Jade Thirlwall

In 1943, Thirlwall's grandfather Mohammed Ahmed Saleh Badwi, a devoted Muslim, emigrated to South Shields, from Yemen, and worked as a firefighter in the merchant navy, and as a laborer at the docks.

He met his wife Amelia in South Shields.

Thirlwall's great-grandfather was from Egypt.

Jade Amelia Thirlwall (born 26 December 1992) is an English singer-songwriter.

Jade Amelia Thirlwall was born on 26 December 1992 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England, to parents Norma Badwi and James Thirlwall.

She has an older brother called Karl.

She has Egyptian and Yemeni descent from her mother's side and English descent from her father's. Thirlwall identifies as mixed-race, and is learning to connect more with her Arab-Egyptian-Yemeni heritage and its language in hopes of travelling more to the Middle East.

As a child, she attended Muslim school to learn how to read and write in Arabic and attended church.

During her teenage years, she attended performing arts college at South Tyneside.

In 2008, at the age of 15, Thirlwall auditioned for The X Factor UK, singing "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" by Whitney Houston, but was eliminated at the boot- camp stage.

She returned for a second time in 2010, but was unsuccessful.

She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Little Mix, who won the eighth series of The X Factor UK in 2011.

As part of the group she has won three Brit Awards, achieved nineteen top-ten singles and five number-ones on the UK Singles Chart, before going on hiatus in 2022.

In 2022, she signed a record contract with RCA Records and is set to release her debut studio album in 2024.

In 2011, at age 18, Thirlwall returned for the show's eighth series and auditioned with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles, and advanced to bootcamp stage.

After failing the first challenge she was placed into a group named "Orion" with Leigh-Anne Pinnock.

Perrie Edwards and Jesy Nelson, both were in another group called "Faux Pas".

Both groups were later eliminated.

Edwards, Thirlwall, Pinnock, and Nelson were called back by the judges and placed into another group originally known as Rhythmix.

They progressed to the judges' houses and reached the live shows where they were mentored by Tulisa Contostavlos.

On 28 October 2011, it was announced that the group name had changed to Little Mix, because of legal issues.

On 11 December 2011, Little Mix was announced as the first group to win the series.

They also became the first girl group to make it past week seven of the live shows, the first girl group to reach The X Factor final and the first and only girl group to win the show.

Thirlwall shares songwriting credits for more than 50 songs, across Little Mix's six studio albums.

She has co-written two UK number one singles with "Wings" in 2012 and "Shout Out to My Ex" in 2016.

In addition to her solo work, Thirlwall also signed a songwriter's publishing deal in 2019 with Sony/ATV Music, and shares songwriting credits for Little Mix, Twice, Billy Porter, Britney Spears, Iggy Azalea, Nayeon and Han Ji-sung of Stray Kids.

Aside from music, she is an ambassador for Stonewall and is noted for her political reviews and social activism, advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, the ban against transgender conversion therapy in the UK and Black Lives Matter.

Her involvement with charity work earned her the Gay Times Honour for Allyship in 2021.

In 2019, she was recognised as an official songwriter after signing with Sony/ATV.

Since Little Mix's debut they have been cited for helping the girl band renaissance in the UK and for re-defining girl groups.

They have gone onto become one of the best-selling girl groups and one of Britain's biggest selling acts.

In December 2021, the group announced they would be going on a hiatus, after The Confetti Tour in 2022 to allow its members to pursue solo projects.

On 1 March 2022, Thirlwall appeared on RuPaul's Drag Race, special UK vs The World series.

On 2 March 2022, she made her acting debut and a cameo appearance in the British musical television drama series Mood.

In the same month, she signed a recording contract with RCA Records in the UK and USA and with Full Stop Management.

In May 2022, in collaboration with Sink The Pink's Manifesto for Misfits Book, Thirlwall wrote about her experiences with bullying, anorexia and her identity issues because of her mixed race.

On 24 June, she co-wrote a track for Nayeon's debut album, Im Nayeon, marking the second time she had worked with the artist after she contributed to Twice's album Taste of Love in 2021.

Thirlwall won Cover of the Year at the PPA Awards in 2022 for her Gay Times Honours Special Issue for 2021.

In November 2022, she appeared on Heat magazine's "UK and Ireland 30 under 30" rich list for the first time with an estimated net worth of £17.5 million.

Thirwall's sound has been described as a combination of pop, R&B, and dance-pop with influences from other genres including tropical house, latin pop, and electronic music.