Karen Harding
British musical artist
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Karen Harding (born 18 November 1991) is an English singer and songwriter from Consett, County Durham. Her first single, "Say Something", released in February 2015, entered the top 10 of the UK singles chart.
Early life
Born to an English father and Filipino mother,[1] Harding grew up in Consett and attended Moorside Community Technology College.[2] She used to work at her parents' oriental food store and, in 2008, won a regional music competition called Music Means Life.[3] One of her first recordings was a cover version of the anti-racism song "Strange Fruit", made famous by Billie Holiday.[4]
She is a supporter of Newcastle United.[citation needed]
Music career
In 2010, she competed on the television programme Eurovision: Your Country Needs You, the national final deciding who would represent the United Kingdom in that year's Eurovision Song Contest.[5] She was eliminated in the penultimate round after singing Kylie Minogue's "What Do I Have to Do".[6] Harding was a contestant on the tenth series of the television singing competition The X Factor, but was eliminated at the boot camp stage during the controversial six-chair challenge.[7][8]
Following The X Factor, Harding was approached by the producer MNEK, who had seen a video she uploaded onto the Internet of her covering Disclosure's "Latch".[9] She was subsequently signed by Disclosure's record label, Method Records.[10] Her first single, the MNEK-produced "Say Something", was released in January 2015 by Method and Capitol Records[11] and attracted notice from Fact magazine, MuuMuse, Noisey and The Singles Jukebox.[12][13][14][15] "Say Something" entered the UK Singles Chart and peaked at number seven, with frequent airplay on BBC Radio 1 and its sister station, 1Xtra.[16] It spent 26 weeks on the official charts and achieved platinum status.
Harding has worked with producers and songwriters such as Tom Aspaul, CocknBullKid, Mark J. Feist, Rodney Jerkins, Jimmy Napes and Richard Stannard.[10] She is featured on the house duo Arches' single "New Love", released in April 2015,[17] and on Blonde's single "Feel Good (It's Alright)", released in August 2015.[18] Harding played at several festivals during mid-2015, including Birmingham Pride, Ibiza Rocks, Lovebox, Manchester Pride and Parklife.[19]
Harding's influences include female solo artists such as Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson and Lisa Stansfield, as well as dance and garage acts Artful Dodger, Craig David and Madison Avenue.[1][8] She has also cited house music of the 1990s as an influence.[9]
In May 2016, Harding was selected to perform the English national anthem at the 2016 FA Cup Final. However, she missed her cue, and only managed to join in with the crowd for the last few lines.[20]
"Need Your Love", a 2023 single she recorded with Felix Cartal, was the winner of the Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2024.[21]
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Take Me Somewhere |
|
Extended plays
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Sweet Vibrations |
|
Singles
As lead artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [22] |
BEL (Wa) [23] |
IRE [24] |
NZ Hot [25] |
SCO [26] | |||||||||||||||
| "Say Something" | 2014 | 7 | 80 | 73 | — | 11 | Take Me Somewhere | ||||||||||||
| "Open My Eyes" | 2016 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | ||||||||||||
| "Like I Can" (with Tough Love) |
— | — | — | — | — | Past Present Future | |||||||||||||
| "Runaway"[28] (with Tom Ferry) |
2018 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||||||||||||
| "Picture" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| "You Already Know" (with Paul Woolford) |
2019 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "I Don't Need Love" (with Wh0) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| "It Must Have Been Love" | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "Rely" (with Future Kings & L'Tric) |
— | — | — | — | — | Sweet Vibrations EP | |||||||||||||
| "Undo My Heart"[29] (with Digital Farm Animals) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| "Let's Get Together"[30] (with Illyus & Barrientos) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| "Morning" (with Shift K3Y) |
2021 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "The Best" (with Hook n Sling and Galantis)[31] |
— | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||||||||
| "Only One" (with Felix Cartal)[32] |
— | — | — | — | — | Expensive Sounds for Nice People | |||||||||||||
| "You & I (All I Need)" | — | — | — | — | — | Sweet Vibrations EP | |||||||||||||
| "Celebrate" (with Sammy Porter) |
— | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||||||||||
