Ongoing History Daily: Explaining the name “Florence + the Machine”

The focus of Florence + the Machine is Florence Welch. So what’s with the “and the Machine” part of the name?  This is actually a person.

It started off as a joke with her friend Isabella Summers, a school friend who was sometimes called in by Florence’s parents to babysit her little sister Grace. Isabella also found work as a part-time DJ and had a low-level gig working on the BBC show, Top of the Pops. She later moved on to remixing songs for other artists in a studio that was often frequented by Florence and her then-boyfriend guitarist.

They got to talking about collaborating and soon were writing and performing together. Florence was “Florence Robot” and Isabella was “Isabella Machine,” a nickname that came with her electronic music skills.  When things took off, they adopted the name “Florence + the Machine.” 

Isabella is perfectly happy with her place in the background, too, because she’d rather be involved in the songwriting and producing end of things.