Meet Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell, a revolutionary American singer-songwriter born on December 18, 2001, who has been shattering musical boundaries and captivating global audiences with her unique sound and style. With her debut single “Ocean Eyes” in 2015, written and produced by her brother Finneas O’Connell, Billie Eilish burst onto the music scene, followed by her critically acclaimed debut EP “Don’t Smile at Me” in 2017, which achieved widespread commercial success, reaching the top 15 on charts in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, and solidifying her position as a trailblazing force in the music industry.
Wiki
Full Name: Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell
Date of Birth: December 18, 2001
Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Nationality: American
Profession: Singer, Songwriter, Actress, Performer
Genre: Pop, Indie, EDM
Notable Songs: Ocean Eyes, Bad Guy, Happier than ever
Net Worth: $53 Million
Early Life & Career
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell, born on December 18, 2001, in Los Angeles, California, to actress and teacher Maggie Baird and actor Patrick O’Connell, both of whom are also musicians and play significant roles in Eilish’s tours. Billie is of Irish and Scottish descent and was conceived through in vitro fertilization. Her parents originally planned to name her Eilish, with Pirate as her middle name, but after her grandfather, William Baird, passed away while her mother was pregnant, they decided to name her Billie in his honor.
Billie and her brother Finneas were homeschooled by their mother, Maggie Baird. This decision allowed their parents to spend more time with them and give them the freedom to pursue their interests. Baird taught Billie and Finneas the basics of songwriting, inspiring Billie to explore music. Their parents encouraged the siblings to express themselves creatively, whether through art, dancing, or acting. Billie began performing at talent shows and joined the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus at the age of eight. She also started playing the ukulele at age six and wrote her first song at age 11, inspired by the television series “The Walking Dead”
In 2015, at just 13 years old, Billie began working on songs with her brother Finneas, who had been writing and producing music for several years. Their initial collaborations included the songs “She’s Broken” and “Fingers Crossed,” which they recorded and released on SoundCloud purely for fun. It was the beginning of a musical partnership that would soon take the world by storm.
Billie’s big break came with the release of her debut single “Ocean Eyes” on November 18, 2015. Written, mixed, and produced by Finneas, the track was originally created for his band, the Slightlys, before he decided it would be a better fit for Billie’s vocals. The song was initially uploaded to SoundCloud to allow Billie’s dance teacher, Fred Diaz, to access it for choreography purposes. The track quickly gained traction, amassing several hundred thousand listens in just two weeks, catching the attention of Finneas’s manager, Danny Rukasin. Rukasin recognized Billie’s potential and saw an opportunity for significant success with Finneas’s guidance.
In January 2016, Finneas and Rukasin arranged a deal with Apple Music, signing Billie to the A&R company Platoon, which specializes in packaging emerging artists before they secure major-label contracts. This partnership helped Billie develop her public image with the aid of a publicist and a stylist, connecting her to the luxury fashion brand Chanel. On March 24, 2016, the music video for “Ocean Eyes,” directed by Megan Thompson, premiered on Billie’s official YouTube channel. The song received widespread praise and promotion from various media outlets and radio stations, including Beats 1, KCRW, BBC Radio 1, Zane Lowe, Jason Kramer, Annie Mac, and Chris Douridas.
Following the success of “Ocean Eyes,” Billie and Finneas released the song “Six Feet Under” on SoundCloud on June 23, 2016. A homemade music video for the song, directed by Billie and edited by her mother, Maggie Baird, was released on June 30, 2016. In August 2016, Justin Lubliner, who had noticed Billie’s talent in 2015, signed her to Darkroom and Interscope Records. Lubliner developed Billie’s artist rollout strategy, drawing inspiration from the hip hop model of creating a distinct persona and aesthetic rather than relying on a single hit.
