Little Mix (previously Rhythmix) are a four-piece girlband made up of Essex barmaid Jesy Nelson (20), High Wycombe waitress Leigh-Anne Pinnock (19), and South Shields students Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall (both 18). They rose to fame on the 8th series of The X Factor, becoming the first group to win in the show's history against finalist and runner-up Marcus Collins.
2011: The X Factor
Originally known as Rhythmix, the singers auditioned as soloists. They failed to make it past bootcamp's first challenge, but the judges gave them a lifeline. They were put in two different groups, with Edwards and Nelson in Faux Pas and Thirlwall and Pinnock in Orion. Both groups failed to make it through to judge's houses. After a decision from Kelly Rowland and Tulisa, Rhythmix were formed at the end of bootcamp. On 26 October 2011, Rhythmix announced that they would change their name following a dispute with a children's music charity of the same name, after the programme tried to trademark "Rhythmix" in Europe. After some disagreement between Syco and the charity,[3] a resolution was reached and Simon Cowell donated an undisclosed sum to the charity.[4] A spokesman for The X Factor said, "At the request of the charity Rhythmix, the members of the girl group Rhythmix have decided to change their name, a decision which has the support of Syco and TalkbackTHAMES. The group's new name will be announced in due course". It was reported that the band decided to make the change, despite no legal reason to do so, to avoid any difficulties for the charity.[5] They announced that they would now be known as Little Mix on 28 October 2011 following on from this, the band said: "We all agreed on it, including Tulisa, because it just felt right". On 27 November 2011, Little Mix became the first girl group in the show's eight year history to make it to the final four, the previous record having been held by series 4's Hope.
Little Mix became the first girl band in the history of the The X Factor to make it to the final live show and the first group to win. Their X Factor winner's single is a cover of "Cannonball" by Irish folk singer Damien Rice, and was released via digital download on 11 December 2011, and has been scheduled for a CD release on 14 December 2011.
Little Mix are signed to Syco Music, a division of Sony Music.
All text via: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Mix