Amelia Lily

Amelia Lily
Lily performing in 2012
Background information
Birth name	Amelia Lily Oliver
Born	(1994-10-16) 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 actress and pop singer who finished third on the eighth series of The X Factor in 2011, mentored by Kelly Rowland. She competed in the show and progressed to the Live Show stage however she was at first unsuccessful. However, when Frankie Cocozza was ejected from the show following many broken rules Lily was reinstated as his replacement earning critical acclaim, during her performance back on the show in Live Show 6 Lily gained 23.7% of the public vote and had the most votes. Lily progressed onto the next live show. Lily made it to the final even after a bottom two scare. In The Final Lily performed with her mentor Kelly Rowland.

Following the show Lily was signed with Sony with a £500,000 record deal, Lily then released a single called You Bring Me Joy; the single charted across the United Kingdom. The single peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart and number twenty one in the Republic of Ireland. Lily's follow up single during 2013 called Shut Up (And Give Me Whatever You Got) charted within the UK Singles Chart with a Top 15 result of Number eleven. Lily's second single in 2013 "Party Over" peaked within the top forty of the UK Singles Chart.^[1]

During 2015 Lily joined the cast of American Idiot the musical as a lead role of "Whatshername", in the show Lily performs the songs "She's A Rebel", "Last Night on Earth", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "21 Guns". Lily also performs a solo song during the show called "Letterbomb". Previously Lily had musical production experience having already performed as part of the cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as the narrator claiming a lead role.

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]

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

2012: 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 track listing 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)

2013: Girls Aloud and Olly Murs Tour

Lily was the support act for Girls Aloud's arena tour, Ten: The Hits Tour, participating from 21 February to 20 March 2013.^[17] On the tour Lily was the opening act for several tour dates, she notably performed You Bring Me Joy and a Bruno Mars cover Locked Out of Heaven. "You Bring me Joy" was at the time at Number 2 on the English Charts. Lily was also the main support act for Olly Murs's gig at the INTRO Festival.^[18] She also performed at Allstarz Summer Party at Madejski Stadium in Reading ^[19] and later Chester Rocks at Chester Racecourse in June 2013, both of which were alongside Jessie J and Lawson.

2014: California

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" on 25 July 2014. The music video has gained 467,529 viewers.

In 2016, a promo CD featuring the explicit version of "California" appeared online including two new tracks, "The Best Of Me Yet (Greatest Night)" and "U Get Me".

2015–present: Theatre

In November 2014 it was announced that Lily would be replacing Marcus Collins in the UK Tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat^[20] from February 2015.

In May The London Evening Standard Announced that Lily would be taking on the role of Whatshername when Green Day's American Idiot (musical) comes to London.^[21]

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.^[22] 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".^[23]

Personal life

Lily is a Type 1 diabetic, having been diagnosed with the condition aged three.^[24] She is insulin-dependent, has to have 8 injections a day, check her blood, and keep a balanced diet.^[25] She is the sister of Any Dream Will Do's Lewis Bradley. Lily is a supporter of the 'Make Mine Milk' campaign 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’".^[26] She is also one half of the YouTube duo 'two girls one Bong' where her white hair is indistinctive.

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.^[27]

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Music videos

Tours

References