Amelia Lily

Amelia Lily

Lily performing in 2012
Background information
Birth name Amelia Lily Oliver
Born 16 October 1994
Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, England, United Kingdom
Genres Pop, dance, pop rock
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, recording artist
Instruments Vocals
Years active 2011–present
Labels Xenomania, Sony, Warner
Associated acts Kelly Rowland
Website www.amelialily.com

Amelia Lily (born Amelia Lily Oliver; 16 October 1994) is an English pop singer who finished third on the eighth series of The X Factor in 2011, mentored by Kelly Rowland.

Her debut single, "You Bring Me Joy", was released in 2012 and reached number two on the UK Singles Chart, while her follow-up singles "Shut Up (and Give Me Whatever You Got)" and "Party Over" (both 2013) reached the top 20 and the top 40 respectively.[1]

Early life

The daughter of Aranka Bradley and Barry Oliver, Amelia Lily was born on 16 October 1994 in Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough. She went to Chandlers Ridge Primary school and after that she studied at the independent, fee-paying Teesside High School, in nearby Eaglescliffe. Lily began her musical career while still a secondary school pupil by posting videos of herself singing on YouTube.[2] Her cover of Adele's "Someone Like You" garnered over 1 million views.[3] From the age of 13, she began writing songs with her guitar and aspired to be a country singer after being brought up listening to it.[4] She was a figure skater for 6 years during her childhood.[4] She was also working on the tills at a garden centre in Nunthorpe, for £4.90 an hour, which she "absolutely hated".[5] Lily declared in an interview for The Sun[6] that she suffered bullying for five years at a previous school, saying she "had no friends", and "used to come home crying all the time". The newspaper reported that bullies picked on her because of her different style and, even after Lily was asked to sing at an assembly, they said she "would never make it". On a SugarScape interview in August 2012, she revealed that she wanted to be a nun when she was younger.[7]

Music career

2011: The X Factor

Known as the "Comeback Kid",[8] Lily auditioned for The X Factor in Liverpool in front of judges Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow, Tulisa Contostavlos, and Kelly Rowland in early 2011. She sang Erma Franklin's "Piece of My Heart" and won praise from all four judges. Gary Barlow said "...oh my goodness, 16 years old that was incredible. That absolutely lifted the top of this arena, well done. Amazing vocals. Amelia I am blown away..."[9]

She progressed through boot camp to the judges' houses, where she sang "E.T." by Katy Perry in front of Rowland and guest judge Jennifer Hudson. Lily made it to the live shows in Rowland's girls category, along with Misha B, Janet Devlin and Sophie Habibis. She performed "Billie Jean" receiving positive reviews. The judges loved her performance on the UK v US theme show, with Louis telling her: "Amelia, you deserve to be on that stage"; Gary also gave her thumbs-up, commenting: "That was a really great opening to the show" but she was the first of the girls category to be eliminated from the live shows on 9 October by decision of her mentor. There was no public vote in the inaugural live show. After her surprise elimination, Lily continued to perform at clubs. Prior to the sixth live show of The X Factor, it was announced that Frankie Cocozza had been disqualified and that the public would be given the chance to reinstate a contestant eliminated during the first live show. Lily was voted back into the competition after winning 48.8% of the vote, beating 2 Shoes, James Michael and Jonjo Kerr. Her comeback performance of "The Show Must Go On" received critical acclaim from all four judges.

In week 7 she sang "Think" by Aretha Franklin, but even with positive comments from the judges, she landed in the final showdown with Craig Colton, and was only saved by winning the popular vote when the judges' votes were deadlocked. The following week, Lily again received critical acclaim from the judges for her two performances: "China in Your Hand" and "Since U Been Gone", with Barlow commenting that it was "really nice to hear ['China in Your Hand'] sung in tune." It was later revealed that she topped the votes with the last 2 performances. On 4 December, she won a place in the final along with Little Mix and Marcus Collins. Throughout the series, she topped the public vote twice and was in the bottom two only once before reaching the finals, where she finished in third place with 26.5 per cent of the public vote.

