Little Mix

**Little Mix** are a British girl group formed in 2011, consisting of members Jade Amelia Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards, Leigh - Anne Pinnock, *Jesy Nelson*

and label Syco Music and released a cover of Damien Rice's "Cannonball" as their winner's single.

Little Mix released their debut album *DNA* on 19 November 2012. It charted in the top 5 in eight countries, including number two in the UK and number four on the US *Billboard* 200. This made Little Mix the first girl group since The Pussycat Dolls to reach the U.S. top 5 with their debut album, as well as earning the highest debut U.S. chart position by a British girl group, breaking the record previously held by the Spice Girls, whose 1996 debut *Spice* debuted at number five.[3] In 2015, they won Breakout Artist at the Teen Choice Awards in Los Angeles.[4] As of December 2014, Little Mix have sold over 5 million singles and 2.5 million albums worldwide.[5]

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## Contents

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* 1History
	+ 1.12011: Formation and *The X Factor*
	+ 1.22012–13: *DNA* and international breakthrough
	+ 1.32013–14: *Salute* and "Word Up!"
	+ 1.42015: *Get Weird*
* 2Artistry
* 3Other ventures
	+ 3.1Products and endorsements
	+ 3.2Philanthropy
* 4Members
	+ 4.1Perrie Edwards
	+ 4.2Jesy Nelson
	+ 4.3Leigh-Anne Pinnock
	+ 4.4Jade Thirlwall
* 5Discography
* 6Concert tours
	+ 6.1Headlining
	+ 6.2Supporting
* 7Awards and nominations
* 8References
* 9External links

###

## History

### 2011: Formation and *The X Factor*

In 2011, Edwards, Thirlwall, Pinnock, and Nelson successfully auditioned as soloists for the eighth series of *The X Factor*, but failed to make it past bootcamp's first challenge.However, the judges decided to give them another chance in the Groups category. They were put into separate ensembles by the judges during the group's bootcamp stage, with Edwards and Nelson in four-member group Faux Pas and Thirlwall and Pinnock in three-member group Orion. Both groups failed to make it through to the judges' houses. A later decision recalled two members from each group to form the four-piece group Rhythmix, sending them through to the judges' houses.

[1]Little Mix performing in 2012

They eventually reached the live shows and were mentored by Tulisa Contostavlos. During the first live show on 8 October 2011, Rhythmix performed Super Bass by American recording artist Nicki Minaj. Their rendition was praised by the judges with Gary Barlowcalling them the "best girl band that’s ever been on The X Factor. On 26 October 2011, Rhythmix announced that they would change their name following a dispute with a Brighton-based children's music charity of the same name, after the programme tried to trademark "Rhythmix". A spokesman for *The X Factor* said, "At the request of the charity Rhythmix, the members of the girl group Rhythmix have decided to change their name, a decision which has the support of Syco and TalkbackTHAMES." It was reported that the group decided to make the change, with no legal requirement to do so, to avoid any difficulties for the charity. On 28 October 2011, it was announced that the group's new name would be "Little Mix".

On 20 November 2011, Little Mix became the first girl group in the show's eight-year history to progress past the seventh live show. The previous longest-surviving girl groups were The Conway Sisters (series 2) and Hope (series 4), who had both lasted until week 7. Through the remaining course of the competition the group generally received positive feedback. During the semi-final stage of the show, Little Mix performed The Supremes's You Keep Me Hangin' On as well asBeyoncé’s hit If I Were a Boy. Their performance of You Keep Me Hangin' On received mostly negative feedback from the judges with Louis Walsh stating that they "lost their mojo" and Kelly Rowland telling the girl group she seen them do "better vocal performances." Their second performance of the night, If I Were A Boy, was generally acclaimed by the judges with Walsh telling them they have "amazing potential" and calling them the "next big girl band." Rowland also told them they could be "incredibly dynamic" and "change the world" when they find the strength within each other. The group advanced through to the final live shows along with Marcus Collins and Amelia Lily following the public vote.

On 11 December, Little Mix were announced as the winners, the first-ever group to win. Their winner's single was a cover of Damien Rice's song "Cannonball", which was released via digital download on 11 December 2011, and on CD on 14 December 2011. *The Xtra Factor: The Winner's Story* was shown on ITV2 on 17 December 2011.Their debut single topped the UK Singles Chart on 18 December 2011. They made the Christmas number one spot on the Irish Singles Chart, beating novelty songs by The Saw Doctors and Ryan Sheridan.