Darkroom and Interscope re-released “Six Feet Under” and “Ocean Eyes” for digital download and streaming on November 17 and 18, 2016, respectively. On November 22, 2016, a dance performance music video for “Ocean Eyes” was uploaded to Billie’s YouTube channel. In early 2017, Billie released an EP featuring four remixes of “Ocean Eyes” and another EP for “Six Feet Under” with remixes by various artists. The success of these remixes paved the way for the release of her single “Bellyache” on February 24, 2017, accompanied by a music video directed by Miles and AJ on March 22, 2017.
Billie continued to release new music, including the single “Bored” on March 30, 2017, which was featured on the soundtrack for the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why”. The music video for “Bored” was released on June 26, 2017. In March 2017, Apple Music showcased Billie at the South by Southwest music festival. She released the single “Watch” on June 30, 2017, followed by “Copycat” on July 14, 2017, and announced her debut EP, “Don’t Smile at Me”. Additional singles from the EP, including “Idontwannabeyouanymore” and “My Boy,” were released, leading up to the EP’s release on August 11, 2017. The EP was a sleeper hit, reaching number 14 on the US Billboard 200.
In 2019, Billie released her debut studio album, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. The album included hits like “Bad Guy,” “When the Party’s Over,” and “Bury a Friend.” “Bad Guy” became a global sensation, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning Billie several awards, including the Grammy Award for Record of the Year.
Billie’s success continued with her second studio album, “Happier Than Ever”, released in 2021. The album showcased her growth as an artist and included tracks like “Therefore I Am,” “Your Power,” and the title track “Happier Than Ever.” The album received critical acclaim and solidified her status as one of the most influential artists of her generation.
Billie Eilish’s team collaborated with Spotify, promoting her music on its most popular playlist, “Today’s Top Hits.” This partnership significantly boosted her commercial success. The Baffler described Eilish’s sound as fitting into the “streambait” genre, characterized by “mid-tempo, melancholy pop” influenced by Lana Del Rey, whose “singing style, bleakness, and hip-hop influenced production” helped shape Eilish’s aesthetic. In September 2017, Apple Music named Billie their Up Next artist, followed by a short documentary, a live session EP, and an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s radio station Beats 1. The live EP, Up Next Session: Billie Eilish, was released that month. On December 15, 2017, Billie released “&Burn,” a collaboration with American rapper Vince Staples, which was a remix of her single “Watch” and was included on the expanded edition of Don’t Smile at Me.
In February 2018, Billie embarked on her second headlining concert tour, the Where’s My Mind Tour, which concluded in April 2018. The song “Bitches Broken Hearts” was re-released worldwide on March 30, 2018. For Record Store Day 2018, Billie released “Party Favor” on a pink 7-inch vinyl, along with a cover of Drake’s “Hotline Bling” as the B-side. She collaborated with American singer Khalid on the single “Lovely,” released on April 19, 2018, and added to the soundtrack for the second season of 13 Reasons Why. In July 2018, she released the single “You Should See Me in a Crown” and performed at the Mo Pop Festival.
On the release day of her single “When the Party’s Over,” Billie was featured in Vanity Fair’s “73 Questions” rapid-fire questionnaire video series by Joe Sabia, which revisited an interview from October 2017. The resulting video showcased her growth in popularity over the year. In October 2018, she signed a talent contract with Next Management for fashion and beauty endorsements and was placed on the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list in November. She released the single “Come Out and Play” in November 2018, written for a holiday-themed Apple Inc. commercial.
In early January 2019, Don’t Smile at Me reached 1 billion streams on Spotify, making Billie the youngest artist to top 1 billion streams on a project. That month, she released “Bury a Friend” as the third single from her debut album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, along with “When I Was Older,” a single inspired by the 2018 film Roma. In February, Billie partnered with YouTube on a documentary miniseries titled A Snippet Into Billie’s Mind. “Wish You Were Gay,” her fourth single from the album, was released on March 4, 2019.
Billie’s debut studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, was released on March 29, 2019. Spotify launched a comprehensive promotional campaign for the album, creating a multimedia playlist and introducing new product features that allowed for vertical video content, custom assets, and editorial storylines. In Los Angeles, Spotify set up a “pop-up enhanced album experience,” which featured different artwork and a multi-sensory experience for fans. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart, making Billie the first artist born in the 2000s to have a number-one album in the US and the youngest female ever to have a number-one album in the UK.
