Irish singer/songwriter Rooty made her name penning songs for artists such as One Direction and Britney Spears before launching her own career as a singer. Born Ruth-Anne Cunningham in 1988 (her stage name is a play on the Irish pronunciation of "Ruthie") and brought up in the North Dublin suburb of Donaghmede, as a child she attended the famed Billie Barry Stage School and began writing songs at the age of seven, believing "that was just what singers did." Heavily influenced by '90s R&B, by the age of 12 she had formed a girl group, Dolce Vita; when she was 17, her father, without her knowledge, submitted her demo to the prestigious RTÉ Jacob's Song Contest, which she won. Directly after finishing school in 2005, she moved to L.A., lodging with the family of her then-manager, Eamonn Maguire. Weeks after arriving, she was introduced to the legendary Billy Steinberg, with whom she co-wrote "Too Little Too Late." The following year, the song was a massive smash for JoJo, going to number three in the Billboard chart and cracking the Top Ten in six other countries, and launching Cunningham's songwriting career. Over the next decade she built her reputation while polishing her craft, working with some of the biggest names in the business and scoring hit after hit with the likes of Britney Spears ("Work Bitch"), One Direction ("No Control"), and Bebe Rexha ("In the Name of Love"). In 2012 she began her singing career as featured vocalist on Professor Green's "Remedy," under the name RuthAnne; she adopted the moniker Rooty in 2014. In 2017 she featured on JRY's track "Pray," which appeared on the soundtrack of the smash hit film Fifty Shades Darker. ~ John D. Buchanan, Rovi