Hollie Steel

Personal life

Steel has been singing since the age of four when she showed interest in her brother Joshua's performances. She also attended the KLF Dance Academy in Burnley with him. Prior to Britain's Got Talent she performed in productions of Annie and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Steel's parents, Nina and Jason, who work as National Health Service audiologists, said that she was entered in Britain's Got Talent so she would not feel left out as they felt her brother, Joshua, five years older, was more likely to progress. The judges preferred Hollie's audition and Joshua dropped out.

Steel had serious pneumonia when she was four years old; fluid filled one of her lungs and surgeons considered removing the lung. She was instead hospitalised for three months at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and underwent several operations to drain her lungs.

Britain's Got Talent

In April 2009, Steel auditioned for the third series of Britain's Got Talent. In her first televised appearance, she began her number ballet dancing to "I Could Have Danced All Night" from the musical My Fair Lady, then, as judge Simon Cowell started to reach for the red rejection buzzer, she began singing the song with an unexpectedly powerful voice. She received a standing ovation from the audience and the approval of all four judges. Piers Morgan told Steel, "We have seen a lot of children on our show over the past three series and I have never heard any of them sing as well as you do". Kelly Brook was in tears and called her performance, "beautiful and lovely". Media reports at the time claimed that Steel had referred to Cowell as a bully for critical comments he made after her first appearance on the show; however, a blog at a Lancashire newspaper's web site that was attributed to Steel and her mother denied that she had ever made such a comment. Commentators and mainstream media outlets speculated that she might defeat Susan Boyle, who had made an impression worldwide in the first show of the series. Over thirteen million viewers watched Steel's performance and, within one day of a video of her performance being posted on YouTube, over a million viewers had seen her worldwide. She was interviewed on US television via satellite link during NBC's Today show.

During her semi-final of Britain's Got Talent in May, Steel forgot her words and broke down mid-performance. After she appealed for a second chance and was denied by the producers, Cowell intervened saying, "I don't care how we find it but we will find the time somewhere", and she was allowed to perform a second time after street dancer and fellow finalist Aidan Davis. Her second attempt at "Edelweiss" went well and she was praised by the judges for being accomplished and brave in the trying circumstances. Piers Morgan described it as "one of the gutsiest things I've ever seen in my life", and Steel was chosen by all three judges to progress to the final in preference to Greg Pritchard. The incident caused numerous commentators to debate whether children of this age should be allowed to compete in a TV show in which contestants are under such high pressure.

In the final, she performed the song "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" from Phantom of the Opera. Her performance was trouble-free and well-received, and the viewer voting resulted in her finishing in sixth place, receiving 3.9% of the reported 4 million votes, calculating to 156,000 votes.

During June and July 2009, Steel appeared in Britain's Got Talent – The Live Tour 2009 with most of the other finalists from the third series. She was home tutored between rehearsals and the start of the tour. The rehearsals were held at the Apollo Theatre in Hammersmith. The tour opened at Birmingham, England on 12 June 2009, and finished on 5 July 2009 at Bournemouth. During the live stage shows, Steel performed solo and also in combination with other artists such as 2 Grand, with whom she performed "Edelweiss" in Newcastle.

Singing career

The Daily Mirror on 28 July 2009 reported that veteran performer and singer Rolf Harris wished to record a song with Steel that he composed. However, the project with Harris fell through and so, in September 2009, Steel signed with record label VVR2, owned by Dave D'Mello. For VVR2, she recorded her debut single "Where Are You, Christmas?" from the American film How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The single was released on 14 December 2009. The single, however, did not make it into the top 40 in the UK Singles Chart.

Steel's debut album, Hollie, was released on 24 May 2010. The album was released on Steel's own label, BB5 Records Limited, named after the Accrington postcode, and includes the Pendle’s Arden Youth Choir on some of the classical pieces. It was distributed by Universal. Steel's second single was "Edelweiss", from The Sound of Music, and was released on 29 March 2010. Steel's third single was "I Could Have Danced All Night", from My Fair Lady, and "O Mio Babbino Caro", from Gianni Schicchi, and was released on 10 May 2010. Steel recorded at the sound studio in the ACE Centre in Nelson, Lancashire.

Steel’s next single, consisting of two tracks, was released on 22 November 2010. The first song of the single is a cover of "When Christmas Comes to Town" from the 2004 animated/live action movie The Polar Express; the second song is "O Holy Night". Steel also released a limited-edition 24 minute 2010 Christmas album available only on her official website, A Christmas Wish, consisting of six tracks with a complimentary 4 minute DVD titled "When Christmas comes to town." On 4 December 2010, Steel gave performances of "O Mio Babbino Caro" and "O Holy Night" at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Both Hollie and Joshua starred in a musical review titled "Hollie Steel & Friends" at the Leatherhead Theatre in Surrey, England, on 29 January 2011, singing songs from the musicals Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Oliver!, Fame, and My Fair Lady Steel was one of 16 artists on the CD Classical Crossover Compilation 2011, singing "Pokarekare Ana" on her track. She later released the song as a charity single to help those suffering from an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand.

In April 2011, Steel was cast in the role of Louisa von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber's UK tour of The Sound of Music. Her first appearance in the show was on 27 May 2011 in Glasgow; her final performance was on 15 October 2011 in Wimbledon.

In 2012, Hollie starred in the 55 minute musical docudrama, "Children on the Titanic" available on Amazon Video.

On 3 December 2012 Steel released her sixth single, an original song titled "Fly", which she recorded in Italy with producer/writer and singer Romina Arena.

In 2014, Hollie moved to London, UK permanently to attended the prestigious college in Islington The Urdang Academy to study a three-year course in Musical Theatre to pursue a career in acting. Since then Miss Steel has gained a very large following on social media sites and posts covers on her YouTube channel (holliebsteelofficial). During the summer of 2016, Steel attended and performed at two of the largest YouTube events. Summer in the City (the largest YouTube Event in the UK) and then Playlist Live Washington DC.

In 2016, Hollie released the Christmas single "Patched & Sewn" on Spotify, eMusic, Google Play, Amazon, and iTunes.

Albums