### 2012–13: ***DNA* and international breakthrough**

On 25 January 2012, Little Mix made an appearance at the National Television Awards and performed the En Vogue song "Don't Let Go (Love)". They also accompanied fellow judges Gary Barlow and Tulisa Contostavlos on stage to receive the Best Talent Show award that had been won by *The X Factor*.[26] In May 2012, Little Mix reportedly signed a deal with Vivid and Bravado to release signature products including dolls, puzzles, accessories and games.[27]

Prior to their debut single release, the band covered an a cappella version of Beyoncé’s "End of Time" and uploaded it on YouTube; the cover was publically praised, especially for the group’s impressive harmonies.[28] Later in August, they also uploaded another cover, this time an acoustic cover of "We Are Young" by Fun ft. Janelle Monae which again received positive feedback, generally, for the group’s harmonies. On 1 June, a snippet of their debut single "Wings" previewed on chat show Alan Carr: Chatty Man before its later release date in August.[29]

Little Mix performed their debut single "Wings" for the first time at the *T4 on the Beach* concert on 1 July.[30] The single debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart.[31] On 31 August 2012, the group's autobiography, titled *Ready to Fly*, was released by Harper Collins.[32][33][34][35] In October 2012, the group went on a promotional visit to Australia due to their expanding fan base there, destinations included Melbourne and Sydney. The trip lasted a week and the group visited radio stations to promote the single and debut album. They performed their single "Wings" on *The X Factor Australia* and on Australian breakfast-television show *Sunrise*. "Wings" subsequently reached number 2 on the Australian iTunes chart and number 3 on the ARIA charts.[36]

Their debut album, *DNA*, was released in November 2012. Nicola Roberts co-penned a track called "Going Nowhere." on the *DNA* album[37] The album reached #3 in both Ireland and the UK. A second single, "DNA", was released in October,[38] and in January 2013 they signed a record deal with Columbia Records in North America.[39] "Wings" was released as their debut single in America on 5 February 2013.[40] On 3 February 2013, they released "Change Your Life" as the album's third single, which charted at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart.[41] On 4 March 2013, it was announced that "How Ya Doin'?" would be released as the fourth and final single from their debut album.[42]

On 21 March, they announced that their next single, "How Ya Doin'?", would feature Grammy Award-winning musician Missy Elliott.[43] On 4 April 2013, the group revealed thatSchwarzkopf hair dye *Live Colour XXL* would be promoted through their music video for "How Ya Doin'?" in a new sponsorship deal.[44] "How Ya Doin'?" debuted at number 57 on the UK Singles Chart on 20 April 2013, before ascending to number 23 the week after.[45] In its third week, the song peaked at number 16,[46] marking Little Mix's fifth consecutive UK top 20 hit.[47] It charted for a total of seven weeks.[47] "How Ya Doin'?" sold 120,000 copies in the UK. The single debuted at number 55 on the Irish Singles Chart on 11 April 2013.[48] It then climbed the chart to peak at number 26. Consequently, "How Ya Doin'?" became Little Mix's first single to miss the top 20 in Ireland, but spent a total of seven weeks on the chart.[49] The single peaked at number 16 on the Scottish Singles Chart on 11 May 2013,[50] marking the group's fifth consecutive top 20 hit in Scotland.[51]

### 2013–14: ***Salute* and "Word Up!**"

In March 2013, Little Mix began their first promotional campaign in the US. In multiple interviews with various websites and radio interviewers, the girls said that they would begin working on their second album in April. The group began work writing and recording the album in April and concluded in September. In an interview with Digital Spy in March 2013, they stated that they wanted their second album to have a more R&B sound.[52] Nelson added: "I personally want to put a lot more dancey stuff in there. As in, one of the songs that comes on in a club that makes you want to dance. Not that David Guetta sound, but more R&B – a bit like Eve and Gwen Stefani's "Let Me Blow Ya Mind". They also revealed that they would be starting to write material for the new album in the coming months.[52] On 4 October, Little Mix uploaded a video to their official YouTube page, announcing that their second album would be called *Salute* and would be available for pre-order on 7 October.[53] The album was released on 11 November 2013 in the United Kingdom and was released in the United States on 4 February 2014.[54] Throughout the recording process, Little Mix worked with several producers, including TMS, Future Cut, Fred Ball, Duvall and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The album was largely co-written by Little Mix, who stated that they were more involved in the development of this album than with their debut.

### *At the 2015 Brit Awards, the group confirmed that their album was completed, describing it as having a "whole new sound" and projecting the release for sometime in 2015.[64]Having written over 100 songs for their forthcoming album,[65] in May 2015 Little Mix released "Black Magic", the debut single from their upcoming third album.[66] Little Mix also co-wrote Britney Spears' single "Pretty Girls", which was also released in May 2015.[67]*

On 15 July 2015, following a leak of the album's cover art, the group officially announced on Twitter that their third studio album would be titled *Get Weird*, and would be available for pre-order in the UK from the following day, with a global release date set for 6 November 2015.[68]

On 25 September the band released "Love Me Like You" as the second single from the album. It was released as a single only in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, but was available to buy as an album track worldwide.

On 6 November, the group's third studio album was released.

## Discography

* *DNA* (2012)
* *Salute* (2013)
* Get Weird (2015)

## Concert tours

* DNA Tour (2013)
* The Salute Tour (2014)
* The Get Weird Tour (2016)