Michelle Heaton | |
|---|---|
 Heaton in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michelle Christine Heaton |
| Born | 19 July 1979 Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Member of | Liberty X |
| Spouse(s) | |
Michelle Christine Heaton (born 19 July 1979) is an English singer, stage actress and television presenter. She is best known as member of the pop group Liberty X. [1]
Heaton was born in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, on 19 July 1979. [2] [3] A former student of Emmanuel City Technology College in Gateshead and Newcastle College of Performing Arts, [4] she began her singing career in the group Sirens in the late 1990s with other girls from the northeast of England. [5]
In 2001, Heaton auditioned for the ITV reality television music competition Popstars , a show intended to form a new group from individual contestants, becoming one of the finalist. While the five winning contestants formed Hear'Say, the five runner-up contestants – Heaton, Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young – formed the group Liberty X and signed a multimillion-pound record contract with Richard Branson and V2 Records. Liberty X released three studio albums and enjoyed seven Top 10 singles from 2001 to 2005: Their biggest hit, "Just a Little", reached number one in May 2002; "Thinking It Over", "Got to Have Your Love", "Song 4 Lovers", and "Holding on for You" all reached the top 5 in the UK Singles Chart. They split up in 2007 after selling over 3 million records worldwide.
During this time, Heaton also starred two reality shows: Totally Scott-Lee (2005), based around the Lisa Scott-Lee solo career, and ITV2's Michelle & Andy's Big Day (2006) about Heaton and Andy Scott-Lee wedding.
In 2007 Heaton was one of the judges on You're a Star , an Irish talent show run on RTÉ. [6] In 2008, she competed on the reality television shows Fáilte Towers on RTÉ One in Ireland and on a celebrity edition of Come Dine with Me , finishing in third place. In 2009 Heaton appeared in the sixth series of Celebrity Big Brother and as an elf on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on Saturday 21 March 2009.
In 2007/08 she appeared at the Sunderland Empire in Cinderella with her then partner Andy Scott Lee, Mickey Rooney and Les Dennis. In 2010 she was in Aladdin at the Southport Theatre where she played the role of Princess Jasmine. From 2010 to 2011 Heaton starred the comedy The Naked Truth as Gabby. [7] In 2015 she returned to Aladdin at Harpenden. [8] [9]
In 2013 Heaton reunited with Liberty X for ITV2's reality show The Big Reunion , along with other pop groups of their time – B*Witched, Honeyz, 911, Five and Atomic Kitten – to solve past problems and do a live performance at the London Hammersmith Apollo on 26 February. [10] [11] Due to the success, Liberty X returned for a full tour between 2013 and 2014. [12] In 2017, Heaton, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young reformed Liberty X again, but as a three-piece girl group, without Tony and Kevin. [13] Since then, they continued touring at music festivals and Pride events. [14] [15]
In January 2023, Heaton competed in the fifteenth series of Dancing on Ice , paired with Łukasz Różycki, finishing in 10th place. [16]
In spring 2023, Heaton joined the presenting team of shopping channel Ideal World.
In September 2023, Channel 4 announced Heaton as one of the contestants competing on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. [17]
Michelle married singer Andy Scott-Lee in October 2006 and announced their split in June 2008. [18] She married Irish businessman Hugh Hanley in The Bahamas in July 2010. [19]
In 2012, Heaton was diagnosed with a mutated BRCA2 gene and then found out that she had an 80% chance of developing breast cancer and a 30% chance of developing ovarian cancer. [20] She underwent a double mastectomy and had breast reconstructive surgery [21] in November 2012. [22] During a part recorded and part live interview, Michelle stated that her daughter Faith has a 50% chance of inheriting the mutated gene that she has and her father is a BRCA2 carrier. [20]
In 2021, Michelle appeared on the UK television show Loose Women to speak about her alcohol addiction and her time in rehab.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Popstars | Contestant | Series 1 |
| 2005 | Totally Scott-Lee | Herself | Reality show |
| 2006 | Michelle & Andy's Big Day | Herself | Reality show |
| 2007 | You're a Star | Judge | Season 6 |
| 2008 | Come Dine with Me | Contestant | Series 6 |
| Fáilte Towers | Contestant | ||
| 2009 | Celebrity Big Brother | Contestant | Series 6 |
| 2013 | The Big Reunion | Herself | Reality show |
| 2023 | Dancing on Ice | Contestant | Series 15 |
| Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins | Contestant | Series 5; [23] |
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Aladdin | Princess Jasmine |
| 2010–2011 | The Naked Truth | Gabby |
| 2015–2016 | Aladdin | Princess Jasmine |
Liberty X are an English/Irish pop group originally consisting of Michelle Heaton, Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young. Since 2017, Heaton, Taylor and Young have performed as a girl group trio.
B*Witched are an Irish girl group consisting of twin sisters Edele and Keavy Lynch, Lindsay Armaou and Sinéad O'Carroll. Originally active between 1997 and 2002, they enjoyed success in both Europe and North America between 1998 and 2002, releasing two albums and eight singles, all of which made the UK Top 20. Their first four singles, "C'est la Vie", "Rollercoaster", "To You I Belong" and "Blame It on the Weatherman", all reached number one in the UK Singles Chart and the group having sold over 3 million albums worldwide.
