Lucie Silvas (born Lucie Joanne Silverman, 4 September 1977) is a British singer-songwriter. Early life Born in Kingston upon Thames, England, her father is from New Zealand and is of Jewish descent; and her mother is Scottish and is Christian. Silvas has two sisters, Mia (who has performed backing vocals for her), and Nikki. Her parents were also big music lovers and Silvas has stated this inspired her career, besides the fact that her mother was an opera singer and wanted to pursue a career in music herself. Silvas learned to play piano at the age of 5, and had written her first song by age 10. She relocated many times between her parents' native countries as well as England. Her family moved to Thames Ditton, Surrey, England, when she was 13. She entered a Jewish Care Young Performer competition and came in third when she was 14. She attended Surbiton High School for Girls and left at 16 before going to Brooklands College, in Weybridge, Surrey. After leaving college at the age of 18, Silvas became a backing singer for Judie Tzuke, who helped her write much of her first album, entitled Breathe In. Career 2000–02 In 2000, Silvas signed to EMI Records. In June 2000, she released her debut single, "It's Too Late", which peaked at No. 62 in the UK Singles Chart. An album, entitled Forget Me Not, was also planned for release but EMI terminated her contract after the poor reception of the single. In 2001, Chrysalis Records (an EMI subsidiary) contacted her, this time for songwriting. She signed a publishing contract and, despite being without a record label to release her music, she continued writing and had songs recorded and released by British artists including Sarah Whatmore, Will Young, Gareth Gates, Rachel Stevens and Liberty X. Several of Silvas' songs for other artists have become chart hits. 2003–05: Breathe In In 2003, Silvas recorded a duet with the Spanish singer Natalia called "This Time", and in 2004 she also wrote the first single off Natalia's third album, entitled "Sombras" (Shadows). The same year, Silvas also wrote "I'm Not Your Girlfriend" for the Spanish singer Cristie. In 2003, Silvas signed a recording contract of her own with Mercury Records. She recorded her second album, Breathe In, which was to become her official debut album in October 2004. Produced by Mike Peden, much of Breathe In was