Performances on The X Factor

Episode Song Result
Audition "Piece of My Heart" Advanced
Bootcamp 1 "You've Got the Love" (group performance) Advanced
Bootcamp 2 "Nobody Knows" Advanced
Judges' houses "E.T." Advanced
"You and I"
Live show 1 "Billie Jean" Not saved by Kelly Rowland
Eliminated
Return vote N/A 1st (48.8%)
Reinstated
Live show 6 "The Show Must Go On" 1st (27.4%)
Live show 7 "Think" 5th (11.3%)
Bottom two
Results show 7 "You and I" (final showdown performance) Saved by judges
Live show 8 "China in Your Hand" 1st (23.8%)
"Since U Been Gone"
Live show 9 (semi-final) "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" 3rd (21.4%)
"I'm with You"
Live show 10 (final) "Ain't No Other Man" 3rd (26.5%)
Eliminated
"River Deep – Mountain High"
(duet with Kelly Rowland)

2012–13: Be a Fighter

After Lily embarked on the X Factor tour, it was announced that she had signed a £500,000 record deal with Sony subsidiary Xenomania.[10] In September 2012, she released her debut single, "You Bring Me Joy", which reached number one on iTunes following its release,[11] eventually charting at number two in the UK.[12] Her second single, "Shut Up (and Give Me Whatever You Got)", was released in January 2013, peaking at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. Her third single, "Party Over", was released in April 2013[13] and reached number 40.

Her debut album was planned to be released on 29 April 2013,[14] and was to be titled Be a Fighter. Lily described the album as featuring an eclectic range of genres—"There's a bit of dubstep on there as well which I think will surprise people! The sound is all over the place but I think the record works because we've only included songs that I really connected with."[15] Lily announced in July 2013 that the album's release had been postponed to record new material for it as she wanted it to be "perfect".[16] Be a Fighter appeared on online retailers later in 2013 with a new release date of 4 February 2014, but was subsequently taken down.

The published tracklisting was as follows. The standard had the first disc and deluxe had the second disc; DISC 1 1. You Bring Me Joy 2. Party Over 3. The Hills 4. Shut Up (And Give Me Whatever You've Got) 5. Walk In My Shoes 6. Just Can't Take The Rumours 7. Promises 8. Be A Fighter 9. Over And Out 10. Heartbeat 11. Blue 12. Truth Or Dare 13. Look Who's Laughing Now DISC 2 1. Bruise Easily 2. Cry 3. Sunshine 4. Delicious 5. Blue (Acoustic) 6. You Bring Me Joy (Acoustic)

Lily was the support act for Girls Aloud's arena tour, Ten: The Hits Tour, participating from 21 February to 20 March 2013.[17] Lily was also the main support act for Olly Murs's gig at the INTRO Festival.[18] She also performed at Chester Rocks in June 2013 alongside Jessie J and Lawson.

2014–present: New album

In July 2014, Lily announced the release of a single titled "California" on Warner Music, due for release 7 September. On 25 July, Lily released the music video for "California".

Artistry

American recording-artists Pink (left) and Kelly Clarkson (right) have been influences to Lily

Lily credits Pink as her major musical influence and idol.[19] She also admires Kelly Clarkson, and cited her as her hero during The X Factor, singing one of her songs in the show, "Since U Been Gone".[20]

Personal life

Lily is a Type 1 diabetic, having been diagnosed with the condition aged three.[21] She is insulin-dependent, has to have 8 injections a day, check her blood, and keep a balanced diet.[22] She is the half-sister of Any Dream Will Do‍ '​s Lewis Bradley. She was raised Roman Catholic.[23] Lily is a supporter of the 'Make Mine Milk' and charity 'BeatBullying' where she launched a poetry/songwriting competition called 'Find Your Voice' in which the winner will meet the singer and have the song or the lyrics sung and recorded by herself. She stated "that’s why I’m so happy to be launching this competition with ‘make mine Milk’ and BeatBullying; I hope that it will empower young people to get creative and speak out bullying is such a taboo subject so it’s great to be able to tackle that through ‘Find Your Voice’".[24]

Lily is in a relationship with singer/songwriter Steve Rushton, the pair have been dating since early 2013 and met after Rushton was a guitarist for her live band.[25]

Discography

Studio albums

Title Details
TBA

Singles

As lead artist

Year Title Peak chart positions Certifications Album
UK
[26]		 IRE
[27]		 NL
[28]		 SCO
[29]
2012 "You Bring Me Joy" 2 21 67 2 TBA
2013 "Shut Up (and Give Me Whatever You Got)" 11 63 — 8
"Party Over" 40 — — 36
2014 "California" 83 — — —
"—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released.

