Kelli Young (born 7 April 1982) is an English pop singer. She was a member and lead singer of British 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 ...

from 2001 until they split in 2007 and again in 2012 when they reformed for a one-off reunion for an ITV2 series and performance at the Hammersmith Apollo.

Early and personal life

She went to Derby High School,

Littleover Littleover is a village and suburb in the city of Derby, in Derbyshire, England, between Rose Hill, Normanton, Sunny Hill and Mickleover, about southwest of Derby city centre. History The history of Littleover's name is simple. It is der ...

, until she was 16, when she moved to London. She is married to songwriter

Iain James Iain James Farquharson, more commonly known as Iain James or Sparx, is a British singer, songwriter and vocal producer from Bristol, but based in London. He started as part of the British boyband Triple 8 in 2003 as their lead singer and known ...

and they have twin boys born in July 2012. Her mother is

Bajan Bajan may refer to: Geography and culture Barbados * Barbadians, known by the colloquialism Bajan(s) (pronounced 'bay-jun') * Barbadian English language * Bajan Creole, a Creole language Other location * Something or someone from Baja ...

History

Career

While the five winning contestants of ''

Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, '' Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gr ...

'' formed

Hear'Say Hear'Say were a British pop group. They were created through the ITV reality TV show '' Popstars'' in February 2001, the first UK series of the international '' Popstars'' franchise. The group, who were signed to Polydor Records, originally ...

, the five runner-up contestants formed the group Liberty. The name Liberty was chosen to reflect the freedom the members experienced following their participation in ''Popstars''. Amidst pejorative media commentary (including the term "Flopstars"), the act proceeded to sign a multi-million-pound record contract with Richard Branson's independent record label,

V2 Records V2 Records (or V2 Music; V2 being an abbreviation for Virgin 2) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007 and sold to IASin 2013. In the Benelux, V2 operates separately from PIAS, as the label bought itself out from ...

. Shortly after forming, Liberty received a legal challenge in the

UK High Court The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (Englan ...

from a funk R&B band, also called "Liberty", who achieved success in the 1990s, including being awarded Capital Radio Band of the Year, playing Wembley Arena, European tours and the release of albums in the UK, the US and Europe The original Liberty claimed that the newly formed Liberty was taking advantage of the goodwill that had been created by the former's success (known in English law as the "

tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...

passing off Passing off is a common law tort which can be used to enforce unregistered trade mark rights. The tort of passing off protects the goodwill of a trader from misrepresentation. The law of passing off prevents one trader from misrepresenting go ...

"). The final judgment was in favour of the funk R&B band and the ex-''Popstars'' then asked readers of UK tabloid newspaper, '' The Sun'' to suggest a new name. The winning name was "X Liberty", but the group used the entry as the basis for the official title, "Liberty X". Liberty X enjoyed seven Top 10 singles from 2001 to 2005. Their biggest hit, " Just a Little", reached Number 1 in May 2002. Its accompanying music video features Young 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 3 in June 2002. Liberty X released another two albums, '' Being Somebody'' and '' X'', which reached number 12 and 27, respectively. Liberty X won two

Brit Award 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 ...

s: for Best British Single and Best British Breakthrough Artist. Young starred in the ITV show ''Britain Sings Christmas'' in 2007, performing a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of Mariah Carey's " All I Want for Christmas Is You". On 18 October, it was announced that Liberty X, along with other pop groups of their time such as

B*Witched B*Witched are an Irish girl group consisting of twin sisters Edele and Keavy Lynch, Lindsay Armaou and Sinéad O'Carroll. Originally active between 1997 and 2002, they enjoyed success in both Europe and North America between 1998 and 2002, r ...

Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

and

Atomic Kitten Atomic Kitten is an English girl group formed in Liverpool in 1998, whose current members are Liz McClarnon, Jenny Frost and Natasha Hamilton. The group was founded by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) members Andy McCluskey and Stuart ...

, would reunite for an ITV2 series called ''

The Big Reunion ''The Big Reunion'' is a British reality-documentary series that began airing on ITV2 on 31 January 2013. The show featured chart-topping bands who were big in the UK pop music scene between the 1990s and early 2000s, and the programme followed ...

'', in which they would reveal about their individual stories about their life in the band before reforming for a gig singing their greatest hits.

Filmography

Discography

Featured singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Kelli 1982 births Living people 21st-century Black British women singers Liberty X English people of Barbadian descent English women pop singers Musicians from Derby