Upon the album’s debut, Billie broke the record for most simultaneously charting Hot 100 songs by a female artist, with 14 of the album’s tracks, excluding “Goodbye,” charting on the Hot 100. The album’s fifth single, “Bad Guy,” was released in conjunction with the album. A remix of the song featuring Justin Bieber was released in July 2019. In August, “Bad Guy” peaked at number one in the US, ending Lil Nas X’s record-breaking 19-week run at number one with “Old Town Road.” Billie became the first artist born in the 2000s and the youngest artist since Lorde to have a number-one single.
Billie began her When We All Fall Asleep Tour at Coachella Festival in April 2019, with the tour concluding on November 17, 2019, in Mexico City. In August 2019, she partnered with Apple Music for Music Lab: Remix Billie Eilish, part of Apple Stores’ Music Lab sessions during which fans deconstruct her song “You Should See Me in a Crown” and learn how to create their own remix on Apple devices and GarageBand. On September 27, 2019, Billie announced her Where Do We Go? World Tour. The tour began in Miami on March 9, 2020, and ran for two more shows on March 10 in Orlando and March 12 in Raleigh before Billie ended the tour prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour was set to conclude in Jakarta on September 7, 2020.
On November 7, 2019, Jack White’s Third Man Records announced that the label would release an acoustic live album of Billie’s performance from the record label’s Blue Room, exclusively sold on vinyl at Third Man retail locations in Nashville, Tennessee, and Detroit, Michigan. On November 13, 2019, she released her next single, “Everything I Wanted.”
On January 14, 2020, Billie Eilish was announced as the performer of the title track for the 25th installment in the James Bond film franchise, “No Time to Die”, which she wrote and produced with her brother Finneas. With this announcement, Eilish became the youngest artist to write and perform a James Bond theme song. The song became the second Bond theme song to top the British official charts and the first Bond theme performed by a female artist to do so. It was also Eilish’s first number-one single in the UK.
At the 62nd Grammy Awards, Eilish became the youngest person to win the four main Grammy categories—Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year—in the same year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Eilish and her brother performed for both iHeart Media’s Living Room Concert for America and Global Citizen’s Together at Home concert series, singing a cover of Bobby Hebb’s “Sunny ” for the latter. Both virtual concerts were efforts to raise awareness and funds towards fighting the disease. On April 10, 2020, “Ilomilo” was sent to Italian contemporary hit radio stations by Universal Music Group as the seventh and final single from “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”
On July 30, 2020, Eilish released “My Future,” her first original release since “No Time to Die,” along with an animated video. In 2020, she became the youngest person to feature on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, with earnings of $53 million. In September 2020, Eilish released a collection of branded ukuleles with guitar manufacturer Fender.
In October 2020, Eilish announced a livestream concert titled “Where Do We Go? The Livestream”, set to air from Los Angeles on October 24, with proceeds from the show’s merchandise raising funds to support event crew members affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a Vanity Fair interview, Eilish said she was working on “sixteen new songs and lov[ing] them all,” revealing an upcoming musical project. Eilish won three Billboard Music Awards on October 24—Top Female Artist, Top Billboard 200 Album for *When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?*, and Top New Artist—out of the 12 for which she was nominated. Also that month, she announced a new single, “Therefore I Am,” which was released along with its video on November 12, 2020. Eilish performed “Therefore I Am” and “My Future” at the Jingle Ball in December 2020.
“Lo Vas a Olvidar,” a single featuring Rosalía as part of HBO’s *Euphoria* soundtrack, was released in January 2021, almost two years after initially teasing the song. The R. J. Cutler–directed documentary film “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry” was released on Apple TV+ and in select movie theaters. The film was praised by critics and fans for its in-depth look at Eilish’s personal life during her ascent to fame. At the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, Eilish took home two awards: Best Song Written for Visual Media for her Bond theme and Record of the Year for “Everything I Wanted.” In her acceptance speech for Record of the Year, Eilish said that Megan Thee Stallion “deserved to win” but still thanked her fans and her brother for her award.
