter Fred Again to launch the 'Next Up' programme with 'She Is the Music' to seek and mentor female producers.[42]
In March 2021, Kamille won her first Grammy Award when 'Future Nostalgia' won 'Pop Vocal Album' at the 63rd Grammy Awards. She also received her sixth Brit Award nomination when 'Ain't It Different' was nominated for 'British Single'.[43]
In 2023, she co-wrote 2 songs on Kylie Minogue's sixteenth studio album Tension which debuted at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart.[46] This achievement marked Kamille's tenth UK Number 1 album as a credited songwriter.[47]
In May 2023, she also received her first Ivor Novello award for 'Outstanding Song Collection', becoming the youngest Black woman to win the award.[48]
In 2017, Kamille officially launched her career as an artist in her own right. She released her first single "Body" featuring Avelino in October. It was quickly followed by her debut EP "My Head's a Mess" on 17th November, released through Virgin records.
In March & April 2018, Kamille featured as a live solo artist for the first time when she opened for Jessie Ware on her UK Glasshouse Tour.[50] In June 2018 she featured as the vocalist on Gorgon City & Ghosted's 'Go Deep', and in July she released her new solo single 'Emotional' featuring Kranium and Louis Rei. The song was later remixed to include verses from Chip and Stefflon Don.[51]
In 2019, Kamille focused her artist efforts on collaboration. She appeared as a featured artist on 'My Love' with Dr Vades, as well as 'Easy Loving You' on SG Lewis' EP 'Blue'. She also collaborated with GRM Daily on the track 'One More Night' featuring alongside Wretch 32 & WSTRN.
At the tail end of 2019, Kamille officially launched her record label and publishing company, Pure Cut. With herself as the first signing, her first Pure Cut release was single 'Don't Answer' featuring Wiley. She then released her first Christmas single on the label, 'Santa x4' featuring Next Town Down.
In November 2019 Kamille appeared alongside Little Mix for the first time as an artist when she joined the girls on stage for four nights of their LM5 Tour at the O2 Arena in London to perform 'More Than Words' taken from the group's fifth album, LM5, including the final date which was filmed for LM5: The Tour Film.[54]
In 2020, Kamille released singles, 'Love + Attention' and 'Somebody' featuring Ebenezer, as well as featuring as an artist on 'Miss Jagger' with Lotto Boyzz.
In January 2021, Kamille released the single 'AYO!' with S1mba. The music video for 'AYO!' featured her new studio, Saint Studios, in the public eye for the first time. Her second single, 'Mirror Mirror' was released in March 2021 alongside a music video with cameos from MNEK and Little Mix's Jade Thirlwall.[55] The track went viral on TikTok, reaching #1 on the UK Hot 50 Chart and the associated hashtag #WhoTheBaddest being used over 68 million times.[56][57]
Kamille provided the vocals for 'Move' by Kingdom 93 & Goldfingers in May 2021, released on Warner Records.
In July, she released the song "Sad Party", featuring Haile and Ivorian Doll.
In 2022, Kamille released two singles, "learning"[58] and "weight Loss".[59]
On 12 May 2023, Kamille released the lead single from her debut album, "Muscle Memory", featuring Nile Rodgers.[60] A month later, Kamille released "Options", featuring Tamera and Bellah.[61] "Time To Kill", the third single from the album, was released in August 2023.[62] On 8 September 2023, Kamille released her debut studio album, K1.[63]
In May 2024, Kamille released the first single from her anticipated second album 'K2' called 'Headline'. The song was named BBC Radio 1's 'Tune of the Week' the following month.[64] In July, she released the second single 'Freak'.
Personal life
In June 2020, she became engaged to producer Tazer and the two married in August 2021,[65] which was documented on Channel 4's Documentary-Reality TV series 'Highlife'.[66] Purcell gave birth to a son in April 2023.[67][68]
