Heap grew up playing music from an early age, and by her eleventh birthday she was writing her own songs. From the age of 15, she studied at the BRIT School Of Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon, South London, recording three tracks for the school's annual CD between 1994 and 1995, "Aliens" being the title track of the latter.
After being introduced to Nik Kershaw by his manager Mickey Modern, Heap and Kershaw recorded four demos that Mickey Modern took to Rondor Music. Consequently, a few months later Heap signed her first record contract at 18 to independent record label Almo Sounds. During 1996, Heap began working with an experimental pop band called Acacia, which featured her future collaborator Guy Sigsworth and was fronted by the singer Alexander Nilere. While never a full member of the band, Heap was a guest vocalist (as a counterpart to Nilere) and contributed to various Acacia single and album tracks in 1997. One Acacia song, "Maddening Shroud", would later be covered by Frou Frou.
Heap enjoyed a prestigious live début, performing four songs (backed by friends Acacia) between sets by The Who and Eric Clapton at the 1996 Prince's Trust Concert in Hyde Park, London. Her début album, I Megaphone (an anagram of "Imogen Heap") was internationally released in 1998 on independent record label Almo Sounds and garnered critical acclaim. However, as production of the album neared completion, it was announced that the record label had been sold and would be shut down. I-Megaphone featured collaborations with Guy Sigsworth and Dave Stewart. In Japan, the regional distributor, Zora, re-released the album in 2002, featuring "Blanket," her collaboration with Urban Species which was released as a single in the United Kingdom, and a Frou Frou remix of one of her B-sides, a video to which was released exclusively to Japanese media. Following the disbanding of her UK and USA record label, I Megaphone was scarce in circulation, having not been re-printed until November 2006. An independent Brazillian record label has rights to the record, and has issued limited copies, some of which are available on eBay. It has also been released through the iTunes Music Store under the Almo label.
At the same time as the Japanese re-release, Heap was working on new tracks with producer Guy Sigsworth, who had collaborated on "Getting Scared" from I-Megaphone. Together, they formed an electro-pop group Frou Frou, releasing an album called "Details" and singles, "Breathe In", "It's Good To Be In Love" and "Must Be Dreaming." The album was a full collaboration between the two artists. Frou Frou were approached to cover "Holding Out for a Hero", originally performed by Bonnie Tyler, for the soundtrack to the highly successful movie Shrek 2. An album track, "Let Go", was featured in the movie Garden State in 2004.
In December 2003, Heap announced on her web site that she was going to write and produce her second solo album, using her site as an online blog to update fans on progress, even seeking them to be her A&R team for the lyrics to "Daylight Robbery". Heap set herself a deadline of one year to make the album (she booked the album mastering for December 2004), and re-mortgaged her flat to fund production costs, including the use of studio time and instruments (which she purchased as a birthday present to herself). Having been burned by previous challenges with record labels (Heap had been spurned twice by record companies, when Almo Sounds was sold and when Frou Frou's label staff focused on promoting other acts), Heap decided to form her own record label on which to release the new record. At the end of 2004, Heap premiered two album tracks online, enabling fans to pay for a digital download, entitled "Just For Now" (which was up for a limited time as a Christmas gift), and "Goodnight And Go", which had been featured on the second season of hit US TV drama The O.C.
In April 2005, The O.C. season two finale featured another track, the sparse vocodered-vocal track, "Hide And Seek". The track was released immediately to digital download services such as iTunes where it became an instant fixture in the chart. The track was released as a digital download on the 5th July 2005 in the UK and peaked at #8 on the iTunes download chart.
The album, entitled "Speak For Yourself" was then released in the UK on July 18th 2005 on her own record label, Megaphonic Records. The album was also released on iTunes UK, where it entered the top 10, selling strongly. "Hide And Seek" also received radio attention from the popular UK radio station BBC Radio One, with DJ Scott Mills featuring it as his "Record of the Week", and provoking strong reactions ("love it or hate it") from other DJs at the station. Due to popular demand, the track was commercially released on a special limited edition (1500 copies were printed) 7" vinyl in the UK in September. Speak For Yourself was licensed to Sony BMG imprint RCA Victor in August 2005, enabling the record to be released in the United States, Canada and Mexico. It was released in those territories in November, and Heap appeared on the Hotel Cafe Tour promoting the record. Imogen also performed "Goodnight And Go" on The Late Show with David Letterman on January 11, 2006. Heap is slated to continue touring in 2006 in the US and UK to support the record.
