Jade Ewen

Jade Ewen is an R&B vocalist whose musical CV contains the eclectic roll-call of U.S. rapper Kwame, musical impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber, and ever-changing girl band Sugababes. Born in Plaistow, London in 1988 to a Jamaican mother and Scottish-Sicilian father, Ewen grew up as a young caregiver to her two parents, who both had registered disabilities, and younger siblings. After earning a scholarship to the Sylvia Young Theatre School, she appeared on The Bill and Casualty before landing the part of Nala in the West End production of The Lion King, and the role of Aggie Thackery in Australian children's drama Out There. In 2005, she made her first attempt at a pop career, as one fifth of Sony BMG-signed girl-group Trinity Stone, who released just one single, "Move a Little Closer," before disbanding two years later. Spotted by jazz-hip-hop artist Kwame through her MySpace page, she released a track through his Make Noise label and wrote songs for Booty Luv and Jessica Mauboy's debut albums. She got her big break in 2009, when she was approached to compete in Your Country Needs You, the BBC talent show to find the U.K. Eurovision Song Contest entry, which she went onto win by a landslide. Accompanied by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who also co-wrote the track, her performance of "My Time" finished fifth in the competition, the U.K.'s highest placing for seven years. After signing to Polydor Records, her second single, "My Man," reached the Top 40, but in the same week, her solo ambitions were put on hold after she was invited to become the sixth member to join chart-topping Sugababes, replacing the group's last remaining original vocalist, Keisha Buchanan, in the process. She went onto re-record Buchanan's vocals for Sugababes' seventh studio album, Sweet 7, which was released in early 2010.