Mollie King | |
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Birth name | Mollie Elizabeth King[1] |
Born | 4 June 1987 Wandsworth, London, England |
Genres | Pop, electropop |
Occupations | Singer |
Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
Years active | 2004–present |
Labels | Polydor, Fascination |
Associated acts | The Saturdays, Fallen Angelz |
Mollie Elizabeth King (born 4 June 1987) is an English singer-songwriter. She is best known for being a member of girl group, The Saturdays. In the band, King has successfully enjoyed ten top-ten and five top-five singles on the UK Singles Chart and three top-ten albums on the UK Albums Chart. Before The Saturdays, King used to be a member of another girl group, Fallen Angelz which she appeared on The X Factor with; where she gained positive comments from the judges. King is currently signed to Fascination and Polydor Records. Not only does King use her vocals as an instrument, she plays the guitar.
King has had a number of sponsorship deals while being in The Saturdays. She studied A Levels at college. As of 2011, she has also been dating model, David Gandy. She has also appeared in Hollyoaks Later where she appeared as herself with a minor acting role. King skiied for United Kingdom and was one of the youngest on the team, gaining a scholarship with the British Ski Academy.
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Mollie King was born in Wandsworth, London, the youngest of three daughters born to Susan (née Wykes) and Stephen King, and attended Surbiton High School, in Kingston-upon-Thames, Greater London. She has two sisters, Ellen and Laura.[2] King had a successful ski career and was on the Surbiton High Ski team with fellow pupil Chemmy Alcott. By age eleven, King was a member of the British Children's Ski Team resulting in her receiving a scholarship to the British Ski Academy. King later raced for Great Britain as one of the youngest on the team and later went on to ski for the British Alpine squad although turned down a ski career to pursue her dream of becoming a singer.[3] King achieved three As in her A levels, in Psychology, Business and Economics and Sport. She is dyslexic.[3]
King joined a band titled Fallen Angelz in 2006 alongside Nikki, Bobbi and Rachelle. Fallen Angelz evolved through auditions held in London in 2005, where Bobbi selected three other “sassy girls with bags of attitude”. after watching VT footage of the singing and dancing auditions and photo shoot apparently and describes the selection process on their website. During their time performing the band have appeared on stage with Chico, Simon Webbe, Lemar, Girls Aloud, Journey South, Lee Ryan and Atomic Kitten.[4]
After the band still failed to gain success, they decided to audition for the talent show The X Factor in 2007, which was eventually won by Leon Jackson. During the audition the band entered the auditions room singing "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne. However, the band had changed some of the lyrics, singing "Hey, hey, you, you, I wanna be your girlband". As their main audition song, the band sang "Obviously" by McFly. The band gained four yesses from the judges, which sent them to the next stage of the competition, called "bootcamp". At the second stage of the show, the band failed to impress the judges a second time around, and were eliminated from the show. Later, Mollie and Nikki decided to leave the group.
After leaving former girlband Fallen Angelz, King auditioned to become a member of girl group The Saturdays she successfully auditioned and joined the group. The band signed a record deal with Fascination and Polydor Records. The band accompanied Girls Aloud on their tour, the Tangled Up Tour from 13 May to 4 June 2008. The Saturdays released their first single "If This Is Love" which featured samples from Yazoo's "Situation. The single entered the UK Singles Chart at number-eight. The second single released from the bands album was titled "Up" which was produced by Quiz & Larossi; the production was described as an upbeat bubblegum pop, dance-pop and electropop song.[5][6][7] Its style has also been described as "electro-tinged" and "robotic disco-pop".[7] Chasing Lights the groups for studio album, it charted at number-nine on the UK Album Charts. The album gained a Platinum certification by the BPI. Chasing Lights produced two more UK Top-Ten Singles "Issues" and "Just Can't Get Enough". Their final single was released, entitled "Work" which charted at twenty-two on the UK Singles Chart making the bands lowest ever charting. They embark their first concert tour, The Work Tour. Wordshaker was the groups second-studio-album which was released in October 2009. "Forever Is Over" was released as the lead single from the album, charting at number-two in the UK and number 8 on the Irish Singles Charts. "Ego" was released as the second and the last single released from Wordshaker the single charted at number-nine becoming one of the groups lowest charting single however, the single became one of the bands best selling singles. Headlines! was released as their third album, with first single "Missing You" released, the single gained positive reviews and King's voice was described; "King uses the natural croak in her voice".[8] It was written by Lukas Hilbert and Alexander Kronlund.[9] Headlines! and "Missing You" both charted at number-three on the UK Album Charts and the UK Singles Chart. She is known for being the "posh, smiley one", earning the nickname "Miss Disney" by the other Saturdays.[10] Mollie also plays the acoustic guitar.[10] Mollie unfortunately missed 3 dates due to flu. As The Saturdays were promoting their 8th single, Missing You, King had to pull out of performing on T4 on the Beach due to a horsefly bite which left her right leg swollen and resulted in King being dependent on crutches for a while.[11] "Higher" was released as the last and final single from Headlines! it charted at number-ten on the UK Singles Chart; it became the bands 8th top-ten single; [at the time]. "Notorious" is set to be released in May 2011; from the band's fourth album.
