Pixie Lott
Pixie Lott at London Fashion Week, February 2010
Background information
Birth name	Victoria Louise Lott[1]
Born	(1991-01-12) 12 January 1991 (age 21)[2] Bromley, London, England
Origin	London, England
Genres	Pop, electropop, dance-pop, R&B, soul
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress, dancer
Instruments	Vocals, piano
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Mercury, Interscope
Website	pixielott.com

Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott (born 12 January 1991)^[1] is an English singer-songwriter, dancer and actress. Her debut single "Mama Do" was released in June 2009^[3] and went straight to number one in the UK Singles Chart.^[4] 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.

Lott is often credited for her live performances and style.^[5][6][7] 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.^[8]

Lott has released "Boys and Girls" as her debut US single on 24 August 2010. The release coincided with the TV premiere of her first film, Fred: The Movie. In January 2010, Lott was named one of 2010's "Faces to Watch" by US magazine, Billboard.^[9]

Early and personal life[link]

Pixie was born in Bromley and lived initially in Petts Wood and then Bickley, all suburban areas of London.^[10] Her mother gave her the nickname Pixie from when she was born "such a tiny, cute baby who looked like a fairy".^[11] She started singing in her church school^[11] 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.^[12] At the age of 13, Lott moved with her family to Brentwood.^[13] 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,^[14] as Louisa von Trapp.^[3] At the age of 14, she was part of the chorus, recording vocals on Roger Waters's opera Ça Ira.^[12] Despite missing school time because she was recording her album, Lott says she received straight 'A' grades in her GCSEs.^[15]

She was voted No. 45 in 2010 and No. 31 in 2011 in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women list.^[16]

She cites Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston as major influences on her style of singing.^[17]

Music career[link]

2008–09: Early career[link]

In 2006, at the age of 15, she sang for L. A. Reid after he heard a few of her demos.^[12] 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.^[12] She formed a publishing deal, as a songwriter, with Sony/ATV Music Publishing in December 2007, while in the midst of writing and recording tracks for Turn It Up.

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.

[edit] 2009–10: Turn It Up

Pixie Lott performing at the launch of Blackpool Illuminations in Blackpool, Lancashire on 4 September 2009

She released her debut single, "Mama Do", on 8 June 2009. The video, directed by Trudy Bellinger, was released to MySpace in Lott's news section and has gained in excess of three million views on YouTube.^[18] It entered both the iTunes chart and UK Singles Chart at number one, after over 50,000 sales. Lott was quoted as being shocked at the success of the single.^[19] The song was also recorded in Simlish for Electronic Arts' The Sims 3.^[20] It spent one week at number one, eleven weeks within the top forty and eighteen weeks within the top seventy five.^[21] 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.^[22] 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.^[23] Lott's second lead single "Boys and Girls" was released on 6 September 2009 and topped the UK Singles Chart on 13 September 2009.^[24] During the week in which it reached number one, the single sold just under 50,000 copies.^[25] It spent nineteen consecutive weeks within the top seventy-five, including eight within the top forty, on the UK Singles Chart.^[26] The single has been accompanied by a music video and was directed by Diane Martel.^[27] It was also released in the US as her debut single on 24 August 2010. 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. The album has sold over 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom and was certified Double-Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry in August 2010.^[22] Lott has written 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", which was featured as a free Christmas present download on their website. She also has written two tracks on Lisa Lois – the Dutch X Factor's winners album, they are titled "No Good For Me" (1st single from the album) and "Promises, Promises" (2nd single from the album). Lott's third single from the album was confirmed as "Cry Me Out" upon the release of the previous single and the single was later confirmed for physical release on 23 November 2009.^[28] The music video was directed by Jake Nava (director of recent videos for Beyoncé, Leona Lewis and Shakira) and was shot in Cuba.^[29] The fourth single, "Gravity", was released in the UK on 8 March 2010, following the premiere of its video on Channel 4 on 6 February 2010. Lott won two MTV EMA Awards MTV Europe Music Awards 2009, Best UK & Ireland Act and Best Push Artist (best break through artist).^[30] Lott won a Cosmopolitan 2009 Ultimate Women Award for Ultimate Newcomer.^[31] In 2009, Lott won The Caron Keating Breakthrough Talent Award at The Variety Club Awards.^[32]

"The Way The World Works", from Lott's debut record was used in the U.S.-produced medical drama Private Practice.^[33] Lott was chosen as the face of Nokia's "Illuvial Pink Collection" mobile phone range, saying "I spend loads of time on my mobile, so it's important to me that it looks good. The phones in the range all look fab – they're stylish and yet still girlie."^[34] Lott was nominated for British Breakthrough Act, British Female Solo Artist and British Single at the 2010 BRIT Awards.^[35] Lott also served as the opening act of Rihanna's Last Girl on Earth Tour in the UK 7–26 May 2010.^[36] Lott also performed on the main stage at the V Festival in August 2010.

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 the 18 September 2010, and is scheduled to be released in UK theatres in November.^{[37][38][39][40]} The fifth single from Lott's album, the title song "Turn It Up", was released on 7 June 2010.^[41][42] Lott recorded a song for the film Street Dance 3D, entitled "Live For The Moment", which is also featured on the soundtrack. On 23 May 2010, Lott performed at the Radio 1 Big Weekend in Bangor, North Wales, and on 4 July 2010 she performed at T4 on the Beach in Weston-super-Mare.^[43][44]

Turn It Up is due to be released in the US in 2011 with a significantly updated track listing.^[45] For the new "repackaged" version Lott has recorded duets with Jason Derulo and Joe Jonas.^[46][47] The album will include her newest single, "Broken Arrow".

Songwriter Chris Braide confirmed in an interview with HitQuarters that he has written three new songs for the repackaged album together with Cathy Dennis.^[46]

[edit] 2011–present: Young Foolish Happy

In April 2011, Lott told Digital Spy that "[t]here are a couple of really cool collaborations on the album and I've already worked with some big people, but I can't say who they are just in case those tracks don't make the final cut", and described the sound as "still pop stuff, but maybe a little more soulful. That's the kind of thing that I'm into. That influence is stronger on this album."^[48] The album is due out on 14 November 2011.^[49] Lott premiered the lead single "All About Tonight" on BBC Radio 1's The Chris Moyles Show on 11 July 2011; the single was released on 4 September and premiered at number 1, Lott's third UK number 1 single.^[50] On 17 September, Lott announced that her second album would be titled Young Foolish Happy and that it will include collaborations with Stevie Wonder and John Legend.^[51][52] The album will be released in the UK on 14 November.^[52] The second single was confirmed as "What Do You Take Me For?", featuring the rapper Pusha T; the music video premiered on 6 October 2011 with the single being available for download on 4 November 2011.^[53]

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

Discography[link]

• Turn It Up (2009)
• Young Foolish Happy (2011)

Tours[link]

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)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pixie Lott

• Official website
• Pixie Lott at Allmusic
• Pixie Lott at the Internet Movie Database
• Pixie Lott's channel on YouTube