Amelia Lily

Early life

The daughter of Aranka Bradley and Barry Oliver, Amelia Lily was born on 16 October 1994 in Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough. She was educated at Chandlers Ridge Primary school followed by 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. Her cover of Adele's "Someone Like You" garnered over 1 million views. 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. She was a figure skater for 6 years during her childhood. She was also working on the tills at a garden centre in Nunthorpe, for £4.90 an hour, which she "absolutely hated". Lily declared in an interview for The Sun 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.

2011: The X Factor

Known as the "Comeback Kid", Lily auditioned for The X Factor in Liverpool in front of judges Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow, Tulisa, and Kelly Rowland in 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..."

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 Britain vs America 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 axed 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. Despite positive comments from the judges, she was in the bottom two with Craig Colton, and was saved after Barlow and Tulisa voted to send Colton through to the quarter-final while Rowland and Walsh who had the casting vote voted to send Lily through to the quarter-final. This meant Walsh sent the result to deadlock and Lily was sent through to the quarter-final. 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 public vote in the quarter-final and semi-final. 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.

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. In September 2012, she released her debut single, "You Bring Me Joy", which reached number one on iTunes following its release, eventually charting at number two in the UK. 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 and reached number 40.

Her debut album was planned to be released on 29 April 2013, 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." 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". Be a Fighter appeared on online retailers later in 2013 with a new release date of 4 February 2014, but was subsequently taken down.

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. 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. She also performed at Allstarz Summer Party at Madejski Stadium in Reading 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 and Celebrity Big Brother

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

In May, the London Evening Standard announced that Lily would be taking on the role of Whatsername when Green Day's American Idiot comes to London.

She competed in Celebrity Big Brother 2017. Lily left the house on Day 25 as the runner up behind Sarah Harding.

Artistry

Lily credits Pink as her major musical influence and idol. 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".

Personal life

Lily is a Type 1 diabetic, having been diagnosed with the condition aged three. She is the sister of Any Dream Will Do's Lewis Bradley.