Louise Redknapp Biography

Louise Redknapp was born as Louise Elizabeth Nurding on November 4, 1974, in Lewisham, London, England to Tim Nurding, a builder, and Lynne Nurding, who worked at Gatwick Airport. She was raised by her mother in a single-parent household alongside two younger brothers, Sam and Joe, and spent most of her childhood in Eltham, London, and Oxted, Surrey.

She practiced singing and dancing behind closed doors when she was only five, and while "not very academic", she participated in school plays while attending St. Thomas More Primary in Eltham. At 10, she auditioned for a scholarship to Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London and received the good news of her selection on her 11th birthday.

On her first day at Italia Conti, she met her future band-mate Kéllé Bryan, whom she later introduced to music producer Denis Ingoldsby after meeting him at a club at the age of 16. Ingoldsby teamed up the two friends with sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett to form the all-girls band, Eternal, in 1992.

Louise Redknapp's debut single Stay as part of the band, Eternal, was released on September 20, 1993 and peaked at number four on the UK music chart. The song was included in the band's debut album Always & Forever, which became the first album by a female group to sell over a million copies in the UK.

Following the success of the album, the group went on tours across the country, but unaccustomed to such experience, she started to feel miserable and homesick, and finally left the group in 1995. Later that year, she signed a record deal with First Avenue management and EMI Records and made her solo debut with the single Light of My Life.

Her third solo single, Naked, became a huge hit and reached No.5 on the UK chart, while her debut album with the same name peaked at No.7 and was eventually certified platinum. In 1997, the success of her next album Woman in Me and its lead single Arms Around The World in UK and Europe prompted her to embark on a sold-out nationwide tour.

Following her marriage in 1998, she started working on a very personal album titled Elbow Beach (2000), but despite the hype, it could not match the commercial success of its predecessors. Her five-album deal with EMI was concluded with a compilation album of her top ten hits that also featured three new tracks and peaked at No.9 on the UK chart.

She was supposed to release her fourth solo album with her manager Oliver Smallman's Positive Records, but after she became pregnant with her first child, she went on an indefinite hiatus. However, she continued to appear on various television shows and also featured on several advertising campaigns for brands like Boots, Orbit gum, Triumph lingerie and the Nintendo Wii.

In 2007, she created and starred in the controversial documentary, The Truth About Size Zero, for ITV, and later its follow up documentary The Truth about Super Skinny Pregnancies. In 2009, she presented the Five network reality series The Farmer Wants a Wife and started co-presenting BBC's Sunday morning show Something for the Weekend.

She resumed her performing career participating on the 14th series of Strictly Come Dancing with professional dancer Kevin Clifton and finished as the runners-up of the contest. She returned to music over 15 years later with a sold-out live show in London in 2017 and released her fourth solo album Heavy Love in 2020.

Louise Redknapp, who was never a fan of football, met then-Liverpool footballer Jamie Redknapp at the age of 19 and married him in a yacht ceremony in Bermuda on June 29, 1998. She struggled for years to get pregnant and was later diagnosed with endometriosis, for which she had to undergo laser surgery, but eventually did not need to go through IVF treatment.

She gave birth to her first son, Charles William Redknapp, on July 27, 2004, followed by second son, Beau Redknapp, in 2008, and focused fully in bringing up her children. However, as she resumed her career, she announced in September 2017 that she and her husband were separated, and their divorce was finalized on December 29, 2017.

Louise Redknapp was named the Sexiest Woman of the Decade by FHM magazine, voted the Sexiest Woman in the World by SKY Magazine readers, and has graced covers of magazines like Smash Hits and GQ.