SHE is the youngest Brit to top the singles charts in 12 years, with a husky voice likened to Adele’s and a style which has seen her compared to Nancy Sinatra.
Now as the world sits up and takes notice of the nation’s most promising new superstar, Sienna Spiro, The Sun can reveal the surprising showbiz connections of her parents – with a multi-millionaire jeweller dad and a mum who dated Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
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Sienna, aged just 20, was born and raised in London and attended the £32k-a-year Francis Holland School, where Cara Delevingne, Sienna Miller and Emilia Fox were also educated.
In the past 12 months, she has rocketed to stardom with six songs in the UK Top 40, including Great Expectation which climbed to the top of the charts on Friday.
Her album, Visitor, released in July, is already the best-selling debut of the year in the UK and she is heavily tipped to be nominated for Best New Artist at both the Brit Awards and the Grammys in 2027.
But it’s not her family’s first brush with fame following her mum Arabella’s fling with Andrew in 2001.
Arabella, 54, who had previously been in a relationship with Coronation Street actor Steven Beckett, was introduced to Queen Elizabeth at Royal Ascot on Ladies Day, just five weeks after she had met Andrew at a party.
Reports at the time suggested he snuck her into the royal box where she mingled with the Queen, Prince Philip, the Queen Mother and Princess Anne.
Now she is a philanthropist, involved in Tikva UK which supports at-risk Jewish children in Ukraine, Romania and Israel.
Sienna’s father is even more used to dealing with A-listers. Glenn, 63, has made a name as one of the wealthiest independent jewellers in the world.
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Beyonce, Rihanna, Zendaya, Gwyneth Paltrow and the Princess of Wales are among clients who he has created pieces for. And he is responsible for a 73.11-carat yellow diamond sold for $3.4million in 2021, named The Sienna Star, after his now-famous daughter.
His G By Glenn Spiro business is so ultra-exclusive, it is known as the “jeweller for jewellers,” and operates from an appointment-only atelier in Mayfair.
But a source said: “Sienna had a step up with her education and upbringing, but she’s certainly no nepo baby. She has worked hard for her career and the proof is in the pudding with how her music is resonating with the public.
“Her parents were hard on her and she knew she had to make it on her own. If anything, she has her dad’s work ethic, but her parent’s riches didn’t help land her record deal. She did that all on her own.”
Despite her father’s fame and fortune, Sienna said he had little faith she had what it takes to make it in music.
She told Variety: “I didn’t grow up thinking I was a singer, ever. My dad always was like, ‘Oh, you sound s**t,’ and I was like, ‘OK, great — so I’ve got to be a really good songwriter if I wanna do this as a job.’
“But then I started doing sessions, and people started being very complimentary of my voice, so then I fed off that validation, and so I would do the most.”
However, it was her father who first introduced her to the Sixties sounds of her favourite artist, Frank Sinatra, as well as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone and Etta James.
Those influences burst through on her debut album Visitor, which has not left the Top Ten since it was released ten weeks ago.
And it’s also clear in her look, with Sienna citing Twiggy as a style icon and rarely being seen without her high bouffant hairdo.
She told Interview magazine: “The way I sing is the main way I pay homage to those artists because that’s how I learned to sing. There’s this famous quote from Frank Sinatra, he said, ‘A singer, to me, is somebody who tells a story.’ I keep that in mind whenever I’m singing and I always try and bring myself back to what I wrote the stories about.”
She added: “My dad wanted to be Frank Sinatra, that was his idol. He was always playing in the house, and that was my pop music for a long time.”
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As for her fashion, she explained: “I grew up really insecure, and much bigger in weight to all of my peers and family, so I’ve always had issues with the way I dress. But my dad always showed me the music and the films of women like Barbra Streisand and Ava Gardner.
“When I started releasing music, I still didn’t want anyone to see my body, so I would wear huge clothes so that no one would get to make any comments. Then you grow into yourself more. I tried the hair for the first time, and it made me feel like such an elevated version of myself.”
Her most distinctive characteristic remains her show-stopping voice, filled with more pain and rasp than anyone would expect from a 20-year-old private school girl.
