Jessie J

After signing with Republic Records, Jessie J came to prominence with the release of her debut single, "Do It Like a Dude", which peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. Her following single, "Price Tag", was an international success, topping the charts in nineteen countries including the UK. It was followed by the release of her debut album, Who You Are (2011), which peaked at number two in the UK. Other singles from the album included "Nobody's Perfect", "Who You Are", "Domino" and "Laserlight", all of which peaked within the top ten in the UK, making Jessie J the first British female artist to have six top-ten singles from a sole studio album.^[4]


Jessie J's second album, Alive (2013), peaked within the top five on the UK Albums Chart and included the top-five singles "Wild" and "It's My Party". The release of her third album, Sweet Talker (2014), was preceded by the single "Bang Bang" which debuted at number one in the UK and went multi-platinum worldwide. The album made the top five in the UK and peaked at number ten on the US Billboard 200, her highest-charting album in the US. As of January 2015, Jessie J had sold over 20 million singles and 3 million albums worldwide.^[5] In 2018, she released her four-part fourth album, R.O.S.E., followed by her Christmas album, This Christmas Day.


Citing various influences, Jessie J is recognised for an unconventional musical and performance style^[6][7] that mixes soul vocals with contemporary R&B, electropop,^[8][9] and hip-hop beats. She has received various accolades throughout her career, including the 2011 Critics' Choice Brit Award and the BBC's Sound of 2011. Jessie J has supported various charitable causes, and has appeared on the UK charity telethons BBC Children in Need and Comic Relief. She has served as a coach on the television singing competition shows The Voice UK (2012–2013), The Voice Australia (2015–2016) and The Voice Kids UK (2019). In 2018, Jessie J received recognition in China after winning the sixth season of the Hunan TV singing competition show Singer, becoming the first non-Chinese contestant to win the series.

Early life

Jessica Ellen Cornish was born on 27 March 1988 in Chadwell Heath in the London Borough of Redbridge, London,^[3] to Rose (née Archer) and Stephen Cornish. She was educated at Mayfield High School in LB Redbridge. This area was part of Essex until 1965 and Jessie J refers to herself as an Essex girl. She attended Colin's Performing Arts School and as an 11-year-old she was cast in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End production of Whistle Down the Wind.^[10][11][12] She subsequently joined the National Youth Music Theatre and appeared in their 2002 production of The Late Sleepers.^[13]


Cornish has two elder sisters, who were both head girls at school. Unlike her academic sisters, Cornish has stated she was "never really that good at anything". She said, "At school they were like 'oh, you're a Cornish girl' and they kind of expected me to be the same as my sisters. Give me something to draw or an outfit to pick for someone, or hair, make-up, acting, write a song, I'm fine with it, but anything to do with sums – it was never my thing." She also said she never based her intelligence on her exam results.^[14] She also said she was always good at singing and it was her "thing". In 2003, at age 15, she won Best Pop Singer in the TV show Britain's Brilliant Prodigies, performing as Jessica Cornish.^[15] At the age of 16 she began studying at the BRIT School and at 17 she joined a girl group named Soul Deep.^[16] She graduated in the class of 2006 along with singers Adele and Leona Lewis. She suffered a 'minor stroke at 18.'^[17] This was attributed to the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which she was diagnosed with aged 11.^[18]