Florence and the Machine (stylised as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of lead vocalist Florence Welch, keyboardist Isabella Summers, guitarist Rob Ackroyd, harpist Tom Monger, and a collaboration of other musicians. The band’s music has received acclaim across the media, especially from the BBC, which played a large part in their rise to prominence by promoting Florence and the Machine as part of BBC Music Introducing. At the 2009 Brit Awards they received the “Critics’ Choice” award. The band’s music is renowned for its dramatic, eccentric production and Welch’s powerful vocals.
The band’s debut studio album, Lungs, was released in July 2009, and held the number-two position for its first five weeks on the UK Albums Chart. In January 2010, the album reached the top position, after being on the chart for twenty-eight consecutive weeks. As of October 2010, the album had been in the top forty in the United Kingdom for sixty-five consecutive weeks, making it one of the best-selling albums of 2009 and 2010. “Kiss with a Fist” was released as the album’s lead single in June 2008. After the release of Lungs, “Drumming Song” and a cover of the Source and Candi Staton’s 1986 song “You’ve Got the Love” were released as singles.
The group’s second studio album, Ceremonials, released in October 2011, entered the charts at number one in the UK and number six in the US. In August 2011, the single “What the Water Gave Me” was released on iTunes along with an accompanying video on the band’s website. The single “Shake It Out” was released over the internet in September 2011. In April 2012, the band released “Breath of Life”, a song which was recorded as the official theme song for the film “Snow White and the Huntsman”.
The band’s third studio album, ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful’, was released in June 2015. It topped the UK charts, and debuted at number one on the US Billboard, their first to do so. The album reached number one in a total of eight countries and the top ten of twenty. In February, the album’s lead single “What Kind of Man” was revealed on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 show, followed by the release of music video later that day on band’s Vevo channel via YouTube. Also in 2015, the band was the headlining act at Glastonbury Festival, making Welch the first British female headliner of the 21st century.
In February 2018, the band’s drummer, Christopher Hayden, announced that he had left the band. The first single from the album, “Sky Full of Song”, was released in April 2018, followed by “Hunger” in May. Titled High as Hope, the band’s fourth studio album was released in June 2018. A third single, “Patricia”, was released in August 2018. In March 2022, Welch announced Dance Fever, the band’s fifth studio album in a post to her Instagram account also revealing the album cover and pre-order date. She described the album as “a fairytale in 14 songs” in the same post. The announcement was followed up with the release of the third single “My Love” in March. In April, the fourth single “Free” was released. The album was released in May. It debuted at number one in the UK and number two in Australia.
