Pixie Lott

Pixie Lott at London Fashion Week, February 2010

Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott (born 12 January 1991) is an English singer-songwriter, dancer and actress. Her debut single "Mama Do" was released in June 2009 and went straight to number one in the UK Singles Chart. Her second single "Boys and Girls", also topped the UK charts in September 2009. Her debut album Turn It Up was released in September 2009. It reached number six on the UK Albums Chart, spawned five consecutive Top 20 singles, and sold over a million copies. Her second album, Young Foolish Happy, was released on 14 November 2011. "All About Tonight", the first single from that album, entered the charts at number one on 17 September 2011, making it her third UK number one hit.

Early and personal life

Lott was born in Bromley and initially lived in Petts Wood and then Bickley, all suburban areas of London. Her mother gave her the nickname Pixie because she was "such a tiny, cute baby who looked like a fairy". She started singing in her church school and when she was five she attended the Italia Conti Associates Saturday school in Chislehurst. She went on to attend the main school – Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts – at 11, where she was awarded a scholarship. At the age of 13, Lott moved with her family to Brentwood. During her time as a student she appeared in the West End production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium, and in BBC One's Celebrate the Sound of Music in 2005, aged 14, as Louisa von Trapp. At the age of 14, she was part of the chorus, recording vocals on Roger Waters's opera Ça Ira. Despite missing school time because she was recording her album, Lott says she received straight 'A' grades in her GCSEs. She was voted No. 45 in 2010, No. 31 in 2011 and No. 12 in 2012 in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women list.

Music career

2008–10: Turn It Up

In 2006, at the age of 15, she sang for L. A. Reid after he heard a few of her demos. He then signed her to the Island Def Jam Music Group. After a change of managers, a bidding war ensued and Lott parted ways with the Island Def Jam Music Group, to sign with Mercury Records in the UK and to Interscope Records in the U.S. She signed a publishing deal, as a songwriter, with Sony/ATV Music Publishing in December 2007, while writing and recording tracks for Turn It Up. Lott wrote a song for Alexandra Burke's debut album, Overcome, titled "You Broke My Heart" and a song for Girls Can't Catch titled "Happy Alone". She also wrote two tracks on Lisa Lois – the Dutch X Factor's winners album, titled "No Good For Me" and "Promises, Promises". Lott played her first festival concert in the Big Top at the Isle of Wight Festival 2009, during her first full British tour, where she supported The Saturdays on The Work Tour.

Lott's debut single, "Mama Do", was released on 8 June 2009. It spent one week at number one, eleven weeks within the top forty and eighteen weeks within the top seventy five. The single also had considerable success outside the UK, reaching the top forty in eleven other countries, including top ten peaks of number eight in Denmark and number ten in France. The single was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry on 28 August 2009 after selling over 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom. On 15 August 2009, Lott was featured alongside Hoobastank, The All-American Rejects, Kasabian, Boys Like Girls, Estranged and Raygun as one of the live acts at Asia's very first MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia concert. Lott's second lead single "Boys and Girls" was released on 6 September 2009 and topped the UK Singles Chart on 13 September 2009. On 14 September 2009, Lott's debut album, Turn It Up was released. This followed an intensive promotional tour where Lott visited the Asia-Pacific region to promote the album and 'Mama Do'. The album debuted at number six on the UK Album Chart, and sold over 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom. In August 2010, it was certified Double-Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. Lott's third single from the album, "Cry Me Out" was released on 23 November 2009. It was during this time that Lott was chosen as the face of Nokia's "Illuvial Pink Collection" mobile phone range and Casio's range of Baby G watches.

The fourth single, "Gravity", was released in the UK on 8 March 2010. Lott won two MTV EMA Awards MTV Europe Music Awards 2009, Best UK & Ireland Act and Best Push Artist (best break through artist). Lott was nominated for British Breakthrough Act, British Female Solo Artist and British Single at the 2010 BRIT Awards. Lott also served as the opening act of Rihanna's Last Girl on Earth Tour in the UK 7–26 May 2010. In April 2010, Lipsy launched a fashion range co-designed by Lott. The first Pixie Collection comprised two ranges: Pixie Festival and Pixie Party. Pixie Lott's second collection for Lipsy was launched in September 2010 and consisted of a new range, Pixie Rocks, and an updated Pixie Party collection. In July 2010, Lott appeared as a guest judge for the auditions for the seventh series of The X Factor in Cardiff, covering for Dannii Minogue, who was on maternity leave. Lott also performed on the main stage at the V Festival in August 2010. The fifth single from Lott's album, the title song "Turn It Up", was released on 7 June 2010. Lott recorded a song for the film Street Dance 3D, "Live For The Moment".

