Jade Ewen

Jade Louise Ewen (born 24 January 1988) is a British singer, actress and a former member of the girl group Sugababes. She began her singing career in a girl group named Trinity Stone, which signed with Sony BMG in 2005 but disbanded in 2007 without releasing an album. In 2009, after winning the right, she represented the United Kingdom in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest by performing the Andrew Lloyd Webber / Diane Warren penned " It's My Time". She finished in fifth place.

Ewen controversially replaced Keisha Buchanan in the group Sugababes in September 2009. After becoming a member of the group, the group achieved two UK top-ten singles and a top-fifteen album before disbanding in 2011.

In 2015, Ewen made her West End debut, playing Vanessa in the original London cast of ''In the Heights'', following a brief run off-West End the previous year. She went on to play Princess Jasmine in 2016, as part of the original cast of Disney's production of ''Aladdin''.

Early life

Ewen was born on 24 January 1988 and grew up in Plaistow, London, the child of Trevor and Carol Ewen. Her mother is Jamaican while her father is of Italian descent and was raised in Scotland. Trevor is blind and partially deaf, while Carol is visually impaired. Because of her parents' disabilities, Ewen is a caregiver to both of her parents as well as her two younger siblings, Shereen and Kiel. Ewen started singing and taking dance classes before she was even four. She attended New City Primary School then Brampton Manor Academy before transferring to the Sylvia Young Theatre School (SYTS) after receiving a scholarship. While a student at SYTS, she appeared in the television productions ''The Bill'', ''Casualty'', '' Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle'' and ''The Ghost Hunter''. At the age of ten, Ewen went to an open audition for ''The Lion King''. She was offered the part of Young Nala.

Career

2002–2009: Early career and Eurovision

Ewen appeared in the children's dance DVD, ''How To Dance''. She was briefly featured in the video for Busted's " What I Go to School For". From 2003 to 2004, she appeared in the Noggin series ''Out There''. In 2005, Ewen became a member of the girl group Trinity Stone, which signed with Sony BMG. The group disbanded in 2007. She later recorded with rapper Kwamé, who was impressed with her work on MySpace. She released a digital single, "Got You", in 2008 under Kwame's Make Noise label. Ewen co-wrote the song "A Little Bit" for the girl group Booty Luv, as well as the song " Let Me Be Me" for Jessica Mauboy. In early 2009, Ewen acted in the first episode of the series ''Myths''.

In January 2009, Ewen was approached for and participated in the process to select the UK representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. She was selected to represent the UK with her performance of the song "It's My Time", composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who accompanied her on piano. Ewen finished in fifth place at Eurovision, the highest placing for the UK since 2002. Having already signed with Polydor Records before the Eurovision selection, Ewen began working on her debut album.

2009–2011: Sugababes and solo projects

In September 2009, Ewen joined the group Sugababes as the replacement for Keisha Buchanan. While her single, " My Man", had been released the week she joined the trio, promotional activities for it were cancelled. Nonetheless, it debuted at number 35 on the UK Singles Chart. In an interview with the BBC
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