So began a passion that eventually led Dido from listener to participator: she started singing with various bands in and around London, and despite the fact that her brother, Rollo, told her not to give up her day job, she eventually appeared on the debut album of a band that Rollo formed in 1995. This band was Faithless, and they went on to sell five million records. Over the next two years, Dido toured with Faithless (a very different experience from her classical days) and, whenever she was back in London, also recorded demos of her own songs. On Faithless's current release, Sunday 8 p.m., Dido appears on two songs--one of which incorporates her own 'My Lover's Gone.'

Arista Records heard these demos at the beginning of 1997, and Dido was invited to the Dorchester Hotel in London to meet Clive Davis. The meeting was successful (Clive even helped out with some of the backing vocals, as Dido sang to him).