Anne-Marie

Early life[edit]

Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson was born on 7 April 1991 in East Tilbury, Essex. While her mother is a local teacher, her father, a builder and handyman, is from the East End of London.^[8][9] She has an older sister named Samantha.^[10]


When she was five, Anne-Marie went to stage school.^[8] She appeared in two West End productions as a child: she auditioned for Les Misérables aged six, without telling her parents, and performed in Whistle Down the Wind with Jessie J when she was twelve.^[11][12]


Anne-Marie attended St Clere's School at Stanford-le-Hope, where she also involved herself in performing arts.^[13] Her initial popularity there ended when she was fourteen—she was shunned and bullied by her classmates after being accused of cheating on her boyfriend, when she had only spoken to another boy on the phone late at night. Anne-Marie also said she regrets being a difficult child—exacerbated by her grandmother's death when she was twelve—and was advised by Ed Sheeran to "call [her] mum and dad every day". She began filming herself singing in her room as a teenager.^[14][15] Anne-Marie went on to go to Palmer's College in Thurrock.^[13]


Anne-Marie is a black belt in Shotokan karate. She began taking lessons aged nine,^[16] and became a triple world champion,^[17] winning double gold at the world championships and gold at the United Kingdom Karate championships in 2002.^[8][18] She credits karate with teaching her the "discipline and focus" necessary for her singing career,^[19] but tours have made it difficult for her to find time for the sport.^[16]