Samantha Jade

Early life

Samantha Jade Gibbs was born in Perth, Western Australia. Her father, Kevin Gibbs is of Anglo-Indian descent, while her mother, Jacqueline Deans Gibbs was of Scottish descent. Jade also has two younger brothers, Alex and Thomas "TJ" Gibbs. Her mother died on 8 June 2014 after a short battle with cancer. Jade began modelling at the age of four and at age nine she won a talent show after singing "Amazing Grace". She attended Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School and Hampton Senior High School.

2002–2010: Beginnings

In 2002, Jade's friend sent her demo to a record producer in Los Angeles, California, who then decided to send Jade and her family to Hollywood for a meeting. The following year, they moved to Los Angeles. In 2004, she signed with US record label Jive Records and began recording a few demo tracks. That year, a song she co-wrote, "Secret Love", was recorded by JoJo for the soundtrack of the 2004 film Shark Tale.

In 2006, Jade recorded the title track "Step Up" for the 2006 dance film Step Up. The song was written by Diane Warren and produced by rapper Wyclef Jean. The single which had little promotion appeared for one week on the Billboard Pop 100 peaking at number 92. In 2007, Jade released her follow-up single "Turn Around". It was sent to mainstream radio in the United States on 14 August 2007, as the lead single from Jade's debut album, My Name is Samantha Jade. Upon initial release, "Turn Around" debuted and peaked at number 83 on the ARIA Singles Chart, but upon Jade winning the fourth season of The X Factor in 2012, the song re-entered and peaked at number 53. After three years with the label, My Name is Samantha Jade was never released. In 2007 Jade co-wrote and sang back-up vocals on the track "Positivity" on Ashley Tisdale's debut album Headstrong. The following year, Jade co-wrote and sang back-up vocals on the song "Can't Walk Away" on Tiffany Evans' album Tiffany Evans.

Jade was later dropped from Jive Records and attempted to continue to work on music independently with American record label Affinity West Entertainment. Jade recorded the controversial Golden Touch album for the label which would later result in issues regarding the release of the album, as it wasn't released until 2012. In 2010, Jade made her acting debut in the film Beneath the Blue, a sequel to Eye of the Dolphin. The film was released in 2009. Jade notably recorded a track the following year with David Guetta and Laidback Luke for David Guetta's fourth studio album One Love which was released in August. The track did not make the final track-listing but is featured as a bonus track on certain international releases. In July 2009 Jade released her third single, "Secret", in Australia, which failed to chart. The official music video for the single was directed by Valerie Babayan. The video for "Secret" shows her narrowing down an old lover so she can confront them about their "Secret". In 2010, Jade relocated to Perth and began working at her father's mining factory counting stock.

2012: The X Factor Australia and Samantha Jade

In a final attempt to return to the music industry, Jade successfully auditioned for the fourth season of The X Factor in 2012, singing The Script's "Breakeven", during which judge Guy Sebastian notably teared up. Jade progressed to the super bootcamp stage of the competition, where she sang "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" by Lenny Kravitz and "No Air" by Jordin Sparks. She then advanced to the home visits round as part of the Over 25s category, which was mentored by Sebastian. He later selected Jade, along with Justin Standley and Nathaniel Willemse, for the live finals—a series of ten weekly live shows in which contestants are progressively eliminated by public vote.

For the first live performance show on 17 September 2012, she sang Katy Perry's "Wide Awake" and received praise from all four judges. Keating said "I'm going to get in trouble for saying this but that was better than Katy Perry", while Sebastian added that "Every singer in the country just literally went 'Oh my gosh'." However, Jade fell into the bottom two alongside Adil Memon but was saved after Keating, Bassingthwaighte and Sebastian all opted to eliminate Memon. In the fifth week, Jade fell into the bottom two alongside Angel Tupai. After they received two votes each, the result was deadlock and reverted to the earlier public vote leading to Tupai receiving the fewest votes and being eliminated. In the seventh week, Jade fell into the bottom two alongside Willemse but was saved via deadlock.

In the semi-finals of the competition, Jade sang "Heartless" and "Where Have You Been", she advanced to the finals. During the grand final decider, on 20 November 2012, Jade was announced as the winner. She received a recording contract with record label Sony Music Australia and a Nissan Dualis car.

     denotes having entered the ARIA Singles Chart.      denotes having been in the bottom two.      denotes winner.

