Ellis-Bextor was born in London on 10 April 1979 to mother Janet Ellis, who was later a presenter on BBC's children's television programmes Blue Peter and Jigsaw, and father Robin Bextor, a film producer and director: they separated when she was four. As a young girl, she appeared on several Blue Peter items, with no indication given on-screen that she was Ellis's daughter. She attended St. Stephen's School and later Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith.

Her third album, Trip the Light Fantastic, was released in May 2007 and debuted at number seven on the UK Albums Chart. Fred Schneider of The B-52s, Richard Barone (formerly of The Bongos), Shelly Poole (formerly of Alisha's Attic), Cathy Dennis and Kerin Smith (formerly of Theaudience) contributed to produce an album of disco-pop music. Before the album, two singles were released: "Catch You", which charted in the UK at number eight, and "Me and My Imagination" (number twenty-three). The third single, "Today the Sun's on Us", debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number sixty-four. Ellis-Bextor supported George Michael on his UK tour leg in June 2007. Her own UK tour, the Trip the Light Fantastic Tour, was due to start in August 2007, but it was postponed after Ellis-Bextor was invited to be the "special guest" on Take That's Beautiful World Tour, which commenced in October 2007. Ellis-Bextor stated that her tour would be rescheduled for March 2008, with all tickets purchased being valid for the rescheduled concerts. The tour was never rescheduled, and Ellis-Bextor subsequently refused to discuss the issue in interviews. In September 2007, Ellis-Bextor took part in Sopot Festival 2007 in Poland, representing the UK. The song "If I Can't Dance" was announced as a single but later retracted, as was "Love Is Here"; Ellis-Bextor was supposed to release a single in late November to promote a greatest hits album, but the release date was pushed back to March 2008, and subsequently cancelled. However, "If I Can't Dance" has appeared on several compilations in Spain such as Supermodelo 2008 CD and Disco Estrella 2008.

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