Mary-Jess Leaverland | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 28 March 1990 Gloucester, England, United Kingdom |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Instrument(s) | Vocals |
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Labels | Decca |
| Website | mary-jess |
Mary-Jess Leaverland, or simply Mary-Jess, is an English singer and songwriter [1] who won Min Xing Chang Fan Tian (or in English: I Want to Sing to the Stars), the Chinese version of The X Factor, which was televised to 70 million people in December 2009. [2] [3]
Mary-Jess Leaverland was born on 28 March 1990 in Gloucester, England, and grew up in a musical household. Her mother Liz and her grandmother were both singers. When Jess was nine years old, her grandmother got her an audition with the Gloucester Cathedral Youth Choir, mainly for the experience, but she was surprised to be accepted even though she was two years too young. Mary-Jess went on to study Music and Chinese at the University of Sheffield and in her second year went for a year's placement in Nanjing, China, where she decided to enter a live televised singing competition. [4] After achieving success from the singing competition, Mary-Jess left university after receiving a record deal to pursue her singing career.
Mary-Jess advanced through Min Xing Chang Fan Tian (or in English: I Want to Sing to the Stars) all the way to the final, where she won the grand prize after competing live on Chinese television every night for three weeks. After winning the contest however, Jess still remained virtually unknown in the UK. The show was not broadcast outside Jiangsu Province, China, so her family and friends could not watch it and her family could not afford to fly to China to watch her. When an interview she gave to a local Gloucester paper was picked up by the national press, the news spread, and Leaverland was offered several recording contracts and she signed a recording contract with Decca Records. She was signed to Decca from March 2010 to November 2011. [5]
Mary-Jess stated in an interview with The Guardian that "I was awful at French but Chinese caught my attention with all the different tones. Each word had its own tune." The Music and Chinese Studies course at the University of Sheffield took Leaverland to Nanjing, and when she by chance came across auditions for the talent competition she wanted to get involved. "I really thought they would want a Chinese person to win. I couldn't believe it when it was me." [6]
Her debut album Shine was released on 8 August 2011 and peaked at no. 57 on the UK Albums Chart. [7] Before release she went on a 23-date UK tour with tenor Russell Watson as his special guest. She was chosen to contribute to the Downton Abbey soundtrack, lending vocals to the song "Did I Make the Most of Loving You?". [8]
In December 2011, she appeared as a soloist on the BBC Songs of Praise broadcast from All Saints' Church, Cheltenham, [9] and again on Easter Sunday, in April 2012. [10]
Her song "Stand as One" was used as a background theme for P&G – Proud Sponsor of Mums TV advert in 2012. [11] Mary-Jess was selected to sing the FA Cup Christian hymn "Abide with Me" before the 2012 FA Cup Final association football match between Chelsea and Liverpool. [12] In 2013, she appeared at the Cheltenham Music Festival. [13]
In 2015, Mary-Jess was invited to No. 10 Downing Street and was asked to serve as a representative of the British Council's GREAT Britain Campaign to represent British music worldwide. [14]
In 2016, she conducted a short teaching tour of Suzhou, Lanzhou and Hangzhou, China with the British Council as part of The GREAT Britain Campaign. [15] Later that year she released her second album 'Prayer to a Snowflake', a winter/Christmas album which features duets with Jaden Cornelious and Rhydian. She then embarked on a UK tour to celebrate the release. Mary-Jess also released her winter album ‘Prayer to a Snowflake’ in November 2016 to critical acclaim.
In March 2017 Mary-Jess toured with G4 as their special guest and was asked to return for the September leg. She then followed that with her own tour and campaign.
Her second album ‘Inspire’, was released in April 2018.