In 2021, Billie Eilish published “By – Billie Eilish”, a comprehensive book of personally selected photographs offering “an intimate window into her life” on and off stage.
On April 27, 2021, Eilish announced on her Instagram account that her second album, “Happier Than Ever”, would be released on July 30, with the tracklist made available on Apple Music. The album was released in various formats, including collectible vinyl and cassette colors. It was preceded by five singles: “My Future,” “Therefore I Am,” “Your Power,” “Lost Cause,” and “NDA,” and was accompanied by the title track. On December 2, 2021, Eilish announced an eco-friendly limited-edition vinyl version of *Happier Than Ever* made from recycled vinyl scraps, available only at select Gucci stores.
Eilish has a soprano vocal range. Avery Stone of Noisey described her vocals as “ethereal,” while Maura Johnston of Rolling Stone characterized them as “whispery.” Doreen St. Félix of The New Yorker opined that she has a “husky, slurring voice that she can thin out to reedy.” Music critic Robert Christgau wrote that while Eilish is musically and commercially pop, her brand also “reminds us how amorphous [pop] has become,” describing her soprano as “too diminutive for vocal calisthenics” and adding that her “playful version of teen-goth angst” and “electro-saturated debut album” captivated a diverse audience.
Her music incorporates various genres, including pop, dark pop, electropop, emo pop, experimental pop, goth-pop, indie pop, teen pop, alt-pop, and pop rock. Musicologist Jessica Holmes argued that much of Eilish’s music concerns her depression.
Eilish and her brother, Finneas, collaborate on songwriting. Finneas writes for Eilish’s albums, produces her music, and also performs in live shows. Eilish and Finneas enjoy creating characters and fictional narratives in their songs.
Eilish is also known for her political activism, focusing on climate change awareness, women’s reproductive rights, gender equality, and animal rights.
Awards & Recognitions
Billie Eilish’s career has been adorned with a remarkable array of awards, highlighting her exceptional talent and influence in the music industry. Her accolades include an impressive nine Grammy Awards, marking her as one of the youngest and most successful recipients in Grammy history. Notably, she achieved the rare feat of winning all four major categories—Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist—in a single year, a milestone previously unmatched by any female artist.
In addition to her Grammy triumphs, Eilish has garnered two American Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, and three Brit Awards, among others. She has also set records with two Guinness World Records and earned recognition in diverse arenas, including two Academy Awards. Her contributions to music have placed her on prestigious lists such as Rolling Stone’s compilation of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time and Time magazine’s influential “Time 100 Next” list.
Beyond her musical achievements, Eilish’s impact extends to cultural milestones. She became the first person born in the 21st century to win an Academy Award, distinguishing herself with her original song “No Time to Die” from the James Bond film of the same name. Her subsequent win for “What Was I Made For?” further solidified her position as the youngest two-time Academy Award winner in history, underscoring her versatility and creative prowess.
Social Media
Outside of her professional achievements, Billie Eilish’s presence on social media is nothing short of monumental, with her Instagram account (@billieeilish) alone amassing over 119 million followers. Through her posts, stories, and interactions with fans, she offers glimpses into her world, sharing moments of creativity, personal reflections, and updates on her music and projects.
Personal Life
Billie Eilish’s personal life, often under public scrutiny, reflects her openness and authenticity. Despite her fame, she navigates personal relationships with a candid grace, notably confirming her bisexuality during interactions with fans on social media. Her past relationship with Jesse Rutherford, despite reportedly ending in May 2023, maintains a supportive bond, with Eilish referring to him as her “homie forever.”
Net Worth
Financially, Eilish has amassed considerable wealth, with her net worth estimated at $53 million, a testament to her commercial success and enduring popularity across global audiences.