Elle King

Tanner Elle Schneider (born July 3, 1989), known professionally as Elle King, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her musical style is influenced by country, rock, and blues. Her parents divorced when she was an infant and she and London moved to Ohio. She was raised in Columbus and Wellston. Her mother remarried Justin Tesa in 2000. When she was nine her stepfather gave her a record by all-female hard-rock band the Donnas; she views this as the pivotal moment when she decided she wanted to be a musician. Around this time, she also started listening to the Runaways and Blondie, and she made her acting debut alongside her father in the movie Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. she moved to Philadelphia to enroll at the University of the Arts, studying painting and film.

Career

1999–2013: Career beginnings In 1999, she debuted as an actress in her father's film Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. Her debut single "Good To Be A Man", was released on March 13, 2012, as a digital download and also as a 7" vinyl single. and made television appearances on VH1 Big Morning Buzz Live and the Late Show with David Letterman. King has played Austin, Texas, at the South by Southwest Festival, as well as the Hammersmith Apollo. She toured with Of Monsters and Men, Train and Michael Kiwanuka and has opened for Dashboard Confessional, Dropkick Murphys, Dry the River, James Bay and Ed Sheeran.

2014–present: Love Stuff, Shake the Spirit and Come Get Your Wife

In September 2014, King released "Ex's & Oh's" as the lead single from her debut album, Love Stuff, released on February 17, 2015. The song reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming King's first top ten single in the United States. "Ex's & Oh's" received two nominations at the 58th Grammy Awards for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song. In July 2015, King supported Modest Mouse on their UK tour. "Under the Influence" and "America's Sweetheart" were later released as singles for rock radio and mainstream radio, respectively. In 2016, her single "Good Girls" was featured on the Ghostbusters soundtrack and played over the movie's credits. In 2016, she teamed up with country singer Dierks Bentley for the song "Different for Girls". They performed the song at the 50th CMA Awards on November 2, 2016, when she and Bentley won the award for Musical Event of the Year.

On March 6, 2017, she premiered new single "Wild Love" featuring a sparse electronic production, marking a slight departure from her previous style. King released her second studio album, Shake the Spirit, on October 19, 2018, which she made with her band the Brethren. On August 3, 2019, she was featured singing on a version of Lindsey Stirling's "The Upside". Throughout 2019, King served as a guest co-host on the MTV series Catfish: The TV Show opposite lead host Nev Schulman. In 2022, she featured on a remix of Canadian singer Dax's single "Dear Alcohol". In March 2022, King contributed a cover of "Feelin' Alright" (originally by Traffic and popularized by Joe Cocker, based on the arrangement of the latter version) to the soundtrack of the DreamWorks Animation crime comedy film The Bad Guys.

King's third album, Come Get Your Wife, was released on January 27, 2023, marking King’s shift into country music.

On January 19, 2024, an intoxicated King performed at the Grand Ole Opry to honor Dolly Parton's 78th birthday. The Grand Ole Opry later issued an apology.

Musical style and influences According to The Guardian, King's musical style is "steeped in every genre of vintage Americana – sassy rock'n'roll, vampy R&B, country sadness and a little blues." King's music was classified as blues rock by Nylon, and as alternative country by Alternative Nation. According to King, "I say that I sing a little bit of country blues, [...] it kind of changes from song to song, whatever I'm listening to or feeling. Sometimes it's really country, sometimes it's soulful, sometimes it's, like, wrist-slitting folk music; sad songs."

Personal life King married a Scottish man named Andrew "Fergie" Ferguson on February 14, 2016. The two met only three weeks before their wedding in a hotel lobby in London, England, and announced their engagement 12 days later. She spoke about their relationship on an episode of Say Yes to the Dress and had his name and their wedding date tattooed on her chest. Ferguson was arrested on one count of felony domestic violence on April 23, 2017, in Los Angeles County, California and a divorce petition was filed on May 15, 2017. Criminal charges against Ferguson were later dropped and the two briefly reconciled but ended their relationship permanently in 2018.

On October 9, 2020, King became engaged to tattoo artist Dan Tooker, after dating for one year. She gave birth to their son Lucky Levi Tooker on September 1, 2021. On March 25, 2024, King revealed that the relationship had ended. They later reconciled and on February 28, 2025, had a second son named Royal Tooker.

King has 55 tattoos, including one of a snake on her neck and the word "brethren" in cursive on her buttock. She told Kate Branch of Vogue in 2018 that she got her first tattoo when she was 14 years old. She once worked at a tattoo company called East Side Ink.

In August 2024, King discussed her childhood and her relationship with her father Rob Schneider on an episode of Bunnie Xo's podcast Dumb Blonde. She described her relationship with Schneider as an "ebb and flow" and said at that point, the two were "not flowing." On growing up with Schneider, she said she would stay summers with him on film sets but they rarely spent time together as he was working. She refused to spend summers with him after he sent her to weight loss camp. She also mentioned that Schneider would often forget her birthday and that she did not agree with his then-recent comments about women, transgender people, and vaccines. Schneider later issued a public apology to her during an interview with Tucker Carlson, saying he loved her and he hoped she could forgive him for his shortcomings as a father. In response, King said that her father apologizing on Carlson's show is "like a double negative... means nothing."

Discography

Studio albums Love Stuff (2015) Shake the Spirit (2018) Come Get Your Wife (2023)

Filmography

Film

Television Year Title Role Notes 2017 Say Yes to The Dress Herself Episode: "10 Years Later and Busier Than Ever!" 2019, 2023Catfish: The TV Show Co-host 2 episodes: "Alice and Nique" & "Sasha and Essence" 2020 Pete the Cat Garnet Gator Episode: "The Gators" 2026 Nation's Dumbest Herself Season 1 participant

Concert tours Headlining Love Stuff Tour (2015) Shake The Spirit Tour (2019) A-FREAKIN-MEN Tour (2022)

Opening act Dashboard Confessional – The Swiss Army Romance (2010) Of Monsters and Men – My Head Is an Animal Tour (2011) Train – California 37 Tour (2012) Michael Kiwanuka – Home Again Tour (2012) Dropkick Murphys – Signed and Sealed in Blood Tour (2013) Ed Sheeran – + Tour (2013) Dry the River – Alarms in the Heart Tour (2014) James Bay – Chaos and the Calm Tour (2015) Modest Mouse – Strangers to Ourselves Tour (2015) Maroon 5 – Maroon V Tour (2016) Dixie Chicks – DCX MMXVI World Tour (2016) Miranda Lambert – Roadside Bars and Pink Guitars Tour (2019) Joan Jett & Heart – Love Alive Tour (2019) Chris Stapleton - Chris Stapleton's All-American Road Show (2022) Melissa Etheridge - Summer Tour (2023) Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want To Have Fun Farewell Tour; Columbus, Ohio (2024) Eric Church - Free The Machine Tour (2025)

Awards and nominations