Lott released "Boys and Girls" as her debut US single on 24 August 2010. The release coincided with the TV premiere of her film debut,Fred: The Movie. In January 2010, Lott was named one of 2010's "Faces to Watch" by US magazine, Billboard. Lott was cast as Judy, Fred Figglehorn's crush, in the film Fred: The Movie, starring alongside Lucas Cruikshank. The comedy was released on America's Nickelodeon channel on 18 September 2010. Turn It Up was to be released in the US in 2011, but this never materialised. It was, however, rereleased in the UK. "The Way The World Works", from Lott's debut record was used in the U.S.-produced medical drama Private Practice.

For the new repackaged version of Turn It Up Lott recorded duets with Jason Derulo and Joe Jonas, though the latter failed to make the final tracklisting for the album. This edition included her single, "Broken Arrow".

2011–12: Young Foolish Happy

In July 2011 it was revealed that Lott had signed a deal with Select Model Management. The company is also responsible for signing Cher Lloyd, Agyness Deyn and David Gandy.

Lott's second album, Young Foolish Happy was released on 14 November 2011, it includes collaborations with Stevie Wonder and John Legend. The lead single "All About Tonight" was released on 4 September and became Lott's third UK number 1 single. The second single "What Do You Take Me For?", featuring the rapper Pusha T became available for download on 4 November 2011. The single entered and peaked at No. 10, becoming Lott's first top 10 hit not to achieve the top spot. The third single, "Kiss The Stars", was released on 29 January 2012. "Kiss The Stars" peaked at number 8, making Young Foolish Happy her first album to produce three consecutive top 10 singles.

In July 2012 Lott performed "Kiss the Stars" and "Use Somebody" at the Men's Gymnastics Finals in the 2012 Summer Olympics. Lott also performed at V Festival (her second performance after appearing in 2010), the "Access All Eirias" festival in North Wales and the MTV "Titanic Sounds" festival in Belfast.

Musical influences

She cites Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston as major influences on her style of singing. For her second album, Lott told Digital Spy that the sound was "a little more soulful. That's the kind of thing that I'm into. That influence is stronger on this album." Lott has also stated that her third studio album will have a Motown sound.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Fred: The Movie	Judy	debut acting role
2012	Sadie J	Herself	Series finale

Awards and nominations

Year	Type	Award	Result
2009	MTV Europe Music Awards 2009	Best UK & Ireland Act	Won
		Best New Act	Nominated
		Best Push Artist	Won
	The Variety Club Awards	Breakthrough Talent Award	Won
	Cosmopolitan Ultimate Women 2009	Ultimate Newcomer	Won
	Q Awards 2009	Breakthrough Artist	Nominated
	MP3 Music Awards 2009	Best New Act	Won
	Virgin Media Music Awards	Best Newcomer	Won
	UK Festival Awards 2010	Festival Fitty of the year – Girls	Nominated
2010	BRIT Awards	Breakthrough Artist	Nominated
		Female Solo Artist	Nominated
		British Single ("Mama Do Uh Oh")	Nominated
	Meteor Ireland Music Awards	Best International Female	Nominated
	BT Digital Music Awards	Best Female Artist	Nominated
	Glamour Women of the Year Awards 2010	Sheer Infusion Newcomer	Nominated
	NME Awards 2010	Hottest Woman	Nominated
2011	Virgin Media Music Awards	Hottest Female	Won
2012	BRIT Awards	British Single ("All About Tonight")	Nominated

Discography

• Turn It Up (2009)
• Young Foolish Happy (2011)
• Third studio album (2013)

Tours

As the headline act

• 2010 – The Crazycats Tour

As supporting act

• 2009 – The Saturdays – The Work Tour (Selected Dates)
• 2010 – Rihanna – Last Girl on Earth Tour (UK Dates)

Source: Wikipedia