The xx

The xx's two singers, Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim, met in preschool in a London suburb when they were only 3 years old. "They had music classes, and I remember sharing a xylophone in that music class," Sim recalled to NPR.

Croft and Sim first met the band's producer and beatmaker Jamie Smith at 11, when they started at the Elliott School in Putney, South London. The same educational establishment also spawned Hot Chip, Burial and Four Tet.

After several years of making music individually, the trio formed the xx in their final school year along with keyboardist Baria Qureshi. In late 2009, Baria Qureshi left the group.