Kelli Young

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Kelli Young
Born (1982-04-07) 7 April 1982 (age 40)
Derby, England
Origin London, England
Genres
Years active2001–present

Kelli Young (born 7 April 1982) is an English pop singer. She was a member and lead singer of British pop group Liberty X from 2001 until they split in 2007 and again in 2012 when they reformed for a one-off reunion for an ITV2 series and performance at the Hammersmith Apollo. [1]

Contents

Early and personal life

She went to Derby High School, Littleover, until she was 16, when she moved to London. She is married to songwriter Iain James and they have twin boys born in July 2012. [2] Her mother is Bajan.

History

Career

While the five winning contestants of Popstars formed Hear'Say, the five runner-up contestants formed the group Liberty. The name Liberty was chosen to reflect the freedom the members experienced following their participation in Popstars. Amidst pejorative media commentary (including the term "Flopstars"), the act proceeded to sign a multi-million-pound record contract with Richard Branson's independent record label, V2 Records. Shortly after forming, Liberty received a legal challenge in the UK High Court from a funk R&B band, also called "Liberty", who achieved success in the 1990s, including being awarded Capital Radio Band of the Year, playing Wembley Arena, European tours and the release of albums in the UK, the US and Europe The original Liberty claimed that the newly formed Liberty was taking advantage of the goodwill that had been created by the former's success (known in English law as the "tort of passing off"). The final judgment was in favour of the funk R&B band and the ex-Popstars then asked readers of UK tabloid newspaper, The Sun to suggest a new name. The winning name was "X Liberty", but the group used the entry as the basis for the official title, "Liberty X".

Liberty X enjoyed seven Top 10 singles from 2001 to 2005. Their biggest hit, "Just a Little", reached Number 1 in May 2002. Its accompanying music video features Young wearing a black latex catsuit as part of a gang of professional burglars who steal a diamond from an atrium at the Vintners' Hall in London. [3] "Thinking It Over", "Got to Have Your Love", "Song 4 Lovers", and "Holding on for You" all reached the top 5 in the UK Singles Chart. Their debut album, Thinking It Over , reached number 3 in June 2002. Liberty X released another two albums, Being Somebody and X , which reached number 12 and 27, respectively. Liberty X won two Brit Awards: for Best British Single and Best British Breakthrough Artist.

Young starred in the ITV show Britain Sings Christmas in 2007, performing a cover version of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You". On 18 October, it was announced that Liberty X, along with other pop groups of their time such as B*Witched, Five and Atomic Kitten, would reunite for an ITV2 series called The Big Reunion , in which they would reveal about their individual stories about their life in the band before reforming for a gig singing their greatest hits. [4]

Filmography

Television
YearTitleRoleNotes
2001 Popstars Herself/competitor Season 1; Second place
2007Britain Sings ChristmasContestant
2013 The Big Reunion Herself
2017, 2018 Loose Women Guest panellist3 episodes

Discography

List of singles, with selected chart positions
TitleYearPeak chart positionsAlbum
UK
[5]
IRL
[5]
"Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"
(as The Girls of FHM)
20041025Single only
"All I Want for Christmas Is You"2007Britain Sings Christmas

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberty X</span> British-Irish music group

Liberty X are a British-Irish group originally consisting of Michelle Heaton, Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young. The group was formed by the five finalists of the 2001 ITV talent show Popstars who failed to make it into the winning group Hear'Say. In 2013 Liberty X's full members returned for the ITV2 documentary series The Big Reunion and toured until 2014. Since 2017, Heaton, Taylor and Young have performed as a girls trio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B*Witched</span> Irish girl group

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hear'Say</span> British pop group

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Michelle Christine Heaton is an English pop singer, actress and television personality. She was a member of the pop group Liberty X from 2001 until they announced their split in 2007; they reformed one year later for a small gig. In October 2012 it was confirmed the group would reform for a one-off appearance at the Hammersmith Apollo and feature in the ITV2 series The Big Reunion with other pop groups Atomic Kitten, B*Witched, Five, 911 and Honeyz.

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<i>Thinking It Over</i> (album) 2002 studio album by Liberty X

Thinking It Over is the debut studio album by British-Irish pop group Liberty X. The album was released on the back of their success on television talent show, Popstars, and was recorded in the year following the series' finale, where the band became runners-up to Hear'Say.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thinking It Over (song)</span> 2001 single by Liberty X

"Thinking It Over" is the debut single of English-Irish pop group Liberty, before they became Liberty X. The garage song was produced by Pete Devereux and the Wideboys. It was co-written by band members Kelli Young and Tony Lundon. In the United Kingdom, the single was a hit, reaching number five, but was not as successful internationally, peaking at number 29 in Ireland and number 81 in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Everybody Cries</span> 2004 single by Liberty X

"Everybody Cries" is the third and final single to be released from English-Irish pop-group Liberty X's second studio album, Being Somebody. The single was released on 12 January 2004, peaking at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart and number 24 on the Irish Singles Chart. The single only spent a further two weeks on the British chart before falling out of the top 40 completely. It was the band's last single with V2 Records, after being dropped by label boss Richard Branson.

<i>Popstars: The Rivals</i> Spin-off

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Semple</span> Northern Irish singer and musician (born 1981)

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<i>The Big Reunion</i>

The Big Reunion is a British reality-documentary series that began airing on ITV2 on 31 January 2013. The show featured chart-topping bands who were big in the UK pop music scene between the 1990s and early 2000s, and the programme followed them as they reunited for the first time in a decade and went through their two weeks of intensive rehearsals before finally stepping back on stage for a comeback performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Big Reunion (concerts)</span> 2013 concert tour

The Big Reunion is a 2013 series of concerts featuring British pop groups Five, 911, Atomic Kitten, Honeyz, Liberty X and Blue, and Irish group B*Witched. The groups, who were big names in the UK pop music scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s, reunited for the ITV2 reality-documentary series The Big Reunion, a show which follows them meeting again for the first time in a decade and rehearsing ahead of their comeback performance.

The first series of the British reality-documentary series The Big Reunion began airing on ITV2 on 31 January 2013 until 28 March 2013. The show features chart-topping bands who were big names in the UK pop music scene between the 1990s and early 2000s, and the programme follows them as they reunite for the first time in a decade and go through their two weeks of intensive rehearsals before finally stepping back on stage for a comeback performance. The bands who reunited for the first series were Five, 911, Atomic Kitten, B*Witched, Honeyz and Liberty X. Blue also joined later on.

References

  1. O'Brien, Jon. "Biography: Liberty X". AMG . Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  2. Corner, Lewis (21 October 2016). "Whatever happened to Liberty X?". Digital Spy. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  3. Rogers, John (16 March 2002). "Liberty X Video Shoot 'Just A Little'". Getty Images. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  4. Thursday, 18 October 2012 (18 October 2012). "ITVS to reform pop bands for The Big Reunion". Broadcast. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Kelli Young Chart History". aCharts. Retrieved 22 August 2009.