Caitlyn Harrison

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**Dame Caitlyn Marie Harrison** CBE (born February 6, 1977) is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the original singer of symphonic metal band Celestial Sphere.

Harrison rose to fame in 1988 as the junior vocalist champion on *Star Search*, a US talent show. She would form Celestial Sphere alongside her brother James in 1991 originally as a duo with her singing and performing several instruments including drums and piano on the studio recording of their debut album *The Sphere*. Since she has provided vocals on all albums and keyboards until their sixth album *Slaying the Dreamer* when Meiju Enho became a permanent member.

She became known in the early days as a soprano singer before retraining as a mezzo-soprano around 2005 but has since shown the ability to transition between the two different styles and even provided growl vocals on their 2015 song "Yours Is an Empty Hope". As a founder member and main songwriter, along her brother, she became the *de facto* leader of the band and is known for her short temper and has fired numerous members, most notably Gus G in 2005 after just 19 days in the band. Despite this she is known for shying away from interviews, with brother James saying she struggles to talk with people not in the music business, a 2019 recorded documentary series *From the Mouth of the Goddess* that was released in 2021 is the first interview she has done since 1995. Following a second cancer diagnosis in 2021 she announced she would step down as lead singer due to the damage done to her vocal chords but she would remain involved as a third guitarist but would not join their next tour due to her recovery.

Her success as part of Celestial Sphere has led her to be considered by many as the most important women in music history and has been honoured as Woman of the Year by *Billboard* magazine on three occasions. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) which was upgraded to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2016. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2021.

## Discography

### Solo

* *Boundaries Are Open* (2005; with James Harrison)
* *Sweet Enclosure* (2007; with James Harrison)
* *In Sickness 'Till Death Do Us Part* (2010)

### With Celestial Sphere

*Main article: Celestial Sphere discography and list of songs*

* *The Sphere* (1994)
* *Pearls of Light* (1996)
* *Know Why the Nightingale Sings* (1997)
* *The Pharaoh Sails to Orion* (1998)
* *Two for Tragedy* (2000)
* *Slaying the Dreamer* (2002)
* *Illusive Consensus* (2003)
* *Dark Chest of Wonders* (2004)
* *Another Me in Lack'ech* (2005)
* *Cadence of Her Last Breath* (2006)
* *Kingdom of Heaven* (2009)
* *The Crow, the Owl and the Dove* (2011)
* *Serenade of Self-Destruction* (2012)
* *The Essence of Silence* (2014)
* *The Eyes of Sharbat Gula* (2015)
* *Ascension - Dream State Armageddon* (2016)
* *The Golden Chamber* (2019)
* *All the Works of Nature Which Adorn the World* (2020)
* *Sovereign of the Sun Spheres* (2021)
* *This is Not the End* (2022)

## Personal Life

Harrison has been married to Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy since 2020 having been in a relationship since 2013, with whom she has two child Lucy (b. 2014) and Flora (b. 2017). Harrison was previously married to actor Bradley Cooper from 2009 until 2014 and she had two sons with him Michael (b. 2008) and Jake (b. 2010). She also has two further children Leila (b. 2000) and Lara (b. 2002) from a relationship with John Mayer between 1999 and 2005.

Throughout her life Caitlyn has suffered from numerous health issues that has caused her to miss Celestial Sphere performances, most notably were in 2001 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer that she recovered from in six months, then in 2010 she developed cryptogenic organizing pneumonia whilst on tour in Norway then in 2021 she was once again diagnosed with an early form of cancer, this time in the throat.