Gayle (singer)

Taylor Gayle Rutherfurd (born June 10, 2004), known professionally as Gayle (stylized in all caps), is an American singer and songwriter. After signing with Atlantic Records and Arthouse Entertainment, she released her hit single "ABCDEFU" in 2021, which charted worldwide, including reaching number one in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and on the Billboard Global 200 and earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Song of the Year.

Early life
Taylor Gayle Rutherfurd was born on June 10, 2004 in Plano, Texas. She started singing at the age of seven and eventually moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a musical career. She reports that she is dyslexic and has chromesthesia, sound-to-color synesthesia in which sound involuntarily evokes an experience of color.

2020–2022: Beginnings, breakout success and EPs
In 2020, she signed her first record with Arthouse Entertainment.

After releasing several self-produced singles, Gayle was discovered by former American Idol judge and Arthouse music publisher Kara DioGuardi and was signed to Atlantic Records and Arthouse.

In 2021, Gayle released "ABCDEFU", her major-label debut single with Atlantic and Arthouse. It became viral on TikTok and Spotify. "ABCDEFU" peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside of the United States, "ABCDEFU" topped the charts in Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, and the top ten in Australia, Austria, New Zealand, and Switzerland. Gayle subsequently released the song "Ur Just Horny" on January 19, 2022. On March 18, 2022, Gayle released a six-song extended play (EP) titled A Study of the Human Experience Volume One via Atlantic and Arthouse.

On March 19, 2022, Gayle was a fill-in host for the CHR version of Ryan Seacrest's American Top 40, where her song "ABCDEFU" spent its first week at number one.

On September 19, 2022, Gayle announced that she was canceling her Avoiding College Tour.

On October 7, 2022, Gayle released her second extended play, A Study of the Human Experience Volume Two.

On December 9, 2022, Gayle released a third extended play, A Study of the Human Experience Volume Two and a Half. Rather than new bodies of music, the EP consists of eight new versions of songs from her previous two extended plays.

2023–present: Touring and standalone releases
On March 9, 2023, Gayle released the standalone single, "Everybody Hates Me". She served as an opening act on multiple shows of the US leg of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, and on the European leg of Pink's Summer Carnival tour; from March to August and June to July 2023, respectively. She also was a supporting act on the second European leg of the Summer Carnival, in June and July 2024. On April 14, 2023, Lauren Spencer-Smith's "Fantasy", a collaboration with Gayle and Em Beihold, was released as the sixth single from Spencer's album, Mirror (2023). Gayle co-wrote Kelly Clarkson's 2023 single "Me", which was released on the same day. On May 5, 2023, she released "Don't Call Me Pretty". Gayle performed and co-wrote "Butterflies"—a re-titled "bedroom-pop" rework of the song "Butterfly" by Crazy Town, which it also interpolates—for Barbie the Album, which was released in July. In August, she released the single "Leave Me for Dead". Her next song, "I Don't Sleep as Good as I Used to", followed on October 6. Gayle embarked on her debut headlining tour, the Scared but Trying Tour. It commenced on October 17 in Tampa, Florida and ended on November 15, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. Also in November, she released the compilation album Hello This Is the Setlist for My Tour.

Her first release of 2024 was "Kinda Smacks" with Royal & the Serpent in February. From May to June, she conducted her short tour, the My First Time (in Asia) Tour, which consisted of four shows in Asia, including her slot at the Seoul Jazz Festirea. On June 28, Gayle released the single "Internet Baby".

Tours
Headlining
 * The FU Tour
 * Scared but Trying Tour (2023)
 * (My First Time) in Asia Tour (2024)

Supporting
 * Winnetka Bowling League – Live on Tour (2021)
 * Tate McRae – Tate McRae Live on Tour (2022)
 * AJR – OK Orchestra Tour (2022)
 * My Chemical Romance – Reunion Tour (2022)
 * Taylor Swift – The Eras Tour (2023)
 * Pink – Summer Carnival (2023–2024)