Born in Los Angeles, California, on 18 December, 2001, Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell was raised in LA’s Highland Park neighborhood. Her parents Maggie Baird and Patrick O’Connell are both actors and musicians, and her older brother, singer-songwriter, musician and record producer Finneas O’Connell has been instrumental in making her the star she is.
As children, the O’Connell siblings were encouraged to experiment and express themselves through whichever art form they were interested in. Billie was homeschooled, and her mother taught both her the basics of songwriting. While Finneas worked on music for his band, the siblings sometimes wrote songs together. Billie actively participated in talent shows and joined the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus at age eight. When she was 11, she wrote her first song inspired by ‘The Walking Dead’.
In October 2015, Billie released the song ‘Ocean Eyes’ on SoundCloud. The song had been written and produced by Finneas and recorded on the request of her dance teacher for a dance routine. While they had released some of their music on the song-sharing platform before, ‘Ocean Eyes’ changed their lives overnight. It received praise and promotion from many media outlets, radio stations and big-wigs in the business.
In August 2016, Billie was signed to the record label The Darkroom, an imprint of Interscope Records. Her rollout as an artist centered largely on creating a distinct persona and aesthetic, a personality that has now come to be unmistakably Billie Eilish. In November of that year, ‘Ocean Eyes’ was re-released followed by her single ‘Six Feet Under’. Her first EP, ‘Don’t Smile At Me’ came out in August 2017 and in March 2019, her debut studio album ‘When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ was released with popular tracks ‘Xanny’, ‘All the Good Girls Go to Hell’ and ‘When the Party’s Over’. Her single ‘Bad Guy’, also part of the album, peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Charts in August 2019 and has become an electropop anthem.
It is not just her music that has made waves, her style too has made her a household name. Her off-beat persona, dark and weird videos, her unique melancholic sound, the baggy and neon fashion and just her being unapologetically herself has given her generation an anti-pop star hero!
At the 62nd Grammy Awards, Billie Eilish won big, sweeping all four main categories – Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year, becoming the youngest person and first woman to do so. Shortly after, she released the title track for the James Bond film ‘No Time to Die’, written and produced by Finneas, which became her first number one single in the UK.
Even though her music career has brought her fame, fortune and accolades, Billie Eilish still lives in her parents’ home in Highland Park, LA, and makes music with her brother in their room. And with her star ever rising, we can’t wait to hear the music she’s got in store for us!