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Gabrielle is an Ivor Novello Award-winning songwriter with a soothing voice known most for soulful, mature pop. She broke through with "Dreams" (1993), an inspirational ballad that topped the pop chart in her native U.K., resounded across much of the planet, and powered Find Your Way, her debut album. Through the rest of the '90s, she hit the Top Ten five more times, and she began the next decade with another number one hit, "Rise" (2000), the title song from her multi-platinum third album. While adult contemporary material remained her forte, Gabrielle consistently drew from different eras and genres, exemplified by the Southern soul flashback of "Out of Reach" (2001) and the touches of country she incorporated on the subsequent album Play to Win (2004). Gabrielle stepped away from music to raise children and returned in the late 2010s to expand her discography with highly refined albums such as the Top Ten entries Under My Skin (2018) and Do It Again (2021), followed by A Place in Your Heart (2024).

Born Louisa Gabriella Bobb to Dominican parents in Hackney, where her mother raised her, Gabrielle began her career singing in West End London clubs while temping in offices during the day. Her big break came when her original 1991 version of "Dreams," an inspirational ballad sampling Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car," became an underground club hit and reached the keen ears of an A&R person at London's Go! Discs label. Sample clearance of "Fast Car" for the Go! Discs re-release was denied and necessitated a new recording -- produced by Richie Fermie -- that entered the U.K. pop chart in June 1993 and debuted at number two before it went to number one and remained for three weeks. "Dreams" was also a hit abroad -- a Top Ten smash in several territories and a Top 40 single in the U.S. Find Your Way, Gabrielle's debut album, was issued in October 1993 and went to number nine in the U.K., where it spawned another Top Ten hit with "Going Nowhere," and additional Top 40 singles with "I Wish" and "Because of You." Gabrielle won the 1994 BRIT award for Best British Breakthrough.

Ben Wolff and Andy Dean, aka the Boilerhouse Boys, produced two songs on Find Your Way, and they became Gabrielle's primary collaborators on her self-titled second album. Gabrielle nearly outperformed the debut when it charted at number 11 in June 1996. Remarkably, all five of its singles went Top 40. Pop-soul throwback "Give Me a Little More Time" peaked at number five. The East 17 collaboration "If You Ever" -- a cover of Shai's "If I Ever Fall in Love Again" -- almost topped the chart. A faithful update of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Walk On By" followed it into the Top Ten. The album affirmed Gabrielle's standing as one of the U.K.'s premiere soul-rooted vocalists, as proven by her earning the Best British Female award at the 1997 BRITs. Just before the end of the decade, the singer progressed even more with Rise, a recording that exuded optimism, romanticism, and devotion. Gabrielle successfully teamed with Jonathan Shorten (sometimes with additional help from Richie Fermie), Julian Gallagher and Richard Stannard, and Jonny Dollar and Simon Richmond for the album, which arrived in October 1999 and went to number one. It was with the latter duo that she returned to the top of the singles chart with "Rise," a warm perseverance anthem that sampled Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (approved by Dylan himself). "Sunrise" and "When a Woman," the singles that immediately preceded and followed "Rise," likewise climbed into the Top Ten.

Gabrielle scored another global hit with the Jonathan Shorten collaboration "Out of Reach," a Southern soul-styled ballad featured in the 2001 romantic comedy Bridget Jones' Diary. The song went to number four in the U.K. and fared similarly in several other countries. In addition to its soundtrack placement, "Out of Reach" was included on Dreams Can Come True: Greatest Hits, Vol. 1, a multi-platinum anthology released that November. "Don't Need the Sun to Shine (To Make Me Smile)," a new song that appeared on the compilation, became the singer's tenth Top Ten single. Gabrielle returned in May 2004 with Play to Win, a Top Ten album that incorporated more Southern R&B and added organic country influences. It was highlighted by the number 20 single "Stay the Same." Touring and a period of inactivity preceded Gabrielle's October 2007 return with Always. Her fifth album, Always included a duet with Paul Weller entitled "Why" that landed just outside the Top 40. Gabrielle won an Ivor Novello Award the next year for Outstanding Song Collection.

Away from the music industry for several years to raise her children, Gabrielle reappeared in 2013 with Now and Always: 20 Years of Dreaming. Primarily a retrospective of hits and remixes, the Island-issued set also contained new recordings Gabrielle made with the likes of Syience, Naughty Boy, and Emeli Sandé. After an extended period of rigorous writing and eventual partnership with a new set of collaborators that included Ian Barter and Steve Chrisanthou, Gabrielle resurfaced in August 2018 with Under My Skin, a set of mature pop that put her back into the Top Ten of the album chart with help from a new affiliation with BMG Rights Management. In March 2021, after she competed on the U.K. edition of The Masked Singer, she offered Do It Again, on which she covered Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car," Womack & Womack's "Teardrops," and Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly with His Song," along with contemporary hits by the likes of Rihanna, Harry Styles, and Billie Eilish. Do It Again hit number four on the album chart. Three years later, Gabrielle released the Ian Barter-produced A Place in Your Heart, a number 30 album containing a collaboration with Mahalia on the song "Good Enough." ~ Andy Kellman