Billie Piper (born Leian Paul Piper on September 22, 1982 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England) is a female English actress and former pop/dance singer from the late '90s/early '00s.
On April 25, 1983, Leian's name was officially changed to Billie Paul Piper by her parents Paul Victor Piper and Mandy Kane Kent. She studied at the Sylvia Young Theatre School.
Billie began her career when she was selected to appear on the Saturday morning children's television show "Scratchy & Co." She later landed a role in a TV commercial promoting pop magazine "Smash Hits." At the young age of 15, Billie was offered a record deal.
In June of 1998, Billie released her debut single "Because We Want To" which topped the U.K. Singles chart for a week in July of that same year. She became the youngest artist to ever debut at number one.
It also became the official song of the 1999 Women's World Cup. The song was also successful in Sweden, New Zealand, Ireland, Australia and Canada.
In September of 1998, Billie released her second single "Girlfriend" which became her second number-one U.K. hit. The song was also successful in New Zealand and moderately successful in Ireland, Sweden and Australia.
On October 19, 1998, Billie released her debut album "Honey to the B" which peaked at #14 on the U.K. Albums chart (and certified Platinum), #31 on the Australian Albums chart, #46 on the Japanese Albums chart, #3 on the New Zealand Albums chart (and certified 2x Platinum) and #56 on the Swedish Albums chart.
When the album was released in the U.S. a year later, it managed to peak at #17 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart.
The third single from the album "She Wants You" peaked at #3 on the U.K. Singles chart. In the United States, the song peaked at #123 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart and #9 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.
The song was also moderately successful in New Zealand and Ireland. It received positive reviews from music critics and was featured in a Target commercial after it was released in the U.S.
Billie released a holiday single, a cover version of Wham!'s song "Last Christmas." It was recorded as a B-side to the "She Wants You" single. It was released as a CD single in limited areas of Europe and didn't make the charts in any country. It was also released a promotional vinyl single in the U.K. It was limited to 500 copies and was unable to chart there.
The title song was released as the final single from the album. It managed to peak at #3 on the U.K. Singles chart and was also successful in New Zealand, Australia and Ireland.
At the 1998 "Smash Hits" Poll Winners' party, Billie was nominated for "Best New Act" and came in second. She became the first artist to win the "Princess of Pop" award. In 1999, Billie was featured on the single "Thank ABBA For the Music" which also featured artists such as Tina Cousins, Steps, Cleopatra and B*Witched.
During that same year, Billie was nominated for two BRIT Awards and won two awards at the 1999 "Smash Hits" Poll Winners' party. At the ceremony, Billie was reduced to tears as she was booed by fans of Richie Neville (a member of boy band Five that she was dating at the time).
Billie later started touring and releasing music in Asia. She also recorded a song to the soundtrack for "Pokémon: The First Movie" entitled "Makin' My Way (Any Way That I Can)." During 2000, Billie began recording her second album and decided to release further records under her full name "Billie Piper."
In May of 2000, Billie released the lead single from her follow-up album "Day & Night." The song became Billie's third number-one hit on the U.K. Singles chart.
The song received positive reviews from music critics and was certified Silver. It was also moderately successful in New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.
According to Billie's autobiography and from various sources, the single sold over a quarter of a million copies in the U.K. alone.
On July 12, 2000, Billie released her sophomore album "Walk of Life" which peaked at #14 on the U.K. Albums chart. It also charted moderately in New Zealand and Australia.
In September of that same year, the second single from the album "Something Deep Inside" was released. The song peaked at #4 on the U.K. Singles chart. The song managed to chart in New Zealand, Australia and Switzerland.
The title song was released as the last single from the album in December of 2000. The song managed to peak at #25 on the U.K. Singles chart and #66 on the Swiss Singles chart. After the release of the single, Billie decided to retire from the music business.
On February 17, 2001, Billie appeared in court to testify against a woman named Juliet Peters who was later convicted of stalking and making numerous threats against Billie and her family. The woman received psychiatric treatment as part of her sentence.
According to Billie's autobiography, she was reluctant about the court case, but was pushed by her parents & record label. She also stated in the book that this was the reason why "The Tide is High" was not released as a single.
In January of 2007, BBC 1 Radio DJ Chris Moyles began a campaign to get "Honey to the Bee" back into the Top 100 on download sales as a way of testing out new chart rules that favor download sales. The campaign was successful and "Honey to the Bee" re-entered the U.K. Singles chart at #17 (eight years after the single was first released).
In 2005, Billie took on the role of Rose Tyler in the television series "Doctor Who." From 2007 to 2011, she starred as Hannah Baxter in another television series "Diary of a Call Girl."
Billie has appeared in numerous television shows, movies and stage productions. These days, Billie continues to be active in the entertainment business as an actress.
To see the music video for "Because We Want To," go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_XI_290cfwTo see the music video for "Girlfriend," go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YECHW8BxqNgTo see the music video for "She Wants You," go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8freofp6qQTo see a fan-made video for "Last Christmas," go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf3fliDJgCATo see the music video for "Honey to the Bee," go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtT4MWzohRYTo see the music video for "Day & Night," go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhz27-BCj9oTo see the music video for "Something Deep Inside," go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLXVu_815ETo see the music video for "Walk of Life," go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkRf7gDVT54