Atomic Kitten are an English girl group formed in Liverpool in 1998, whose current members are Liz McClarnon and Natasha Hamilton. The group was founded by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) members Andy McCluskey and Stuart Kershaw, who served as principal songwriters during Atomic Kitten's early years. The group's debut album Right Now was released in October 2000 and charted at number 39 in the United Kingdom. After five top ten singles, original member Kerry Katona quit – four weeks before "Whole Again" reached number one in the UK Singles Chart – and was replaced by former Precious singer Jenny Frost. "Whole Again" became the group's most successful single, staying at number one for four weeks in the UK and six weeks in Germany, and reaching number one in many other territories; in Britain, it was the 13th-best-selling single of the 2000s. The group re-released their debut album, with some tracks re-recorded with Frost's vocals: it peaked at number one in the UK and was certified double platinum after selling over 600,000 copies.
Kerry Katona is an English television personality and former singer. She was an original member of the pop girl group Atomic Kitten (1998–2001), before the group's success. Katona has appeared on various reality television shows, including I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here (2004), Celebrity Big Brother (2011), Dancing on Ice (2011), Celebs on the Farm (2021), and her own shows about her life on MTV UK.
Jessica Pietersen is an English singer. She is best known as member of the pop group Liberty X.
Natasha Maria Hamilton Gay is an English singer and stage actress. She is best known as member of girl group Atomic Kitten.
Kevin Ian Simm is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known as former member of Liberty X (2001–2007) and current vocalist of Wet Wet Wet. Simm also won The Voice UK in 2016.
The Honeyz are a British R&B girl group, composed of members Celena Cherry, Mariama Goodman and Heavenli Abdi. The group had five UK top 10 hits between 1998 and 2000, with "Finally Found" (1998), "End of the Line" (1998), "Love of a Lifetime" (1999), "Never Let You Down" (1999) and "Won't Take It Lying Down" (2000). Their debut album was certified Gold by BPI. The Honeyz formed in 1998 with the original line-up consisting of Celena Cherry, Heavenli Abdi and Naima Belkhiati. Former Solid Harmonie member Mariama Goodman replaced Abdi on April 1999. Goodman left on August 2000 with Abdi rejoining, before the group disbanded for the first time in 2003.
911 are an English pop group consisting of Lee Brennan, Jimmy Constable and Simon "Spike" Dawbarn. They were formed in Glasgow in 1995 and released their debut single "Night to Remember" in May 1996. This was followed by their debut album The Journey in March 1997, which was certified Gold by the BPI in November 1997. 911 released two more Silver-certified albums, Moving On and There It Is, in 1998 and 1999, respectively. There It Is also produced their only UK number-one single, a cover of "A Little Bit More", which topped the UK Singles Chart in January 1999.
Elizabeth "Liz" Margaret McClarnon-Cho is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She is the longest serving member of the girl group Atomic Kitten, with whom she has scored three number-one singles and also two number-one albums. McClarnon co-wrote several Atomic Kitten songs, including the UK top 10 hits "See Ya", "I Want Your Love" and "Someone Like Me".
Kelli Young is an English singer. She is best known as member of the pop group Liberty X.
Mariama Goodman is an English dancer and singer who is currently a member of girl group Honeyz. She is also known for being a former member of the girl group Solid HarmoniE.
Anthony "Tony" William James Lundon is an Irish cinematographer, director, producer and former singer plus actor. He is best known as a member of Liberty X (2001–2007). Since 2010 Lundon has focused on producing and directing career and established his own film and TV production company, The Cell Productions.
Sinéad Maria O'Carroll is an Irish singer and businesswoman. She is best known for being a member of the girl group B*Witched.
Lee Anthony Brennan is an English singer, songwriter, dancer and actor. He is the lead vocalist of boy band 911.
James Michael Constable is an English pop singer, songwriter and dancer. He is a member of the pop band 911.
The Big Reunion is a British reality-documentary series that began airing on ITV2 on 31 January 2013. The show featured chart-topping bands who were big in the UK pop music scene between the 1990s and early 2000s, and the programme followed them as they reunited for the first time in a decade and went through their two weeks of intensive rehearsals before finally stepping back on stage for a comeback performance.
The Big Reunion is a 2013 series of concerts featuring British pop groups Five, 911, Atomic Kitten, Honeyz, Liberty X and Blue, and Irish group B*Witched. The groups, who were big names in the UK pop music scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s, reunited for the ITV2 reality-documentary series The Big Reunion, a show which follows them meeting again for the first time in a decade and rehearsing ahead of their comeback performance.
The first series of the British reality-documentary series The Big Reunion began airing on ITV2 on 31 January 2013 until 28 March 2013. The show features chart-topping bands who were big names in the UK pop music scene between the 1990s and early 2000s, and the programme follows them as they reunite for the first time in a decade and go through their two weeks of intensive rehearsals before finally stepping back on stage for a comeback performance. The bands who reunited for the first series were Five, 911, Atomic Kitten, B*Witched, Honeyz and Liberty X. Blue also joined later on.
Champagne or Guinness is an extended play released by Irish girl group B*Witched in 2014. After reuniting as part of the TV series The Big Reunion in 2012 and the success of the subsequent tour, B*Witched began recording new music. Champagne or Guinness was their first EP in over a decade, following "Across America 2000" in 2000.
| Authority control databases: Artists |
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