| "White Horses" (with Toby Romeo and Noel Holler) |
2022 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "Other Side of Love" | — | — | — | — | — | Take Me Somewhere | |||||||||||||
| "True" (with Jonasu) |
— | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||||||||||
| "Last Christmas" (with Eden Prince |
— | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| "Wings (I Won't Let You Down)" (with Armand van Helden) |
— | — | — | — | — | Take Me Somewhere | |||||||||||||
| "Sweat" (with Majestic)[33] |
2023 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||||||||||||
| "Oops" (with Oliver Heldens) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| "Back to You" | — | — | — | — | — | Take Me Somewhere | |||||||||||||
| "Worship You" (with Martin Jensen) |
— | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||||||||||
| "Show You" (with TS7) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| "Need Your Love" (with Felix Cartal)[34] |
— | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| "Wrong Places" | — | — | — | — | — | Take Me Somewhere | |||||||||||||
| "Guardian Angel" (with Dimension) |
2025 | — | — | — | 7 | — | Non-album single | ||||||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released. | |||||||||||||||||||
As featured artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [22] |
IRE [24] | ||||||||||||||||||
| "New Love" (Arches featuring Karen Harding) |
2015 | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||||||||||||
| "Feel Good (It's Alright)" (Blonde featuring Karen Harding) |
76 | — | |||||||||||||||||
| "Sweet Lies" (Wilkinson featuring Karen Harding) |
2016 | — | — |
|
Hypnotic | ||||||||||||||
| "Good for Me" (Giorgio Moroder featuring Karen Harding) |
— | — | Non-album single | ||||||||||||||||
| "Gun Shy" (ImanoS featuring Pusha T & Karen Harding) |
2017 | — | — | xXx: Return of Xander Cage (Music from the Motion Picture) | |||||||||||||||
| "Down" (FooR featuring Karen Harding) |
— | — | Non-album singles | ||||||||||||||||
| "The Weekend" (This Diamond Life featuring Karen Harding) |
— | — | |||||||||||||||||
| "More & More" (Tom Zanetti featuring Karen Harding) |
73 | — | |||||||||||||||||
| "With U" (Official Untold Festival Anthem 2018)[35] (Tujamo featuring Karen Harding) |
2018 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| "Stay" (Le Youth featuring Karen Harding) |
— | — | |||||||||||||||||
| "All for You" (Wilkinson featuring Karen Harding) |
2019 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| "Unity" (Röyksopp featuring Karen Harding) |
2022 | — | — | Profound Mysteries II | |||||||||||||||
| "Free to Love" (Louie Vega featuring Karen Harding) |
— | — | |||||||||||||||||
| "Bring Me Joy" (Rudimental featuring Karen Harding)[36] |
2024 | 63 | — | TBA | |||||||||||||||
| "In the Jungle" (Belters Only featuring Karen Harding) |
2025 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released. | |||||||||||||||||||
Guest appearances
| Title | Year | Artist | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "All U Need"[37] | 2018 | Example | Bangers & Ballads |
Songwriting credits
| Year | Artist | Song | Album | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | The Magician | "Together" | Non-album single | [38] |
| 2016 | Alex Newell | "Shame" | Power EP | [39][40] |
| Anton Powers | "Love You Better" feat. Sabella | Non-album single | [41] | |
| 2018 | Felix Jaehn | "Figure You Out" | I | [42] |
| Rika | "The Others" | Non-album single | [43][44] | |
| Kokiri | "Pyramids" | [45][46] | ||
| BODE | "Side" feat. Natalie Wood | [47][48] | ||
| 2019 | Claire Richards | "Shame on You" | My Wildest Dreams | [49] |
| Just Kiddin | "Stay the Night" with Camden Cox | Non-album single | [50] | |
| Sonny Fodera | "Control" feat. Shannon Saunders | Rise | [51][52] | |
| "What is Love" | [53][54] | |||
| Kream | "Go Somewhere" with Rani | Non-album single | [55][56] | |
| Vion Konger | "Her Bed" feat. Nikki Ambers | [57] | ||
| 2020 | Tom Ferry | "I Think That I Like You" with Kiesza | [58] | |
| Majestic | "Bodywork" | [59] | ||
| Crazy Cousinz | "Outline" feat. Julie Bergan | [60][61] | ||
| Just Kiddin | "Time Alone" | [62][63] | ||
| Eli Brown | "Immortal" | [64][65] | ||
| Alyx Ander | "Without You" with Mya | [66][67] | ||
| Paris Blohm | "Waiting" feat. Bright Lights | [68][69] | ||
| Henri PFR | "No One Knows" with Famba feat. Chiara Castelli | [70] | ||
| Kandy | "Free Me" with Bright Lights | [71][72] | ||
| 2021 | Justus | "Meant to Be" | [73][74] | |
| Marcus Santoro | "It's Not About You" with Isabelle Stern | [75] | ||
| Pablo Bravas | "Visions" | [76] | ||
| Tom Ferry | "Not Going Home" with Avian Haviv | [77][78] | ||
| Shane Codd | "Always on My Mind" feat. Charlotte Haining | [79] | ||