2007-Katie White
Jules De Martino
In 1995, Katie White's grandfather won £6.6 million in the National Lottery, gifting £1 million to each of his three sons. Her father, David White, used his share to launch a music management company. One of his early projects was TKO, a girl group formed in 1998 by 14-year-old Katie and two classmates from Lowton High School. TKO supported British pop acts like Steps and Atomic Kitten, appeared on CD:UK, and in 2001 brought in songwriter Jules De Martino. Despite early promise, the group eventually disbanded.
After TKO, Katie and Jules formed a new trio, Dear Eskiimo, with musician Simon Templeman. Influenced by the trip-hop sound of Portishead, they signed with Mercury Records. But internal restructuring at the label led to creative differences, and the group split. The experience left Katie and Jules disillusioned with the mainstream music industry and determined to retain full creative control going forward.
The name "The Ting Tings" was inspired by a Chinese co-worker Katie met while working at a boutique. She was drawn to the sound of the name and later discovered its multiple meanings: "a short, sharp sound," "an old bandstand," and "the sound of innovation in an open mind."
In the mid-2000s, The Ting Tings began organizing DIY shows at Islington Mill in Salford, where they also lived and rehearsed. Their high-energy performances quickly created local buzz, drawing attention from A&R scouts. A bidding war followed, and the band ultimately signed with Sony Records, citing Rick Rubin – then a consultant at the label – as a key influence. He personally emailed the band to praise their songwriting.
The Ting Tings released their debut album,
We Started Nothing, in 2008. It reached #1 on the UK Albums Chart, led by the breakout single "
That's Not My Name."
Katie told Songfacts the song came from the frustration of being dropped by Mercury Records: "'That's Not My Name' is about feeling transparent, invisible. We had been dropped by Mercury Records in 2006-2007 and felt like damaged goods. I was 20-21 and felt like my career was over already."
The track went on to appear in numerous television shows, films, and commercials, including a 2025 Starbucks ad in which baristas wrote motivational messages instead of names.
In 2008, "
Shut Up and Let Me Go" became The Ting Tings' first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #55. The song gained global exposure after Steve Jobs personally selected it for an Apple iPod commercial.
"Typically, our label didn't hear it as a single. We did," Katie revealed to Songfacts. "We did. As signed artists we were constantly trying to convince our label to do what we wanted to do, stay in the creative lane. Mostly landing on deaf ears, but Steve Jobs came in just in time by himself picking this tune after a brilliant week of SXSW performances. Once it made the iPod commercials the label saw it as a single, and in many countries it used to be the bigger track of the show."
Katie and Jules are married, though they kept their relationship private for years. Early on, they avoided personal questions, rarely attended celebrity events, and kept a low profile outside of music. After the birth of their daughter Meadow in 2021, they began speaking more openly about their family life.
The Ting Tings have lived a nomadic lifestyle, with homes and studios in Salford, Berlin, Los Angeles – and briefly, on a boat. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they settled in Ibiza.
"We had a child four years ago, which changed almost everything," Katie explained to Songfacts. "We decided we wanted to be better at our instruments, that we wanted to live in a calmer environment and be true to the music we loved to listen to."
In June 2025, The Ting Tings released Home, their first album in seven years. The record marked a major departure from their indie-pop roots, embracing acoustic textures and 1970s-inspired songwriting. Influenced by Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, and the Carpenters, it was shaped by live instrumentation and a more organic creative process.
Jules explained to Songfacts what led to their reinvention: "We found ourselves on pianos, Rhodes, acoustics, wood sounds bouncing off the paneled walls in our studio feeling free spending less time on a computer and more in harmony singing along our new ideas."
While working on Home, Katie and Jules briefly considered changing their name to "De Martino & White." They even designed a new logo inspired by 1970s icons like Bread, Supertramp, and Christopher Cross. In the end, they decided to stick with The Ting Tings.
"We realized as independent artists we had built our band The Ting Tings ground up," Katie said. "We were proud of such and we had fans. We wanted to show them our new music so we swapped the new band name back."
"That's Not My Name" had a viral resurgence thanks to a popular TikTok trend. Celebrities including Gordon Ramsay, Drew Barrymore, and Will Smith used the track in humorous videos about mistaken identity in 2022.
The Ting Tings' newer material has also found success on the platform – especially "Dreaming," which was used to celebrate Liverpool F.C.'s Premier League win in May 2025.
"TikTok is a platform we love," Katie told Songfacts. "It feels like we get a free roll of the dice here. As independent artists it's not governed or owned by majors. Unlike Spotify, etcetera, you don't have to pay your way through. You genuinely can get discovered here."
In 2024, ROSÉ and Bruno Mars released "
APT." as the lead single from ROSÉ's debut album
Rosie. The track – which became the fastest song by a K-pop artist to reach one billion streams on Spotify – was noted by critics for its strong resemblance to The Ting Tings' sound.
Jules told Songfacts that he wasn't a fan of the similarities: "Ah yes, we plan to have a word with Bruno Mars... that felt a bit too close for comfort. Of course we are proud to hear our music style drop into new creations and like we were inspired we hope to inspire others but I wasn't a fan of how close this felt."
