Anita Kelsey

Anita Dawn Kelsey is a British singer and songwriter primarily active in the field of electronic music.

She entered the dance scene in 1997 by winning the prestigious MOBO award in the UK for her first album created with Sunship. Her vocals on this album were described as “soulful and rich” by The Face magazine. The second album gave rise to the major club hit Try Me Out, a track co-written and performed by Anita Kelsey, which became the anthem of Ayia Napa in 2001 and established Sunship as one of the UK’s seminal garage acts. Their remix of [song]You Bring Me Flowers[/song] reached number one on the UK national charts.

She also collaborated on three of Matt Cooper’s Outside albums, more experimental productions that revealed a more intimate, deep, and ethereal aspect of her writing and vocal work.

Another commercial success came a year later with her collaboration on Shed My Skin, designated “record of the week” by Pete Tong. The track charted in the top 10 of the UK and US dance charts, reached number one on the Belgian dance charts, and entered the Belgian national charts for 22 weeks, peaking at number four. It appears on numerous compilations worldwide.

Many other collaborations followed, including the track Clouds with Grammy-nominated The Latin Project, Come Around Again with Signum, Healing and Colourless World with Cor Fijneman, Been Too Long with Bluefish (aka Evolution), and New Life with Memento.

She is regularly sought after by labels and producers to write for other artists, such as for the Virgin-signed group Lost Witness, whose singles are co-written by Anita and performed by Tiff Lacey.

As a full-time songwriter signed to BMG Music Publishing, she also lends her voice to numerous television productions, advertisements, and feature films. In the cult science-fiction film Dark City, American actress Jennifer Connelly lip-syncs to Anita Kelsey’s voice in two key scenes, and her cover of [song]Sway[/song] is used over the closing credits. She also appears in the films Bring Me The Head Of Mavis Davis, Long Time Dead, and Merlin.

Her personal project ToyShop, led with her partner David Sun (or Gordon Hulbert according to sources), gained recognition in 2004 with their single Million Miles, voted “Top Tune” in IDJ Magazine and supported by renowned DJs like Pete Tong, Pete Heller, Timo Maas, and Pete Gooding. The track is included on Defected’s Café Mambo 10th Anniversary compilation. Her more recent track Every Kiss on Extrema Records also includes a ToyShop mix.

She is working on new tracks with Signum and has completed two songs with Markus Schulz for his album, including the single First Time. She has also signed a new release with Airwave under the pseudonym “Velvet Girl”, collaborated with Trancesetters, and is exploring new house avenues with Hardsoul, Rui Da Silva, René Amesz, and TDR. She can also be heard on the soulful house track Good Lovin' on Armada’s Fame label.

Alongside her electronic career, she has worked as a backing vocalist for artists such as the Spice Girls, Boy George, Sean Ryder, and Razorlight.