King auditioned for The X Factor in 2005, before joining The Saturdays, and was criticised by Sharon Osbourne for her outfit. She then changed her outfit and went back to sing a Christina Aguilera ballad, where they praised her and encouraged her to come back when she was older. As a result of her audition being broadcast King appeared on The X Factor in 2007 again as a part of girl band Fallen Angelz, (formed in 2005). They managed to get to the final stages of boot camp before being eliminated from the competition. King appeared in a number of episodes in the Hollyoaks Later series, along with fellow band member Frankie Sandford. As a part of The Saturdays, she has appeared in BBC series Myths. King has appeared in two episodes of bebo-based online show Sam King as herself in the role of an ex-girlfriend. Before the Saturdays, King appeared in Singing with the Enemy, with former band Fallen Angelz who appeared on The X Factor. She also appeared on The King is Dead on BBC Three and Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 2010. Along with her band mates, King appeared on Ghosthunting with... where they look for parnormal activity. She also appeared in own Reality TV show with her band mates, known as The Saturdays: 24/7. On the show King and the other members of The Saturdays performed exclusive tracks on the show.
In early 2010, King and her band announced they were giving their name to an autobiography.[12] King later announced that the autobigraphy would be titled The Saturdays: Our Story.[12] The book was officially released on 25 October 2010. King and the rest of her band appeared at a book signing at WH Smith in Bluewater for a book signing on 16 October 2010. The cover of their book cover had a similar cover to their Headlines! album and their The Headlines Tour due to them all being released around the same time.[12] The book gives insight into the world of The Saturdays by telling the tale of their success. King has her own chapter in the book, which she speaks about her love interests, their friendship within the band, and a personal insight into their lives before finding fame. The book also gives fashion and beauty tips, some gossip, accompanied by photos from the girls’ own collection.[13]
It was revealed in 2009, that Mollie would be the new face of hair removal product Veet, with her band, The Saturdays. King had done a photoshoot which showed off her legs to promote the Veet's collection, They are modelling a range of micro mini-skirts and body con dresses to show off their fuzz-free pins.[14] She later became the face of major campign of womans deodorant with her band, Impulse; which she recorded a TV ad and the ad featured the bands songs in The band later became new faces of major campign of Impulse women's deodorant. The band recorded a television ad, which featured their songs "Forever Is Over" and "Ego". It was also dubbed as "The Impulse Diaries". The TV content, which involves a sponsorship package on Channel 4, will show the girls in various settings, including a hotel room, a tour bus and backstage before a gig. This first aired on October 23.[15] The band also did a photoshoot, posing on a giant sofa as they launched T-Mobile's Big Sofa Night In compaign in London, United Kingdom. The band sat on the sofa for more than 12 hours, the sofa was the size of a double decker bus.[16][17]
It was announced that The Saturdays would record the 2009 Comic Relief charity single.[18] It was revealed that the band put their fourth single ("Work") to release the comic relief single. It was confirmed that the band would release a cover of Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" for the charity single. The single was released on 1 March 2009. A week later when the song charted, it was announced that the song had charted at #2 on the UK Singles Charts making the band the first artist in 14 year for their comic relief single not to chart at number-one.[19]
In May 2010, the band teamed up with Manchester United and they will single at a pre-match concert at Old Trafford.[20] On 12 September 2010, the band performed Help for Heroes charity concert with over 60,000 fans there.[21] In March 2011, the band appeared at Westfield shopping centre with buckets and asked customers to part with their cash. In which they were doing it for Marie Curie Cancer Care, which provides nurses to help care for people with terminal cancer. Rochelle stated; "We were collecting money in Westfield, for our charity Marie Curie! We raised a lot I think."[22] The band also performed at the The Sunshine Concert which was held at the Troxy in London; in order to raise money for charity.[23]
In January 2010 it was reported that King was in a relationship with singer Andy Brown.[24] However, as of February 2011, the pair had split up due to work commitments.[25] King has been dating model, David Gandy since April 2011.
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