As featured artist

Year Title Peak chart positions Album
UK
[31]		 IRE
[32]		 SCO
[33]
2011 "Wishing on a Star"
(as part of The X Factor Finalists 2011 featuring JLS and One Direction)		 1 1 1 Charity single

Music videos

Year Song Director(s)
2011 "Wishing on a Star"
(as part of The X Factor Finalists 2011)		 N/A
2012 "You Bring Me Joy" Evan Dennis[34]
"Shut Up (and Give Me Whatever You Got)" Sarah Chatfield[35]
2013 "Party Over" Travis Kopach
2014 "California" Charlotte Rutherford

Tours

Opening act

  • Ten: The Hits Tour (2013)
  • Olly Murs Summer Tour (2013) (7 June only)

Headlining

  • The X Factor Live Tour (2012)

References

  1. ↑ "AMELIA LILY". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  2. ↑ "Amelia Lily". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  3. ↑ "Amelia Lily - X Factor - Adele - Someone Like You". YouTube. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Amelia Lily interview". CraveOnMuisc. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  5. ↑ Smart, Gordon (July 2012). "The Sun, UK". London.
  6. ↑ Smart, Gordon. "X Factor finalist Amelia Lily on debut single and ambitions – The Sun –Showbiz–Bizarre". The Sun (London).
  7. ↑ "Exclusive Amelia Lily: 'I wanted to be a nun when I was younger'". SugarScape. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  8. ↑ Bull, Sarah (December 2011). "Mail Online, UK". Daily Mail (London).
  9. ↑ "Tellymix.co.uk". September 2011.
  10. ↑ "'X Factor' Amelia Lily 'lands three-album record deal'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  11. ↑ "Amelia Lily hits number one on iTunes with 'You Bring Me Joy'". Digital Spy. 10 September 2012.
  12. ↑ "The Script beat Amelia Lily to score first UK No.1 single". Digital Spy. 16 September 2012.
  13. ↑ Copsey, Robert (21 February 2013). "Amelia Lily previews new single 'Party Over' - listen". Digital Spy. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  14. ↑ Corner, Lewis (27 February 2013). "Amelia Lily debuts new single 'Party Over' - listen". Digital Spy. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  15. ↑ "Amelia Lily: 'New album has dubstep, soul'". Digital Spy. 7 August 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  16. ↑ Amelia Lily still working on debut album: 'I want it to be perfect' Digital Spy
  17. ↑ Copsey, Robert (19 February 2013). "Amelia Lily to support Girls Aloud UK arena tour". Digital Spy. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  18. ↑ Pain, Andrew (28 February 2013). "Amelia Lily to support at Olly Murs gig in Middlesbrough". Evening Gazette. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  19. ↑ "Amelia Lily - Bio". Heat. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  20. ↑ "Amelia does Kelly... Clarkson not Rowland - The X Factor 2011 Live Show 8 (Full Version)". YouTube. TheXFactorUK. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  21. ↑ "Amelia Lily - Diabetes UK". Diabetes UK. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  22. ↑ Amelia Lily on her new single - Daily Record
  23. ↑ "Amelia Lily". allstarpics. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  24. ↑ Amelia Lily Backs Make Mine Milk & BeatBullying
  25. ↑ "AMELIA LILY IS DATING MILEY CYRUS' EXBOYFRIEND STEVE RUSHTON". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  26. ↑ "Amelia Lily > UK Charts". Official Charts Company. officialcharts.com/.
  27. ↑ Peak positions for Ireland:
  28. ↑ Hung, Steffen. "Discografie Amelia Lily". Dutch Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  29. ↑ Peak positions for Scotland:
  30. ↑ "Certified Awards" (ENTER "AMELIA LILY" INTO THE "KEYWORDS" BOX, THEN SELECT "SEARCH"). British Phonographic Industry.
  31. ↑ Peak positions for the featured singles in the UK:
  32. ↑ Peak positions for the featured singles in Ireland:
  33. ↑ Peak positions for the featured singles in Scotland:
  34. ↑ "Amelia Lily "You Bring Me Joy"". Vimeo. 2 November 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  35. ↑ "MTV " Amelia Lily " Music Videos " Shut Up (and Give Me Whatever You Got)". MTV. Retrieved 21 January 2013.