Kamille

Early life and career beginnings

Camille Angelina Purcell was born on 29 June 1988 in Streatham, London. She is of Jamaican and Cuban descent. Growing up Kamille felt she had "big shoes to fill" due to both of her parents being successful in their respective careers, with her mother being in receipt of an MBE and her father a successful business man. Kamille grew up singing and even attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School part-time on the weekends where she developed her singing, dancing and acting skills, however her parents always encouraged her to focus on her education. Following her parents advice, went on to gain a degree in economics, before working as a stockbroker.

Kamille started her songwriting career when she was introduced to a producer by a family friend and began spending time in a studio after work. She decided one day to leave her job on her lunch break and never went back. Months later in 2012, Kamille had her breakthrough when a song she had co-written, "What About Us", was pitched to Polydor Records and given to The Saturdays featuring Sean Paul. The track went straight to number one in the UK.

Songwriting, production and Pure Cut

Following on from her success with "What About Us", Kamille began writing with artists such as Leona Lewis, Jessie J, JLS, and most notably Little Mix. In November 2013, Little Mix released their sophomore album Salute in which Kamille had co-written 3 songs. This began a long-term relationship between her and the girls which propelled them, and Kamille herself, to worldwide success. In 2015, Little Mix released the first single from their third album, "Black Magic", co-written by Kamille, which went straight to #1 in the UK and remained there for 3 weeks. This also gained Kamille her first Brit Award nomination for Best British Single in 2016.

Later that year she wrote "Shout Out to My Ex", the first single from their 4th album, Glory Days. The track also 3 weeks at #1 in the UK and has since been certified 4× Platinum in the UK, becoming the first single by a girl group in a decade to achieve this milestone, and their most notable hit to date. The track won Kamille and Little Mix their first Brit Award in 2017, for Best British Single.

In total, she has written 32 songs for Little Mix, which have contributed to seven consecutive UK Top 5 albums and ten UK Top 20 singles. In 2018, Kamille wrote and featured on the song "More Than Words" from their fifth album, about their close relationship over the years of working together. She has been considered the group's unofficial 5th member, both publicly by Little Mix themselves, and by the national press.

Kamille has collaborated with countless other globally successful artists, achieving multiple successes. In 2018 she achieved two UK #1 singles back-to-back, first with "I'll Be There" co-written for Jess Glynne, immediately followed by "Solo" co-written for Clean Bandit featuring Demi Lovato, both of which were nominated for Best British Single at the 2019 Brit Awards. "Solo" was named the "most-Shazamed" song of 2018, and has since achieved over 1 billion streams on Spotify. Kamille's achievements were recognised at the A&R Awards 2018 where she won Songwriter of the Year.

In January 2019 Kamille co-wrote "Don't Call Me Up" for Mabel alongside Steve Mac. The song has become Mabel's most successful song to date. It peaked at #3 in the UK singles chart, was nominated for a Brit Award for Best British Single, it has achieved a 3× Platinum certification in the UK, and has amassed over 1 billion Spotify streams. The song finished as the 9th best-selling single for a female artist in the UK in 2019, and fourth best-selling by a female artist. Kamille has also co-written "Mad Love" and "Boyfriend" for Mabel which have both achieved Platinum UK certifications. She also appeared as a featured artist on Mabel's debut album High Expectations, singing a verse on the track "Selfish Love".

Artist career

In 2017, Kamille officially launched her career as an artist in her own right. She released her first single "Body" featuring Avelino in October. It was quickly followed by her debut EP My Head's a Mess on 17 November, released through Virgin records.

In March & April 2018, Kamille featured as a live solo artist for the first time when she opened for Jessie Ware on her UK Glasshouse Tour. In June 2018 she featured as the vocalist on Gorgon City & Ghosted's "Go Deep", and in July she released her new solo single "Emotional" featuring Kranium and Louis Rei. The song was later remixed to include verses from Chip and Stefflon Don.

Kamille featured as the live vocalist for British DJ Jax Jones, performing his song "Breathe" with him in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, at the 2018 Jingle Bell Ball, held at the O2 Arena in London, and on the Christmas Edition of Top of the Pops in December 2018.

In 2019, Kamille focused her artist efforts on collaboration. She appeared as a featured artist on "My Love" with Dr Vades, as well as "Easy Loving You" on SG Lewis's EP Blue. She also collaborated with GRM Daily on the track "One More Night" featuring alongside Wretch 32 & WSTRN.

At the tail end of 2019, Kamille officially launched her record label and publishing company, Pure Cut. With herself as the first signing, her first Pure Cut release was single "Don't Answer" featuring Wiley. She then released her first Christmas single on the label, "Santa x4" featuring Next Town Down.

In November 2019 Kamille appeared alongside Little Mix for the first time as an artist when she joined the girls on stage for four nights of their LM5 Tour at the O2 Arena in London to perform "More Than Words" taken from the group's fifth album, LM5, including the final date which was filmed for LM5: The Tour Film.

In 2020, Kamille released singles, "Love + Attention" and "Somebody" featuring Ebenezer, as well as featuring as an artist on "Miss Jagger" with Lotto Boyzz.

Personal life

In June 2020, she became engaged to producer Tazer and the two married in August 2021, which was documented on Channel 4's documentary-reality TV series Highlife. Purcell gave birth to a son in April 2023.

Discography

Songwriting and production credits

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