Billie Piper

by Charlotte DillonIn 1998 a 15-year-old female singer named Billie Piper took the United Kingdom''s music scene by storm with her hit single "Because We Want To." When the contagious pop song found a number one spot on the charts, it made Piper the youngest solo artist to reach that goal. Her second single, "Girlfriend," also started out with a tight hold at number one. Billie Paul Piper was born and raised in Swindon, U.K. Her first audience was a bedroom mirror. She spent hours singing to it, dancing before it, following along with songs from legendary pop/rock artists like Madonna and Janet Jackson. When Piper was eight-years-old, she joined a local theater company called Sixth Sense. She soon started working in television, landing roles in both a series and in a number of commercials. Before her tenth birthday, Piper was selected to attend London''s Sylvia Young Stage School. She might have stayed in acting, but a spokesmodel job for a pop music magazine changed her professional direction, bringing her in contact with scouts from Innocent Records, a subsidiary of the major label Virgin Records. The company quickly signed the 15-year-old talent, and only months later Piper had a hit debut single playing on radio stations. A full-length album, Honey to the Bee, followed within that same remarkable year. The debut album went platinum, and earned Piper the nickname Pop Princess.To the disappointment of fans, it took two years for a sophomore album, Walk of Life, to appear on the England market. In no time Billie Piper''s music was on the charts again, with singles like "Something Deep Inside" and "Day & Night." She hopes to spread that same success to other countries, including the United States and Canada. When not recording Piper spends her energy touring through, and even squeezes in a little acting now and then.