2009–2012: Early career Vocalist Hannah Reid and guitarist Dan Rothman are originally from London and met in the Ancaster Hall student residence at the
University of Nottingham during their first year in 2009. Rothman saw that Reid played the guitar and contacted her to see if she wanted to collaborate. They were joined by
Northampton native Dominic "Dot" Major (keyboard,
djembe, drums) a year later, after he began playing music together with Rothman. They chose the name as "not only was it where we're from, but London is also so international and multicultural that it actually felt like quite a universal name in a way." The band began playing low-key gigs at local bars, honing their material. Later in the year, the band continued to work with Tim Bran of
Dreadzone and
Roy Kerr, and by the end of the year, most of the recording had been completed. On 12 November 2012, the trio posted their song "
Hey Now" remixed for Sasha by The Cut on YouTube; it immediately received a huge amount of attention.
2013–2016: If You Wait Their EP
Metal & Dust followed in February 2013, and it made the top five of the iTunes chart in Australia. It created a lot of interest, and the band received significant airplay on national radio. The band has recorded two live sessions for Radio 1, and they played at 10 summer 2013
European music festivals. In September 2013, Reid was the subject of a
Radio 1 Breakfast Show Twitter post, which was criticised for being sexist. The backlash forced the corporation to apologise, while the trio "decided to stay out of it". as well as at No. 11 on the
French Albums Chart, No. 13 on the
Irish Albums Chart and No. 22 on the
New Zealand Albums Chart. The band is signed to
Columbia Records in the United States. On 8 December 2013, a single for the album, "
Nightcall" was released. Their cover was used again in
Reckless in its last episode, "Civil Wars Part 2". On 13 January 2014, the band performed "
Strong" and "
Wasting My Young Years" on
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, marking their debut performance on American television. On 26 January 2014 the bands rising success in Australia was recognised in Triple J's Hottest 100 countdown for 2013, with "
Strong", "Hey Now" and "
Wasting My Young Years" placing 10th, 35th and 61st respectively. On 1 April 2014, the
Official Charts Company announced that London Grammar's
If You Wait was the fifth top-selling album of 2014 so far, with sales of over 138,000 copies (356,000 total). London Grammar won an
Ivor Novello Award in the Best Song Musically and Lyrically category for "Strong". And later in 2014, they won two awards – "Independent Breakthrough of the Year" and "PPL Award for Most Played New Independent Act" – at the AIM Independent Music Awards. On 2 September 2014, French fashion house
Dior released an advertisement campaign for
J'Adore that featured the song "Hey Now" (
The Shoes remix). After the 2016 acquisition of
Ministry of Sound Recordings by
Sony Music, London Grammar's catalogue remained to be distributed by
Universal Music Group in most of the world and
Because Music in France.
2017–2019: Truth Is a Beautiful Thing On 1 January 2017, London Grammar shared the single "
Rooting for You", marking the group's first new music since their debut album in 2013. A month later, on 1 February, they shared the second single, "Big Picture", via their Facebook page, which they also performed on
Later with Jools Holland.
Truth Is a Beautiful Thing was released on 9 June 2017. The album was largely recorded with producers
Paul Epworth and
Greg Kurstin. It charted at No. 1 in the UK. During the autumn of 2017, the band's cover version of the
Chris Isaak song "
Wicked Game" was used in the trailer for the BBC series
Peaky Blinders. In March 2018, the band's song "Hell to the Liars" from
Truth Is a Beautiful Thing was featured on Season 4 of the E! show
The Royals in the second episode, "Confess Yourself to Heaven". In June 2019, London Grammar was featured on "Let You Know", a song by Australian musician
Flume.
2020–2023: Californian Soil On 19 August 2020, London Grammar released "
Baby It's You", their first single since 2017. This was followed by the premiere of "Californian Soil" on 1 October before the launch of their third album, also titled
Californian Soil, which was released on 16 April 2021. "America" was one of the first songs written for the album, and was written about letting go of the past. The launch of "Californian Soil" was accompanied by a full live performance on
YouTube. London Grammar were nominated for the "Best Group" at the Brit Awards 2022. A second track from the album called "Kind of Man" was released on 17 May. A third track from the album called "Into Gold" was released on 21 June. ==Musical style==