Honey G (rapper)

Last updated

Honey G
Birth nameAnna Georgette Gilford
Born (1981-03-12) 12 March 1981 (age 42)
Harrow, London, England
Genres
Occupation(s)Rapper/MC
Instrument(s)Vocals
Years active2016–present
Labels Syco

Anna Georgette Gilford [1] (born 12 March 1981), professionally known as Honey G, is an English rapper. [2] She was a contestant on the thirteenth series of The X Factor in 2016.

Contents

Personal life

Honey G is Jewish and has claimed she has been bullied with antisemitism all her life. [3] [4] She attended Dr Challenors High School for girls before going on to Salford University and graduated with an upper second-class degree in music in 2004. In July 2017, she came out as a lesbian. [5]

Career

2016: The X Factor

In her first audition, she sang "Work It" by Missy Elliott, which earned her three yes votes. At the six-chair challenge, she sang "WTF (Where They From)" by Missy Elliott and Pharrell Williams, and was eliminated by mentor Sharon Osbourne; however, Osbourne brought her back as a replacement for Ivy Grace Paredes, who was unable to travel to Los Angeles due to visa issues. [6] Osbourne later picked Honey G to advance after her performance of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise". She ended up in the bottom two for the first time against Ryan Lawrie on week 7. Cowell, Osbourne and Walsh voted to save her. However voting statistics revealed that Lawrie received more votes than Honey G meaning if Walsh sent the result to deadlock, Lawrie would've advanced to the quarter-final and Honey G would've been eliminated. Honey G was in the bottom two in the quarter-final against 5 After Midnight. After the sing-off, only Osbourne voted to send Honey G through to the semi-final, and was the eighth contestant eliminated.

During her time in the competition, Honey G faced criticism for being a novelty act, branded such by judge Nicole Scherzinger. [7] Isabel Mohan of The Telegraph gave her the title of "the biggest joke in X Factor history." [8]

She performed at The X Factor Final at Wembley Arena as a guest performer where she officially announced that she had signed a record deal with Cowell's record label, Syco Music, [9] and would be releasing her debut single, "The Honey G Show", on 23 December. The single received little promotion [10] and reached number 149 on the UK Singles Chart. [11]

Post-X Factor career

Since parting company with Syco Music in 2017, Honey G has self-published music videos on her own Vevo page, and worked as an estate agent. [12]

In 2022 she appeared on series seven of Celebrity Coach Trip . [13]

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References

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  5. "X Factor star Honey G comes out as gay". PinkNews. 26 July 2017. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  6. Jefferies, Mark (25 September 2016). "X Factor's Honey G makes dramatic RETURN at judges houses after being kicked out". Daily Mirror . Trinity Mirror. Archived from the original on 17 September 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
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