Kirsten Joy Child is an English singer-songwriter who is best known for singing with the pop groupClean Bandit after coming to prominence after taking part in the 2012 inaugural series of the singing talent contestThe Voice UK. Having been chosen by judge Jessie J in the programme's 'blind auditions' round, Kirsten joined other contestants on Jessie's team to compete for a place in the finals. During the 'battle rounds' Kirsten lost out to fellow contestant Toni Warne.
Early life
Kirsten Joy Child was born in 1986 and has enjoyed singing and performing from a young age. Kirsten's father, Grant, was born in South Africa, and mother, Phillipa, was born in Wimbledon. Kirsten was born in South Africa and has 3 siblings.
Music career
Music featured throughout Joy's school life through plays, assemblies local concerts, including in Rochester Cathedral, singing at church at taking part in local talent competitions. She was a contestant in a "Star4Medway", a local talent competition promoted by the Mayor of Medway. This led to the opportunity for Joy to sing one of her own songs opening on the main stage at the Kent Music Festival at Port Lympne in 2005, where acts included Girls Aloud and Lemar. Finding herself in demand within the pop world, she has toured and performed live with a variety of musicians and acts since 2009 – including:
Alongside various film soundtracks, television adverts and radio jingles. Before starting out as a session singer, Joy performed as a member of the ACM Gospel Choir in 2006. It was an extra-curricular activity at the Academy of Contemporary Music, a music academy located in Guildford, Surrey, England. Joy, Mark De-Lisser and other ACM students featured on the BBC's talent-themed television showLast Choir Standing in 2008. The ACM Gospel Choir reached the finals of the show. An article for Kentonline reported that Kirsten had "shared a stage with Gary Barlow, supported Girls Aloud and has sung in front of the Queen". She has also worked with Producers. She was a member of the United Kingdom national jury in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. In 2012, the UK version of The Voice was broadcast on BBC television and Joy took part as a solo contestant. She succeeded in the 'blind audition' round in attracting the attention of Jessie J and joined Jessie's team to compete against other teams for judges Tom Jones, Will.i.am and Danny O'Donoghue. At the 'battle round' stages, Jessie chose to pit Joy's talent against fellow contestant Toni Warne. Jessie chose Warne to go through but praised Joy's vocal talent.
''The Voice UK'' performances and results
Theme
Song performed
Original artist
Result
Blind audition
"Heaven"
Emeli Sandé
Picked for Team Jessie
Battle Rounds
"Think"
James Brown
Eliminated
Music releases
Kirsten released her debut EP 'Written in the Sky' in February 2013. It was produced by Ben Collier and Nari Man. Four of the five tracks are original songs: 'Written in the Sky', 'Remembered', 'Castles', 'Good News'; the final track 'The Wolves' being a cover of a Ben Howard song.
EP 'Written in the Sky', 2013
She attempted to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "One Life". On 25 November 2014, it was revealed that Joy was not one of the nine acts selected by SRF to move on to the live auditions and was eliminated.
Clean Bandit
Since 2016, Joy has been a member of British Pop Group, Clean Bandit. Joy performs alongside fellow pop singer Yasmin Green, with the group for their live TV and Radio performances as well as fronting their festival appearances all over the world. Joy tours around the world with Clean Bandit performing the band's many hits including "Rather Be", "Rockabye" and "Solo" and has said to particularly enjoy singing "Symphony" originally featuring Zara Larrson. As well as live singing, Joy also records backing vocals for many of the group's songs. In 2018, it was announced that Joy would become a featuring artist on one of the band's new songs on their second studio album, "What is Love?", featuring on "We Were Just Kids" with Craig David.