But she’s revealed it’s down to nodules on her vocal cords – something which most artists are terrified of getting, and usually have surgery to remove.
She told Variety: “I was really husky growing up. I only officially found out [about the nodules] two years ago. But I’ve always had a super raspy voice. I do feel like I’ve probably always had them, or from a young age at least.
“They’re such a blessing and a curse. I love the texture they give my voice, and sometimes they stop your voice from doing something, which I actually think sounds good. But I was nearly mute for a year — like, I barely spoke the year before last. It was really tricky. Very isolating.”
She now has 30million monthly listeners on Spotify, counts Sir Elton John, Drake and Sabrina Carpenter among her fans and has appeared on the Devil Wears Prada 2 soundtrack alongside Lady Gaga.
However, only four years ago, she was a 16-year-old school drop-out, who quit to pursue music full-time on the advice of a bad egg, who she soon got rid of.
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She had gained some early buzz from sharing covers on TikTok, and thought she had made it when a producer promised her the world.
Sienna explained: “I ended up finding my management from posting one video. I went to music college, dropped out at 16 for honestly a bad reason. So I’m glad it worked out.”
Quizzed on why she dropped out, she said: “It was like false promises, older producer man. It was a blessing in disguise. As insecure as I’ve been my whole life, I must have had this confidence in myself because I never even considered doing anything else.
“This is all I ever want to do. I’ve only recently been reflective and understood how lucky I am that it’s actually happened this way because this is not normal.”
Sienna wrote her first song aged ten, a nod to Michael Jackson’s Man In The Mirror called Lady In The Mirror, about how she felt misunderstood and picked on at school.
She went on to have her big break last October when her single Die On This Hill became her first Top 20 hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
From there she landed a Brits Critics’ Choice nomination, dueted on stage with Sam Smith and performed at David Attenborough’s 100th birthday event at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Next month she will kick off a world tour which has already completely sold out, including four consecutive nights at the Eventim Apollo in London next spring. She’s also made it clear that despite her young age, she has no intention of straying away from the way her idols made music more than 60 years ago.
She told Nylon magazine: “I love real music. I love real instruments. I’ll always strive to make music with real humans that are playing real instruments, rather than using a computer. And never AI.”
Sienna added: “I’m 20 years old. I’m very much Gen Z and I crave live music. I crave things that I can hold, that I can go and see in person, and that’s what I try to implement in my music, ’cause that’s what I love.
“It’s very hard to be present these days; it’s really easy to feel disconnected and detached.”
Reflecting on her whirlwind success over the past few years, and how it only seems to be hastening, she said: “I have these moments where I cannot even wrap my head around the way my life has gone, and the speed that it’s gone at. I feel like equal parts deeply grateful and very, very nervous.”
As for her father’s initial uncertainty about her talent, she’s clearly proven him wrong.
She added: “I always tell him. I’m like, ‘See, I told you!’”
Monday 14 September
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Monday 14 September
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L1
Petrolul 52
Rio Ave
3 – 3
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Estrela
Sirius
2 – 0
ALL
Degerfors
Kayseri
4 – 0
1.L
İstanbulspor
Ypsonas
0 – 1
1.D
Aris Limassol
Djurgården
2 – 0
ALL
GAIS
Bodø/Glimt
3 – 2
ELI
Sandefjord
Standings currently unavailable.
Monday 14 September
Sirius
2 – 0
ALL
Degerfors
Rio Ave
3 – 3
PRL
Estrela
Inter
3 – 2
Live 58′
Udinese
Leeds
3 – 0
Live HT
Newcastle
Villarreal
1 – 2
Live HT
Betis
Moreirense
2 – 0
Live 45′
Marítimo
Braga
0 – 0
Live 15′
Estoril
Monday 14 September
FCSB
2 – 2
L1
Petrolul 52
Rio Ave
3 – 3
PRL
Estrela
Sirius
2 – 0
ALL
Degerfors
Kayseri
4 – 0
1.L
İstanbulspor
Ypsonas
0 – 1
1.D
Aris Limassol
Djurgården
2 – 0
ALL
GAIS
Bodø/Glimt
3 – 2
ELI
Sandefjord
Standings currently unavailable.