Little Mix - Ready To Fly! Official story.

Little Years. (Jade)

Jade: I was always quite a shy kid, until I got to know people. The only time I felt really confident was when I was performing. I started doing it when I was six, going to dance and theatre schools, and I loved it. I've got an older brother called Karl and we were really supportive of each other. I would always go and watch him playing football, and he would watch me perform. He's still really supportive and protective now.  He always said I would be a singer and he believed in me from the start. In fact, all of my family have been amazingly supportive. I feel so, so lucky. My mam is my best friend - she used to take me everywhere, to every show. She must have spent a lot of money! I'm also really close to my dad. They've been there for me every step of the way.
When I was younger I used to sing at the old people's homes at Christmas and they used to go; 'Eee, pet, you're going to be a star one day!' I loved doing little shows like that because it made the people who lived there smile, and it was great experience.
I was a proper swot at school. My mam worked at my primary school so there I had to behave! I was quite an all-rounder. I loved maths and English and I always wanted to be the best I could be in whatever I did. I kept changing my mind about what I was going to do as a career. At first I wanted to be Diana Ross, then a forensic scientist, then a lawyer, then an English teacher and then an artist.
I was top of everything in secondary school but I still had no idea what I wanted to do long term. I loved dancing and singing, but I didn't see it as a realistic career, so I was always looking for a plan B.
I had loads of friends in primary school and I met lots of people through doing performing arts, but it was different when I got to secondary school. I was the only person from my primary school to move there, so I was totally on my own. It was awful. I went from being really popular to knowing absolutely no one. I really closed off from people and became super-sensible an quiet. I used to have my tie done right up to the top and all of my hair scraped back. I was like a normal spotty teenager. I worked really hard and went to all of my lessons, and people must have thought I was soft, because for the first two years at that school I got picked on quite badly. I was still going to tap and ballet classes until I was about 13, and I did drama at school, so that was my outlet when I was feeling upset or lonely. It gave me something to look forward to.
There was a time when I was bullied so badly by one girl that I bunked off school to avoid her, but in the end I told one of the teachers and thankfully it got sorted out.
I joined the choir and then in Year 9 my music teacher asked me to get up in assembly and sing, and despite being terrified I went for it. After that I gained more popularity and got more friends, and it was such a relief. My friends Holly, Anna and Sarah are still my best friends now. I know I can always rely on them totally. They really helped me be more confident with my singing and were so encouraging to me.
I started appearing in lots of musicals and plays, both in school and out of it, so that helped me to meet people too. I tried everything I could to get as much experience as possible when it came to performing, and it was a real release for me.  By the end of secondary school I was head girl and everyone knew me because I'd been on The X Factor. I'd managed to take something really swotty and make it cool.
When I was 16 I started performing gigs in local pubs and clubs. I can't even count how many shows I did back then. I did everything that came my way. Around the same time I started going to house parties and being much more sociable, so I guess I had more of a balance. Singing always came first for me, though. 
I first decided to try out for The X Factor in 2008. I was 15 and even though I did a lot of performing I was still a really nervous person. Singing was what gave me confidence, so I decided to give The X Factor a go. I didn't really know what I was doing; I literally just turned up and sang. I made it through to the first stage of Bootcamp, but then unfortunately I was sent home. I was heartbroken and I cried for weeks.
Simon told me to keep coming back as I was only young, but I took a break the next year to concentrate on my GCSEs.
I nearly didn't try out the next year either. I thought because Joe McElderry had won they wouldn't want someone from the same place again. But my mam encouraged me and I felt happier about doing it because I kind of knew what I was doing. I got to the end of Bootcamp that time, but I didn't cry when I got cut because I'd already decided to come back the following year.
That same year I won the Pride of South Tyneside Young Performer of the Year 2010 Award, which felt like an amazing archievement and spurred me on to try for The X Factor one last time! At that time I was doing A-levels in English literature, fine art and media studies, and I was planning on doing a fine art degree, so that was going to be my back-up if I was cut from The X Factor again.
I was doing quite a lot of gigs around the North East. I mainly sang Motown tracks, because I grew up listening to that music thanks to my mam and my Great Auntie Norma. I was also teaching singing and dancing at a theatre school, so it was all good practice for the show.