Who is Bebe Rexha? Meet the Pitch Battle guest judge
The songwriting star has made hits with David Guetta and Rihanna – but she will make a success of Saturday night?
New shiny-floor TV series Pitch Battle aims to do for singing what Strictly did for dancing – but who’ll be making dreams come true in the judges' chairs?
Gareth Malone, Kelis and Deke Sharon will be the regular incumbents, but a whole host of guest stars will be joining the panel. The second of these: songwriter superstar Bebe Rexha.
Name: Bebe Rexha
Twitter: @BebeRexha
Best known for: being the vocalist on some of the biggest dance tracks of the past five years, as well as an accomplished songwriter. David Guetta, Rihanna, Iggy Azalea: Rexha's written for them all.
How does BBC1's new choir show Pitch Battle actually work?
Bio: Born 1988 in the US to Albanian parents, Rexha (real name Bleta Rexha) soon developed a love for music in her school choir while also teaching herself to play the trumpet, guitar and piano. Her work soon paid off when she won a songwriting competition hosted by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences – the organisation behind the Grammy Awards.
After a brief stint in a band with Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz, Rexha got her big songwriting break penning Lucifer for K-pop giants Shinee. She then went on to write Selena Gomez’s Like a Champion, Iggy Azalea’s Team and Nick Jonas record Under You.
And although her vocals were missing on the track, Rexha had a huge hand behind song The Monster with Rihanna and Eminem. The hook to the 2013 hit actually comes from Rexha’s song Monster Under My Bed (see the 35 second mark in the video)…
However, her voice was heard on recent club anthems: she’s the singer in David Guetta’s Hey Mama (alongside Nicki Minaj), G-Eazy's Me, Myself & I, and Martin Garrix's In the Name of Love.
It’s only this year she’s broken through with solo material, releasing her EP All Your Fault in January. The record received a lot of attention, with Rexha even nabbing her own MTV documentary Bebe Rexha: The Ride about her route to stardom.
How many have seen "Bebe Rexha: The Ride"?
I saw it and it is very beautiful, you have to see it!@BebeRexha pic.twitter.com/FpTU0MxQaE
— Bebe Rexha Today (@BebeRexhaToday) May 18, 2017
So, if you’ve not heard of her yet then just know she’s about to become massive.
