1. J.MCELLIGOTT/16-01-2014/
This girl has brought the blues back, she’s suffered heartache of great proportions, and used that to
fuel her music to the top of the charts, with her hit single ‘Looking through the spyglass’ soon to be
featured in her upcoming album, ‘’. I’m sure you’ve guessed it by now, it’s Ellie Hawking. We spoke
to Ellie three days after she hit number one, at her home in Solihull and she was giving us a insight
into her life and her music.
Last week and still today Ellie finds her song 'looking through the spyglass' at number one. I love Pop
as much as the next guy but it’s good to finally see a change in genre as the same sort of music and
songs seem to keep ending up great hits. When we met Ellie we asked her how she feels that her
song has done as well as it has, and why she thinks it’s done so this was her response.
"Well I'll be honest I'm still in shock, I can't believe it. I wrote that song, to give hope to those
struggling with their lives, suffering loss and bereavement and broken heartedness. It's was only
supposed to be for the sixty something people that read my blog. I didn't expect it to be listened to
on a scale it has done. Then to hear it on the radio and now rumours of a nomination for a Brit
award as a newcomer. It's surreal. The reason why I think it's done so well is because, as I say it
wasn't supposed to be listened to at this scale, so it was quite private, though I didn't actually reveal
anything personal, every lyric was true and I meant every word, and emotion that came with the
song. I think the audience felt what I felt and related"
She told us she was unprepared for fame and wouldn't let it go to her head. She said "I've
experience plenty in my life to know where my heart is, my music. If fame comes with that then

2. great but I won't abuse it, I know my place."
One the great and unique elements to Ellie's song relative to others released this year is the use of
big band. A full 32 piece orchestra features in much of Ellie's music. The orchestra is excellent idea as
it gives her music a life; the music is unedited and pure. The skill of the musicians is excellent, and
shouldn't be overlooked.
When we asked Ellie why she had written this song and what had inspired it she told us her
devastating story:
Ellie was born on 23rd March 1997, where she lived in Hall green until she was 9 when she moved to
Solihull in early 2007. She spent four years with the Solihull Choral society, as singing came as a
second nature to her. She revealed to us a tragic, fact about her life, at the age of 13 in 2011 her
parents died together in a car crash. Ellie, was then put in a care home until she of appropriate age
to leave. She spent two years alone, refusing to get close with anyone, fearing loss again. Her love
for music and singing was lost. When she was fifteen she knew she couldn't live like that much
longer, so she started writing a blog, she gained viewer from advertising in a forum for orphaned
children and reached a maximum of 64 regular viewers. She wanted to do something special for
them, so this at the end of last year she began writing. She couldn't read or write music so Ellie got
back in contact with her teacher at the Solihull Choral Society to help compose the music. She then
had a song and so published it on Soundcloud.com a website for sharing music.
The song found fame when BBC Radio 2 caught sight of this and played it once to feature in their

3. amateur music section. Within a week the song had been viewed over 20000 times on soundcloud.
Ellie made a decision to post the song to iTunes and charge only 69 pence for the song. It reached
number one in 10 days.
We asked Ellie her plan for the future and she said:
"I don't know really, I think I'll just keep writing there's plenty more I have to say. If I lose my muse I
will go out and find one, I'm not going to pander to the world and just write for the sake of it, I'm not
bothered about fame, I just want people to see what really matters, through my music."