Ashley Charles, also known as Amplify Dot, A.Dot or Dotty, is an English rapper, broadcaster and author. She was a radio presenter on BBC Radio 1Xtra from 2014 to 2020 and co-presenter of the BBC One show Sounds Like Friday Night from 2017 to 2018.
Early life
In 2001, at the age of thirteen, Amplify Dot performed a freestyle at a Missy Elliott concert at the Brixton Academy after Elliott asked if anyone in the audience could rap. She describes this as a defining moment that led her to pursue a career as a professional artist.
Music career
Amplify Dot gradually built a reputation in the UK grime and hip hop scenes, featuring on the grime track , and self-releasing the mixtape Born Ready and the EP Short Back and Sides, which entered the iTunes Hip Hop Chart. In June 2012, Amplify Dot signed a recording contract with Virgin Records and a publishing contract with Sony ATV, with Music Week reporting that she was the first female rapper in the UK to secure a major-label deal in over a decade. Soon after signing to Virgin, she released the Spare Parts mixtape, which she said contained tracks that were not going to make the cut for her debut album but that she was still keen for people to hear. This was followed in 2013 by the Spare Parts II mixtape hosted by UK radio personalityCharlie Sloth. Amplify Dot has collaborated with artists and producers including Busta Rhymes, Emeli Sandé, Zane Lowe, Krunchie, Show N Prove, Chris Loco, Fraser T. Smith, Midi Mafia, Beatfreakz, Kano, Gyptian, and Ms Dynamite. She has also performed with Lioness and Lady Leshurr as part of the all-female crew 367, including on a remix of the Ms Dynamite single "Neva Soft".
Broadcasting career
Radio
In December 2013 she presented her own radio show as part of the Xtra Talent series on BBC Radio 1Xtra and was offered a regular presenting slot in 2014. She hosted Saturday's 4–7pm, weekends 1–4pm and weekday afternoons 1–4pm all before she replaced Twin B and Yasmin Evans as host of the weekday breakfast show in July 2016. On 2 July 2020, on the fourth anniversary of the Breakfast Show, Dotty announced that she will be leaving 1Xtra after six years. Her final show was on 30 July 2020. Since March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dotty has been making Too Rude for Radio - a podcast on BBC Sounds. The premise is that it allows her and her co-host to say things they can't say or do on the BBC Radio 1Xtra breakfast show. Therefore, it contains a lot of bad language and adult conversation. In the opening sequence, they "big up BBC Sounds for the freedom" from the BBC's usual rules. Her co-host is her producer Robby and they record the show from their respective homes, in Kingston Upon Thames and Brixton to ensure they are socially distant.
Television
In 2017, she co-presented Sounds Like Friday Night, a new primetime music show for BBC One with Greg James. In 2018 she appeared on BBC Two's comedy game showI'll Get This.In the same year she appeared in Rick Edwards' game show Impossible Celebrities.
Other work
She also launched her own clothing label, Quiff Head, in conjunction with London street-wear brand House of Hoxshore. She also wrote her debut book Outraged: Why Everyone is Shouting and No-One is Talking. It was released on 9 July 2020.
Personal life
Dotty lives in Kingston upon Thames in south-west London with her wife Line Charles and their child.
