Jessica Pietersen (; born 23 June 1980) is a British singer, television personality and dancer who was a member of the pop group

Liberty X Liberty X (originally called Liberty) are a British-Irish group originally consisting of Michelle Heaton, Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young. The group was formed by the five finalists of the 2001 ITV talent show '' Popstar ...

Personal life

As a teenager she was a member of the Preston Musical Comedy Society and played the title role in a 1999 production of '' Gigi''. On 29 December 2007, she married England cricketer

Kevin Pietersen Kevin Peter Pietersen (born 27 June 1980) is a cricket commentator, conservationist, and former England international cricket player. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who played in all three formats for England betw ...

at a service in

Castle Combe Castle Combe is a village and civil parish within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Wiltshire, England. The village is around north-west of Chippenham. A castle once stood in the area, but was demolished centuries ago. The vi ...

, Wiltshire, with Pietersen's former England teammate

Darren Gough Darren Gough (born 18 September 1970) is a retired English cricketer and former captain of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The spearhead of England's bowling attack through much of the 1990s, he is England's second highest wicket-taker in one-da ...

as best man. Their first child, a son named Dylan Blake Pietersen, was born on 10 May 2010. Their second child, a daughter named Rosie, was born on 27 December 2015. For ''

Sport Relief 2012 ''Sport Relief 2012'' was a fundraising event organised by Comic Relief. It was broadcast on BBC One and BBC Two on the evening of 23 March 2012 from 7:00 pm to 1:45 am, live from the BBC Television Centre. It raised £50,447,197, th ...

'', Taylor and Pietersen posed naked under the sheets for Sport Relief, wearing only the official

Union Jack The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

socks, to promote the

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...

charity run.

Music career

Liberty X enjoyed seven Top 10 singles from 2001 to 2005. Their biggest hit, " Just a Little", reached number one in May 2002. Its accompanying music video features Taylor wearing a black latex catsuit as part of a gang of professional burglars who steal a diamond from an atrium at the Vintners' Hall in London. " Thinking It Over", "

Got to Have Your Love "Got to Have Your Love" is a song by American hip hop and electro funk group Mantronix, featuring vocals from American recording artist Wondress. It was released by Capitol Records in December 1989 as the lead single from Mantronix's fourth ...

", "

Song 4 Lovers "Song 4 Lovers" is a song by English-Irish pop band Liberty X, released as the lead single from their third studio album, '' X'' (2005). The song features uncredited vocals from Rev Run of Run-D.M.C. and was produced by Liberty X member Tony Lu ...

", and " Holding on for You" all reached the top 5 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Their debut album, '' Thinking It Over'', reached number three in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

June 2002. Liberty X released another 2 albums, ''Being Somebody'' and ''X'', which reached number 12 and number 27, respectively. Liberty X won two

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

: for Best British Single and Best British Breakthrough Artist.

Post-music career

Television

Taylor took part in BBC's one-off ''

Strictly Ice Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 j ...

'' in 2005 and came in second place. She also participated in the fourth series of '' Dancing on Ice'', partnered with Pavel Aubrecht in 2009. They made it to the final, finishing in third place. She subsequently toured with Torvill and Dean on their 25th Anniversary Bolero Tour, performing in arenas across the UK. In 2006 she appeared on a reality TV special of ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...

''. Having been the statistical strongest link in rounds one and four, she came undone in round six where she was voted off on a countback, by eventual winner

Martin Offiah Martin Nwokocha Offiah MBE ( (''original pronunciation''), (''commonly used'')); born 29 December 1965) is an English former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Offiah was inducted i ...

. Taylor only got one question wrong throughout her entire run. She appeared on a celebrity edition of '' The Chase'' in November 2013, facing

Mark Labbett Mark Andrew Labbett (born 15 August 1965), also known by his professional nickname The Beast, is an English quizzer and television personality. Since 2009 he has been one of the "chasers" on the ITV game show '' The Chase'' as "The Beast" and ...

and winning £75,000 in her individual chase. She also appeared on the '' Hole in the Wall''.

Filmography

Discography

Featured singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Jessica 1980 births Living people Musicians from Lancashire People from Penwortham Liberty X English women pop singers