Karen Harding (born 18 November 1991) is an English singer and songwriter from Consett, County Durham. Her first single, "Say Something", released in February 2015, entered the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart.
Early life
Born to an English father and Filipino mother,[1] Harding grew up in Consett and attended Moorside Community Technology College.[2] She used to work at her parents' oriental food store and, in 2008, won a regional music competition called Music Means Life.[3] One of her first recordings was a cover version of the anti-racism song "Strange Fruit", made famous by Billie Holiday.[4]
Following The X Factor, Harding was approached by the producer MNEK, who had seen a video she uploaded onto the Internet of her covering Disclosure's "Latch".[9] She was subsequently signed by Disclosure's record label, Method Records.[10] Her first single, the MNEK-produced "Say Something", was released in January 2015 by Method and Capitol Records[11] and attracted notice from Fact magazine, MuuMuse, Noisey and The Singles Jukebox.[12][13][14][15] "Say Something" entered the UK Singles Chart and peaked at number seven, with frequent airplay on BBC Radio 1 and its sister station, 1Xtra.[16] It spent 26 weeks on the official charts and achieved platinum status.
In May 2016, Harding was selected to perform the English national anthem at the 2016 FA Cup Final. However, she missed her cue, and only managed to join in with the crowd for the last few lines.[20]
