Isabella Summers
Isabella Janet Florentina Summers[1][2] (born 31 October 1980) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, producer, remixer and member of English indie rock band Florence and the Machine. As well as being the keyboard player for the group, Summers has five co-writing credits[3] on the critically acclaimed, BRIT Award-winning Lungs[4] and three on the album Ceremonials. She has three songs on the album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful: "Delilah", "How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful" and "Which Witch", including two productions on the deluxe version.
Isabella Summers | |
|---|---|
 Isabella Summers at Dean St Studios, 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Isabella Janet Florentina Summers |
| Also known as | Isa Machine |
| Born | 31 October 1980 Hackney, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Years active | 2008–present |
| Labels | Universal Publishing |
| Associated acts |
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When not on tour with Florence and the Machine, Summers writes, produces and remixes tracks for artists including Beyoncé, Juliette Lewis, Iggy Azalea, Jasmine Thompson, Nas, Cara Delevingne, Izzy Bizu, Pablo Dylan, Mondo Cozmo, Kacy Hill, Jessica Simpson, Chloe and Halle, Flux Pavilion, Maxine Ashley, Rita Ora, Judith Hill, and The Game.
Summers also scores movie and television projects, having teamed with musician/composer Mark Isham[5] to create the score for the Hulu mini-series Little Fires Everywhere and, on her own, creating the title theme for Sky Atlantic’s Riviera. She is also collaborating on the score for the Amazon Prime series Panic.
Background
Summers lived her first nine years in London, and met Florence Welch as the young Summers would babysit Welch's younger sister Grace. When Summers was nine, her family moved to Aldeburgh, Suffolk. There Summers attended Woodbridge School[6] and in her teenage years got an interest in music, particularly hip-hop. Her neighbours gave her a tape with Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle and 6 Feet Deep by Gravediggaz, and she would also spend evenings with fishermen's sons "who smoked loads of weed and listened to hard American rap."[7][8]
For her university years, Summers moved back to London, where she would get a fine arts degree at Central Saint Martins. In the meantime she bought a set of DJ mixers to learn how to mix, while also doing side jobs such as being a runner for Top of the Pops and transcriptions and film digitising for Alan Parker.[6] Soon she was working with Dan Greenpeace on his 'All City Show' radio show on XFM London, an experience that led Summers to buy her first MPC which was installed at the cupboard of her shared flat. With the help of a friend she started a studio in a former plastics factory at Crystal Palace, and began making hip hop.[7] During this time, Summers worked with, amongst others, Kashmere, The Iguana Man, IRS Crew, MBC Crew, Inja and The Last Skeptic. She would also have meetings with Welch during DJ work and art school, as Welch was attending the Camberwell College of Arts.[9]
As Summers was hired to remix songs by the band Ludes, Welch became a more common sight at her studio given she was dating Ludes' guitarist Matt Alchin, and even impressed Summers with her singing. One day, as Summers got into a creative rut and thought of writing pop music with a woman, she invited Welch to write songs with her.[9] Following a day joining Summers' beats with Welch's lyrics, soon they were creative partners, with Welch nicknaming Summers "Isabella Machine" for her electronic music skills.[6] This led to their performing together for a time under the name Florence Robot/Isa Machine. The project was renamed Florence and the Machine as according to Welch "that name was so long it'd drive me mad."[10]
Discography
| Year | Artist | Album | Track | Role(s) | Label | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writer | Producer | ||||||
| 2009 | Florence and the Machine | Lungs | Are You Hurting the One You Love | Yes | Island Records | ||
| Between Two Lungs | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Cosmic Love | Yes | Yes | Also remixed with DJ Lexxx Remix | ||||
| Dog Days Are Over | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Falling | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Ghosts | Yes | ||||||
| Hardest of Hearts | Yes | ||||||
| Hospital Beds | Yes | ||||||
| I'm Not Calling You a Liar | Yes | Yes | |||||
| 2011 | Florence and the Machine | Ceremonials | All This And Heaven Too | Yes | Island Records | ||
| Breath of Life | Yes | Yes | Digital deluxe bonus track | ||||
| No Light, No Light | Yes | ||||||
| Remain Nameless | Yes | Yes | Digital deluxe bonus track | ||||
| Ivan Ink 'n' Isa | Ivan Ink 'n' Isa - EP | Caught In Symmetry | Yes | Yes | Brink Records | ||
| Lover's Kiss | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Silver Or Lead | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Standing On A Hill | Yes | Yes | |||||
| 2012 | Dia Frampton | Red | Bullseye | Yes | Yes | Universal Republic | |
| Florence and the Machine | Snow White and the Huntsman | Breath of Life | Yes | Yes | Island Records | ||
| Sam Sparro | Return to Paradise | Shades of Grey | Yes | EMI | |||
| 2013 | Angel Haze | Dirty Gold | Rose Tinted Suicide | Yes | Yes | Island Records | |
| 2014 | LP | Forever For Now | Forever For Now | Yes | Yes | Warner Bros. Records | |
| Some day | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Road To Ruin | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Iggy Azalea | Reclassified | Trouble (featuring Jennifer Hudson) | Yes | Virgin EMI Records | |||
| The Game (et al.) | Single | Don't Shoot | No | Yes | Multiple labels | Feat. Diddy, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, DJ Khaled, and others. | |
| 2015 | Florence and the Machine | How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful | Delilah | Yes | Island Records | ||
| How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful | Yes | Yes | Includes deluxe edition demo credit. | ||||
| Which Witch | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Flux Pavilion | Tesla | Never See the Light feat. Andrea Martin | Yes | Yes | Circus Recordings | ||
| Katharine McPhee | Hysteria | Hysteria | Yes | Yes | N/A | ||
| Burn | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Lick My Lips | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Don't Need Love | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Isa Machine and LP | Rock the Kasbah | Torch | Yes | Yes | Varèse Sarabande | ||
| 2018 | Ian Hultquist and Isabella "Machine" Summers | Assassination Nation | Rage | Yes | Yes | Lakeshore Records | |
References
- American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) IPI no. 565587995
- "Isabella Janet Florentina Summers - Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic.
- "Florence + The Machine* – Lungs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
- "Florence And The Machine's 'Lungs' finally tops UK albums chart". NME. UK. 17 January 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
- "Mark Isham & Isabella Summers Scoring Hulu's 'Little Fires Everywhere'". 11 February 2020.
- Aldeburgh: Florence and the Machine writer set to release new music Archived 26 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine, EADT
- Shannon, Aideen. "Isabella Summers". 1883, June 2012
- Extraordinary Machine: Isa Machine, Notion
- Howe, Zoe (2012). Florence + The Machine: An Almighty Sound. Music Sales Group. ISBN 9781780385136.
- Bell, Sean (26 July 2009). "A piece of my mind: Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine". The Herald. Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
