Elle King Biography

Tanner Elle Schneider (born July 3, 1989), known professionally as Elle King, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her musical style encompasses country, soul, rock and blues. In 2012, King released her debut EP, The Elle King EP, on RCA. The EP track "Playing for Keeps" is the theme song for VH1's Mob Wives Chicago series. She released her debut album, Love Stuff on February 17, 2015. The album produced the US top 10 single "Ex's & Oh's," which earned her two Grammy Award nominations. King has also toured with acts such as Of Monsters and Men, Train and Michael Kiwanuka. She is the daughter of comedian Rob Schneider and former model London King.

Early life

King was born in Los Angeles, California, United States, to mother London King, a former model; and father, former SNL cast member Rob Schneider. She is of Jewish, Filipino, English, and Scottish ancestry. Her parents divorced and her mother remarried. She grew up living in southern Ohio, between Wellston and Columbus. When she was nine, her stepfather, Justin Tesa, gave her a record by all-girl hard-rock band The Donnas; she views this as the pivotal moment when she decided she wanted to be a musician. Around this time, she also started listening to The Runaways and Blondie, and she made her acting debut alongside her father in the movie Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. Three years later, at 13, King started playing guitar, immersing herself in the music of Otis Redding, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, AC/DC (she has the band's logo tattooed on her bicep), and Earl Scruggs. Her interest in the country and bluegrass of Hank Williams and Earl Scruggs inspired her to learn the banjo. During her teenage years, she attended Buck's Rock camp in Connecticut, where she starred successfully in a number of musicals. King plays guitar and banjo.

King spent her teenage years in New York City, but she has also lived in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Copenhagen, Denmark. Upon graduating from Elisabeth Irwin High School, she moved to Philadelphia to matriculate at University of the Arts, studying painting and film. During these college years, she had an artistic epiphany seeing a live show where the band onstage used a banjo purely for accompaniment purposes, eschewing the bluegrass and country musical vocabulary traditionally associated with the instrument. King then began to use the banjo as a compositional tool. After college, she briefly lived in Copenhagen and Los Angeles, before moving back to New York where she currently resides in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Career

1999-2013: Films and The Elle King EP

In 1999, she debuted as an actress in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. In 2005, at age 16, she started gigging around New York City, using a fake ID to gain entry to the local nightclubs. King immersed herself in the local songwriting scene and honed her performance skills by busking around town. King was then signed by newly appointed RCA Chairman Peter Edge. Her debut single "Good To Be A Man," was released on March 13, 2012, as a digital download and also as a 7" vinyl single. On June 12, 2012, the four-song The Elle King EP was released on RCA. The EP was recorded in New York and was produced by Andy Baldwin and Chris DeStefano, with King herself producing a track. The EP's lead track, "Playing for Keeps," was chosen as the theme song for VH1's Mob Wives Chicago series that premiered on June 10, 2012, on VH1. King has been spotlighted as an "Artist to Watch in 2012" by Esquire Magazine and Refinery 29 and has made television appearances on VH1 Big Morning Buzz Live and the Late Show with David Letterman. King has played Austin, Texas, at the South by Southwest Festival, as well as the Hammersmith Apollo. She has also taped her own PBS Arts In Context special for KLRU Austin at the Austin City Limits recording studio. She has toured with Of Monsters and Men, Train and Michael Kiwanuka and has opened for Dashboard Confessional, Dropkick Murphys, Dry the River, James Bay and Ed Sheeran.

2014-present: Love Stuff

In September 2014, King released "Ex's & Oh's," which serves as the lead single off her debut album. She released the album, Love Stuff on February 17, 2015. She performed "Ex's & Oh's" the next day on The Today Show to promote it. The song has reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming King's first top 10 single in the United States. "Ex's & Oh's" received two nominations at the 58th Grammy Awards: Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song. In July 2015, King supported Modest Mouse on their UK tour. Afterwards, "Under the Influence" and "America's Sweetheart" were released as singles for rock radio and mainstream radio, respectively. In 2016, her single "Good Girls" featured on the Ghostbusters soundtrack and played over the movie's credits. In 2016, she teamed up with country singer Dierks Bentley for the song "Different for Girls". They performed this song at the 50th CMA Awards on November 2, 2016 where she and Bentley won the award for Musical Event of the Year.

Personal life

She has stated numerous times on her social media accounts that her natural hair color is pink.

She started dating a fan of Scottish football team Rangers named Andrew (Fergie) Ferguson in January 2016. The couple got engaged in February 2016, on a sailing trip around the San Francisco Bay two weeks after they started dating. They married on February 14, 2016, after 3 weeks of dating and confirmed their divorce on May 15, 2017.

Elle was featured on TLC's "Say Yes to the Dress" in February 2017.

She has several tattoos on her body (both arms and her left breast). She also worked at a tattoo company called East Side Ink.

Discography

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Studio albums

• Love Stuff (2015)

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo	Cookie Girl
2006	The Benchwarmers	Carol
2009	Wild Cherry	Sabrina
2010	Legends of La La	Herself	Documentary
2015	The Last Playlist	Herself	Documentary

Concert tours

Headlining

• Love Stuff Tour (2015-present)

Opening act

• Dashboard Confessional - The Swiss Army Romance (2010)
• Of Monsters and Men - My Head Is an Animal Tour (2011)
• Train - California 37 Tour (2012)
• Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again Tour (2012)
• Dropkick Murphys - Signed and Sealed in Blood Tour (2013)
• Ed Sheeran - + Tour (2013)
• Dry the River - Alarms in the Heart Tour (2014)
• James Bay - Chaos and the Calm Tour (2015)
• Modest Mouse - Strangers to Ourselves Tour (2015)
• Dixie Chicks - DCX MMXVI World Tour (2016)

Awards and nominations

Year	Awards	Category	Recipient	Outcome	Ref.
2016	Grammy Awards	Best Rock Performance	"Ex's & Oh's"	rowspan="2"
		Best Rock Song
	iHeartRadio Music Awards	Alternative Rock Song of the Year
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Rock Song	"America's Sweetheart"
	CMA Awards	Vocal Event of the Year	"Different for Girls" (with Dierks Bentley)
2017	Grammy Awards	Best Country Duo/Group Performance
	ACM Awards	Vocal Event of the Year
	CMT Music Awards	Video of the Year
		Collaborative Video of the Year
	Billboard Music Awards	Top Country Collaboration