In 2019, Mary-Jess sang in the new year with Katherine Jenkins, Aled Jones, Shane Filan, and many other special guests for BBC Songs of Praise’s ‘The Big Sing’ from the Royal Albert Hall to a viewing audience of two million people. [16]
In addition to singing and touring, Mary-Jess gives inspirational talks and presentations about the importance of learning languages and how learning Chinese changed her life forever. She also gives singing work shops and masterclasses, working with young singers and choirs to develop their voice. [17]
| Title | Album details | Chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| UK [18] | ||
| 57 | |
Prayer to a Snowflake |
| |
Inspire |
|
| Song | Year | Peak positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | |||
| "Are You The Way Home?" | 2011 | — | Shine |
| "Glorious" | — | ||
| "Heaven Is Empty" [19] | — | ||
| "I Fell in Love with a Snowman" | 2016 | — | Prayer to a Snowflake |
| "The Sound of Christmas" with Rhydian | 2016 | — |
Mary-Jess is a member of the Royal British Legion Gloucester City Branch, patron of The Door Youth Project, and she is an ambassador for Half the Sky, a charity that helps orphaned and abandoned children in China. [20]
Mary-Jess Leaverland is married to Rich Parker, a professional vert rollerblader. [21]
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality.
Hayley Dee Westenra is a New Zealand classical crossover singer and songwriter. Her first internationally released album, Pure, reached number one on the UK classical charts in 2003 and has sold more than two million copies worldwide, making it one of the fastest selling albums in her country's history.
Mary Hopkin, credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti from her marriage to Tony Visconti, is a Welsh singer best known for her 1968 UK number 1 single "Those Were the Days". She was one of the first artists to be signed to the Beatles' Apple label.
Sarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano singer, actress, and dancer.
Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa, is a retired New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Her extensive discography includes three albums which featured in the top forty in charts in Australia in the mid-1980s.
June Tabor is an English folk singer known for her solo work and her earlier collaborations with Maddy Prior and with Oysterband.
Michael Valentine Doonican was an Irish singer of traditional pop, easy listening, and novelty songs, who was noted for his warm and relaxed vocal style.
Katherine Jenkins is a Welsh singer. She is a mezzo-soprano and performs operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre, and hymns.
Julie Ann Felix was an American-British folk singer and recording artist who achieved success, particularly on British television, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She later performed and released albums on her own record label.
Helen Boulding is an English, London-based singer-songwriter, originally from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Her first album, New Red Dress, was released in February 2008.
Connie Fisher is a British actress, singer and TV presenter, who won the BBC One talent contest, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?
Alfred Giovanni Roncalli Boe is an English tenor and actor, notably performing in musical theatre.
Victoria Hart is a California-born English jazz-pop singer.
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins is an English singer-songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a record deal with XL Recordings. Her debut album, 19, was released in 2008 and spawned the UK top-five singles "Chasing Pavements" and "Make You Feel My Love". 19 has sold over 2.5 million copies in the UK and was named in the top 20 best-selling debut albums of all time in the UK. Adele was honoured with the Brit Award for Rising Star as well as the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
Faryl Smith is a British soprano whose performance repertoire includes opera, classical and classical crossover. Her diverse concerts draw a wide range of audiences, and she particularly enjoys introducing new audiences to classical music. Faryl has released two albums with Decca Records both in the UK and the US and works frequently with many different charities.
Susan Magdalane Boyle is a Scottish singer. She rose to fame in 2009 after appearing as a contestant on the third series of Britain's Got Talent, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables.
Joanna Forest is an English, UK Number 1 Classical Album selling soprano.
Shine is the debut studio album by the English classical crossover singer-songwriter Mary-Jess Leaverland. It was originally released in August 2011, on the label Decca. The album follows her victory on Chinese television talent contest Min Xing Chang Fan Tian in December 2009. Leaverland described the album's sound as a "True hybrid between Classical and Pop with a filmic element and an Oriental thread".
Mairéad Carlin is an Irish singer. She is a former member of the ensemble Celtic Woman and was the first-ever member of the group that was born in Northern Ireland.
Jessica Hannah Glynne is an English singer and songwriter. After signing with Atlantic Records, she rose to prominence in 2014 as a featured artist on the singles "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit and "My Love" by Route 94, both of which reached number one in the UK. She was considered one of the "Most Influential People Under 30" by Forbes magazine in 2019.
| Authority control: Artists |
|---|