Ellie Goulding - Singer-songwriter, Timeline and Childhood

Elena Jane Goulding was born on December 30, 1986, in Lyonshall, a small village near Kington, Herefordshire. Her father, Arthur Goulding, belonged to a family of undertakers while her mother, Tracey Goulding-Summers, worked at a supermarket.

She is the second child of her parents and has an elder sister named Isabel, a brother named Alex and another sister named Jordan. Her brother, Alex, is a bass player and is part of a band in Hereford.

Her father left the family when she was only five years old. Her mother later married a lorry driver, but they eventually separated. Ellie is so furious with her stepfather that she mentioned in an interview that she would punch him in the face if she meets him again.

Her mother encouraged her to pursue music as a child. She learned to play the clarinet at the age of nine and started writing her own songs when she was 14. However, she took songwriting seriously only during her college days.

While studying at the Lady Hawkins' High School in Kington, she played the role of the Scarecrow in a school production of 'The Wizard of Oz'. She would later pursue courses in drama, politics, and English at the University of Kent.

While studying at the University of Kent, Ellie Goulding became interested in electronic music. She contacted record producer Frankmusik via MySpace and with his help developed her own brand of "folktronica" music through the track 'Wish I Stayed'.

During this time, she was discovered at a university talent contest by scout Jamie Lillywhite who started as her manager and later became the A&R. He introduced her to his superior, Sarah Stennett, who advised her to leave university and offered her a house in West London.

Jamie soon introduced her to Starsmith, a record producer, who helped release her debut single 'Under the Sheets' on November 15, 2009 and later produced her album 'Lights'. She was already signed to Polydor Records in July, but they decided to release the song from independent label Neon Gold Records to reduce pressure on her.

Soon after the release of her debut EP 'An Introduction to Ellie Goulding' on December 20, 2009, she was nominated for the 'Critics' Choice Award' at the 2010 'Brit Awards'. She won the award, as well as the 'BBC Sound of 2010' poll. During this time, she co-wrote three songs for Diana Vickers and one song for Gabriella Cilmi.

On February 26, 2010, she released her first full-length album 'Lights', which debuted at number one on the 'UK Albums Chart'. It was followed by her second EP, 'Run into the Light', which contained remix of songs from 'Lights' and was released in August that year.

She re-released her album 'Lights' in November 2010 as 'Bright Lights', which contained six new tracks. The album featured a cover version of Elton John's 'Your Song' which reached number two on the 'UK Singles Chart'.

On April 7, 2011, she appeared on American television for the first time on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' and performed 'Starry Eyed'. One month later, she appeared on 'Saturday Night Live' hosted by Tina Fey.

On April 29, 2011, she performed at the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, both of whom were her fans. On December 1, 2011, she performed at the White House during the National Christmas Tree lighting.

October 5, 2012, Ellie Goulding released her second studio album 'Halcyon', which debuted at No.2 on the 'UK Albums Chart' and topped the chart in January 2014. She released an expanded version of the album, titled 'Halcyon Days', containing ten new tracks, on August 23, 2013.

In late 2012, she recorded the song 'Bittersweet' from the soundtrack of 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2'. One year later, she performed the song 'Mirror' from the film 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'. She also recorded the song 'Beating Heart' for the 2014 film 'Divergent'.

'Delirium', her third studio album, was released on November 6, 2015, and was received with positive reviews by critics. The album included the song 'Love Me like You Do' from the soundtrack of the 2015 film 'Fifty Shades of Grey', for which she received her first 'Grammy Award' nomination for 'Best Pop Solo Performance'.

Ellie Goulding's third album, 'Delirium', debuted at number three on both the 'UK Albums Chart' and the 'US Billboard 200', and became her most successful album so far based on first-week sales. The album has already been certified Platinum in Britain.

Ellie Goulding has won four 'BMI London Awards' and two 'Brit Awards' among other accolades. She has so far achieved 17 awards and 66 nominations, including a nomination at the 58th 'Grammy Awards'.

Ellie Goulding was in a relationship with BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James from 2009 to 2011. Her album 'Halcyon' was influenced by her breakup with James. She briefly dated Skrillex in 2012 and Ed Sheeran in 2013.

She revealed her relationship with musician, Dougie Poynter, in May 2014, following which they started to appear together at various events. The pair broke up in March, 2016, apparently due to busy work schedules.

She suffered from severe panic attacks before her performances in the beginning of her career. She started exercising to control her anxiety, aiming to run six miles a day. In 2011, she participated in a charity event for 'Students Run LA' and in 2013 she ran in the inaugural 'Nike Women Half Marathon'.

She performed at Gucci's global concert event in London in support of 'Chime for Change' campaign to raise awareness of women's issues. She sang the official single for the 2013 'Children in Need' campaign, 'How Long Will I Love You'. She also recorded 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' as part of the charity group 'Band Aid 30' to raise funds for the Ebola crisis.

According to Ellie Goulding, her father was obsessed with murder. When she was still young, he gave her a collection of crime files with vivid pictures of high profile murders.