After winning The X Factor, Jade's winner's single "What You've Done to Me" was released digitally via iTunes. After three days of release, the song debuted at number one on the ARIA Singles Chart. It was certified triple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), denoting sales of 210,000 copies. Jade's self-titled debut album was released on 7 December 2012, featuring re-recorded versions of the songs she performed on The X Factor. The album debuted at number three on the ARIA Albums Chart and was certified gold, denoting shipments of 35,000 copies.

On 5 December 2012, Jade's former record label Camp West Recorders released her original first album The Golden Touch on iTunes without Jade or Sony Music's permission. Camp West Recorders Inc. company presidents John Harris and Ty Knox sued Jade for damages and alleged contract breaches as well as Sony Music, Parade Artists, FremantleMedia Australia and Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment. Harris and Knox claimed that they were entitled to a share of Jade's income because they signed a development deal with her when she moved to Los Angeles at age 15 to launch a music career, and that Camp West's contract with her was still valid. The pair also claimed they spent $2 million developing her as an artist.

2013–2016: INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, NINE and Home and Away

In January 2013, Jade headlined The X Factor Live Tour performing shows in the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. The lead single from Jade's second studio album, Firestarter, was released on 28 June 2013. It debuted and peaked at number nine on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified Platinum, for selling 70,000 copies. Jade co-designed her own jewellery line with Diva accessories. In August 2013, Jade performed in Indonesia for RCTI's 24th anniversary television special, X Factor Around the World, along with The Collective, Jahméne Douglas, Melanie Amaro, Novita Dewi and Fatin Shidqia. Jade performed "Firestarter" in the first week of the fifth season of The X Factor. During her performance on The X Factor, it was announced that Jade is working on her second album. She won 'Best Video' for "Firestarter" at the 27th ARIA Music Awards. Jade released a second single from her upcoming album, entitled "Soldier" on 15 November 2013, which peaked at number 17 and was later certified Gold, for selling 35,000 copies.

On 24 January 2014, Jade released a cover of "I Am Australian" with Dami Im, Jessica Mauboy, Justice Crew, Nathaniel Willemse and Taylor Henderson, to coincide with the Australia Day celebrations. The song peaked at number 51 on the ARIA Singles Chart. Jade played Kylie Minogue in the mini-series INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, televised on the Seven Network in February 2014. Jade was nominated for "Most Popular New Talent" at the Logie awards for the role. Jade released a third single from her second album on 11 April 2014, entitled "Up!". It peaked at number 18 and was later certified Gold, for selling 35,000 copies. On 3 September 2014, Jade performed in Los Angeles as part of Nova FM's Red Room Global Tour. Jade's next single "Sweet Talk" was released on 21 November 2014, with her second album scheduled for release in 2015.

Jade was the supporting act for One Direction's Australian leg of their On the Road Again Tour in February 2015. On 17 July 2015, Jade released a new single, "Shake That", featuring American rapper Pitbull. It served as the lead single for her long-awaited second studio album. On 5 September 2015, it was announced that Jade had joined the cast of the long-running soap opera Home and Away as Isla Schultz. She made her first appearance during the episode broadcast on 3 March 2016.

Jade's second studio album, Nine, was released on 20 November 2015. Jade confirmed in March 2016 that she is currently working on her third album and is hoping to release it by the end of 2016. It could contain the upcoming singles 'Crushed' and 'Ooh Ooh Ooh' that are mentioned on the Ascap website. In 2016 it was announced that Jade had been cast as Tracey Tyler in the Nine Network mini-series House of Bond.

On October 28, 2016, Jade announced a new single "Hurt Anymore" in collaboration with Cyrus Villanueva, which was released on November 4.

2017–present: Cosmetic Line, continued touring and upcoming Third album

In early 2017 Samantha joined the Boyzlife British and England tour, touring there for the first time On March 6 2017 Samantha partnered with Perfer Models to launch her debut cosmetic line "Samantha Jade for Models Perfer" On May 26 2017 Samantha released her new single "Circles On the Water" which is expected to be the lead single from her upcoming third studio album.

Artistry

Jade is a light-lyric soprano and cites Beyoncé, Robyn and Mariah Carey as her musical influences.

Personal life

Jade previously lived in Los Angeles, California, in order to pursue her singing career. After struggling to get a new record deal in the United States, Jade moved back to Perth and began working at her father's warehouse in Guildford, Western Australia. She later relocated to Sydney, New South Wales, where she was a makeup artist while still gigging.

Concert tours

Discography