Dido

In Greek mythology, a Phoenician princess and legendary founder of Carthage, northern Africa, in 853 BC. She was the sister of Pygmalion, king of Tyre. According to Carthaginian tradition, Dido committed suicide to avoid a marriage, but in the Latin epic Aeneid, Virgil places her 300 years earlier, attributing the suicide to her desertion by Aeneas at the fall of Troy (traditionally 1184 BC).

In the Carthaginian version, Pygmalion succeeded their father, Belus, and promptly murdered Dido's husband Acerbus (or Sychaeus). She fled with her treasure to Cyprus and then to northern Africa, where she founded Carthage on land bought from Iarbas, king of Libya. Unwilling to marry the king, she built a funeral pyre and stabbed herself before her people.

Dido (1971– )

English pop singer. She began her career with Faithless, the band created by her brother, music producer Rollo Armstrong. Her debut album No Angel (1999) combined acoustic and electronic elements to create a rich, smooth sound, and became a huge worldwide success, selling over 12 million copies. It featured the singles ‘Here With Me’ and ‘Thank You’. Her second album, Life for Rent (2003), featured the hit single ‘White Flag’.

‘Here with Me’ became the theme song for the US television series Roswell (1999–2002), and the single ‘Thank You’ joined the soundtrack of the hit film Sliding Doors (1998). ‘Thank You’ was also sampled in 2000 by rap superstar Eminem for his hugely successful single ‘Stan’, further propelling Dido's career.

Dido was born in London, England. She entered the Guildhall School of Music in London, where she learned to play piano and violin, at the age of six, and travelled during her teen years with a classical ensemble. She sang with some London bands and attended law school before joining Faithless. She sang ‘Flowerstand Man’ on the band's 1996 debut album, Reverence, and also collaborated on the band's next album, Sunday 8 pm (1998). She signed with US record label Arista in 1999.