In 2001, the radio waves were graced with an absolute dance floor banger that has found itself topping the charts once again, 23 years later.
Murder on the Dancefloor is three-and-a-half minutes of pure musical joy and we have British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor to thank for it.
Ellis-Bextor, who first rose to prominence in the late ’90s as a member of the indie rock band Theaudience, released this song in her debut album Read My Lips. It peaked at number two on the UK singles chart and stayed there for 16 weeks.
That should have been the end of the song’s time on the charts, given it was decades ago. Though, thanks to the cult movie Saltburn, Ellis-Bextor and her catchy bop have found themselves squarely back in the spotlight (and on the charts) once again.
Watch the video above.
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So what has Sophie Ellis-Bextor been up to since 2001?
Ellis-Bextor, now aged 44, has released six more studio albums since her debut solo venture Read My Lips.
Her last four albums were only released in the UK, including her most recent: Hana.
Outside of music, the singer has appeared as a model for Rimmel and starred in the eleventh season of Strictly Come Dancing in 2013, placing fourth overall.
In 2022, Ellis-Bextor also made a surprise cameo on Neighbours when the series had a storyline based in London.
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Is Sophie Ellis-Bextor married and does she have children?
Ellis-Bextor met her future husband, musician Richard Jones, when he auditioned to tour with her band Theaudience in 2002.
“I was 22, and it’s quite intimidating where everybody’s auditioning to be in your band, and you’re feeling quite young and not that experienced yourself,” she told The Guardian in 2022.
“I remember thinking, ‘I don’t want this to feel awkward or weird’ because all the musicians were my peers.”
The pair tied the knot in 2005 and now share five sons: Sonny, Kit, Ray, Jesse, and youngest Mickey.
“We have moments where we annoy each other, don’t get on, all the normal stuff, but we’re both mindful to just be kind to each other,” Jones told The Guardian of their relationship.
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What did Robbie Williams call Sophie Ellis-Bextor?
Long before Murder on the Dancefloor catapulted her to global stardom, Ellis-Bextor was making headlines for a very different reason.
The singer, aged just 19 at the time, was locked in a bizarre feud with none other than Robbie Williams in 1998.
It all began when she turned down a supporting act role on Robbie’s first-ever solo tour and called him “a tart” and “a prat”.
While being interviewed on Top of the Pops, Ellis-Bextor also told host Jo Whiley: “To me he hasn’t got any charm about him, why people embrace him, I find it baffling and it makes me a bit sad really.”
Robbie then responded publicly by describing her as having “a face like a satellite dish and my nan’s ankles”.
Resurfaced footage from the interview was played in Williams’ Netflix documentary, which prompted Ellis-Bextor to apologise on Instagram.
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“In 1998, aged 19, I was very rude about @robbiewilliams and the clip of me being horrid is included in his brilliant Netflix documentary. I didn’t need to see it again to feel bad. I genuinely have felt crappy about how I spoke for the 25 years since I said it,” she wrote.
“I thought it was clever to be gobby back then but it wasn’t cool then and it’s even worse to see it now. Not proud. Not how I’m raising my kids.
“That being said, I wanted to reach out and apologise so a few years back I found an address for Robbie and wrote him a note to say how sorry I was. He was very gracious and forgiving.”
Why is Murder on the Dancefloor trending now?
The 2001 hit song is back on the charts thanks to its inclusion in the 2023 film, Saltburn, produced by Margot Robbie’s production company Lucky Chap and starring Australian actor Jacob Elordi and Irish actor Barry Keoghan.
The song is played in full at the end of the movie, when Keoghan’s character Oliver dances to the track while naked.
Ellis-Bextor’s song then began trending on TikTok, soon becoming a viral hit 23 years after it was released. Writer Emerald Fennell reached out to the singer in 2023 for permission to use her song.
Speaking to Vulture, she said it was surreal to have her song earn a new generation of fans decades after it was released.
“If you could go back to 22-year-old me and tell her ‘the song’s going to break in the U.S., you just have to wait a couple of decades’,” Ellis-Bextor said.
“As creative folk, we don’t have that much autonomy over what happens next, actually. So you also have to spend time going with momentum and reacting to stuff. So for this to happen is like a really magnified, glorious example of that.
“I think you’ve just got to be open to things. And obviously this whole thing happened because of Saltburn.”