As well as TV soundtracks (Frou Frou and Heap's solo records have been featured in shows as varied as The O.C. to CSI, among others), Heap has also contributed solo tracks to movie soundtracks. Her cover of the song "Spooky" (made famous by the band Classics IV, and previously covered by Dusty Springfield) for the soundtrack to the Reese Witherspoon movie Just Like Heaven. Heap also wrote a special track entitled "Can't Take It In" for the soundtrack to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She has also appeared on the second soundtrack for the HBO television series "Six Feet Under", entitled "Six Feet Under Vol. 2: Everything Ends" with a 50-second track that closed the Season 4 episode "I'm A Lonely Little Petunia (In An Onion Patch)". Three versions were recorded and are available from Heap's official web site.
In addition to producing her own records, she has also produced a track for Nik Kershaw and has collaborated with artists as diverse as Joshua Radin, Jeff Beck, Temposhark, LHB, Way Out West, Jon Bon Jovi, Mich Gerber, Sean Lennon, Urban Species, Blue October, Jon Hopkins and Acacia.
Heap's 2009 album 'Ellipse' features Canvas, Aha! and Half Life.
Sites: Twitter
www.imogenheap.com
Aha!
Imogen Heap Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And breathe that you're full of the stuff
Go back, get tied up tight
Wheat-meat-dairy-free, tee total,
So happy clappy high on life
You should try it, you know
Go on while no one's looking
A-ha! caught you now!
Caught ya red handed in the biscuit tin!
Cost you to keep me quiet
Golden boy boots
Pocket pedestal
Picking shots at my moves
Plastic, tin can, paper, separated
Busy bee wave, wave 'save the planet' flag
But sneaky in suburbia
A-ha! candid camera!
Hook, line and sinker
For the four-wheel drive
Cost you to keep me quiet!
Keep me quiet! (keep me quiet!)
Nicest sweetest
Utmost in everything
It's so charming, very charming
Well reckon play the fool no one's ill at ease
And put the deepest Swiss bank trust in you
No one saw it coming
In Imogen Heap's song Aha!, the lyrics capture the inner thoughts of a person as they observe those around them, their actions, and how they try to present themselves. The first verse talks about how people always try to present themselves as living a perfect life, where they eat healthily, maintain a particular lifestyle, and try to be happy clappy all the time. In reality, these people are just trying to fit in and not stand out from everyone else. The line "Go on while no one's looking" shows how in reality, they are not happy with their life. The chorus "A-ha! caught you now!" is Imogen's way of pointing out that she has noticed the facade and is calling it out. She is saying that she knows the person got caught up in the act of trying to fit in and act perfect.
The second verse talks about people who pretend to care about the environment, but in reality, they do not care at all. These people often give off an elitist vibe, talking about saving the planet, but behind closed doors, they are not doing the things they preach. The lyric "sneaky in suburbia" is a nod to those people who appear to be part of the solution but are not doing anything substantial, instead buying four-wheel drives and acting like they care. The final lines of the song "No one saw it coming" point to how these people are often good at covering their tracks.
Line by Line Meaning
Eat, sleep,
Focus all of your attention on something
And breathe that you're full of the stuff
Fully immerse yourself in something and believe that you possess it
Go back, get tied up tight
Return and become completely engrossed in something
Wheat-meat-dairy-free, tee total,
Follow a strictly healthy lifestyle without any indulgences
So happy clappy high on life
Extremely enthusiastic and optimistic about life
You should try it, you know
Recommending someone try something that you find beneficial
Go on while no one's looking
Do it without anyone noticing
A-ha! caught you now!
I've caught you in the act
Caught ya red handed in the biscuit tin!
I've caught you doing something wrong and have concrete evidence
Cost you to keep me quiet
You will have to pay to keep me from exposing your secret
Golden boy boots
Foolishly and naively idolizing someone or something
Pocket pedestal
Always carrying someone or something around with you as if it's the most important thing in the world
Picking shots at my moves
Criticizing and trying to bring down another's actions or decisions
Plastic, tin can, paper, separated
Properly recycling and being conscious of waste
Busy bee wave, wave 'save the planet' flag
Actively promoting environmentalism and being an advocate for saving the planet
But sneaky in suburbia
Acting as if you're innocent and responsible in your community, but secretly doing something wrong
A-ha! candid camera!
I've caught you on camera doing something wrong
Hook, line and sinker
Easily and completely being tricked or manipulated
For the four-wheel drive
For material possessions that don't truly hold value
Nicest sweetest
Appearing on the surface to be kind-hearted and genuine
Utmost in everything
Being the best in every aspect and detail
It's so charming, very charming
Presenting yourself in a way that seems attractive and appealing
Well reckon play the fool no one's ill at ease
Purposely playing dumb so that others don't feel uncomfortable or self-conscious around you
And put the deepest Swiss bank trust in you
Trusting someone with something extremely valuable or sensitive
No one saw it coming
Doing something completely unexpected and surprising
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind