| Amelia Lily | |
|---|---|
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| Contestant Profile | |
| Birth Date | 16 October 1994 |
| Age | 31 |
| Hometown | Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England |
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| Category | Girls |
| Mentor | Kelly Rowland |
| Placement | 3/16 |
| Gallery | |
Amelia Lily Oliver (born 16 October 1994) is an English pop singer. She auditioned for Series 8 of The X Factor UK and made it all the way to the final as part of the Girls category mentored by Kelly Rowland.
Initially eliminated in Week 1 in a quadruple elimination, she was reinstated in Week 6 following a public vote held as a result of the disqualification of Frankie Cocozza.
Due to the eliminations of Sophie Habibis, Janet Devlin and Misha B, Amelia was the only act left in her category. She finished in 3rd place behind runner-up Marcus Collins and winners Little Mix.
The X Factor
In 2011, Lily auditioned for the eighth series of The X Factor in Liverpool in front of judges Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow, Kelly Rowland and Tulisa. She sang Erma Franklin's "Piece of My Heart" and won praise from all four judges. Barlow said, "...oh my goodness, 16 years old that was incredible. That absolutely lifted the top of this arena, well done. Amazing vocals. Amelia I am blown away..."
She progressed through to bootcamp and then to judges' houses, where she sang "E.T." by Katy Perry in front of Rowland and guest judge Jennifer Hudson. Lily made it to the live shows in Rowland's Girls category (solo females aged 16–24), alongside Misha B, Janet Devlin and Sophie Habibis. She performed "Billie Jean" on the first live show (Britain vs America). The judges loved her performance with Walsh saying, "Amelia, you deserve to be on that stage"; Barlow also gave her thumbs-up, commenting, "That was a really great opening to the show", but she was the first of Kelly's four girls to be eliminated from the show on 9 October by her mentor as there was no public vote in the first live show. After her surprise elimination, Lily continued to perform at clubs. Prior to the sixth live show, it was announced that Frankie Cocozza was removed from the show after breaking competition rules and that the public would be given the chance to reinstate one of the four contestants eliminated during the first live show. Lily was voted back into the competition after winning 48.8% of the vote, beating duo 2 Shoes, James Michael and Jonjo Kerr. Her comeback performance of "The Show Must Go On" received critical acclaim from all the judges. She was automatically put through to week 7 by the public vote.
In week 7, she sang "Think" by Aretha Franklin. Despite positive comments from the judges, she was in the bottom two with Craig Colton, and was saved after Barlow and Tulisa voted to send Lily home while Rowland and Walsh voted to send Colton home. The result went to deadlock for the first time in the series. Lily advanced to the quarter-final in week 8 while Colton was sent home. In the quarter-final, Lily again received critical acclaim from the judges for her two performances: "China in Your Hand" and "Since U Been Gone", with Barlow commenting that her first performance was "really nice to hear it sung in tune". She automatically advanced to the semi-final in week 9 by the public vote. In the semi-final, she performed Motown classic "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "I'm with You" to win her place in the final. The next night, she won a place in the show's final at Wembley Arena. Throughout the series, she topped the public vote twice and was in the bottom two only once before reaching the finals, where she sang "Ain't No Other Man" and performed "River Deep – Mountain High" alongside Rowland. She finished the competition in third place.
Performances
| Episode | Theme | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audition | Free choice | "Piece of My Heart" | Advanced |
| Bootcamp 1 | Group performance | "You Got the Love" | Advanced |
| Bootcamp 2 | Solo performance | "Nobody Knows" | Advanced |
| Judges' houses | Free choice | "E.T." | Advanced |
| Week 1 | Britain vs. America | "Billie Jean" | Eliminated |
| Week 6 | Lady Gaga vs. Queen | "The Show Must Go On" | Safe (1st) |
| Week 7 | Movie week | "Think" | Bottom Two (5th) |
| Save Me songs | "You and I" | Saved | |
| Quarter-Final | Guilty pleasures | "China in Your Hand" | Safe (1st) |
| Musical heroes | "Since U Been Gone" | ||
| Semi-Final | Motown | "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" | Safe (3rd) |
| Songs to get you to the final | "I'm with You" | ||
| Saturday Final | Free choice | "Ain't No Other Man" | Eliminated (3rd) |
| Mentor duets | "River Deep, Mountain High" (with Kelly Rowland) |
Post The X Factor
Since her time on the show, Amelia signed a 3-album deal with British production duo Xenomania, best known for producing hits for girl group Girls Aloud. Her first single, "You Bring Me Joy", was released on August 26, 2012 and charted at #2 on the UK Charts. However, due to the poor performance of her follow up singles, the release of her debut album was cancelled.
In 2013, she supported both Girls Aloud on their farewell Greatest Hits tour and later supported Olly Murs. The following year, after parting ways with Xenomania, she released a new song on the Warner Music label called "California".
Since late 2014, she has appeared on the UK stage tours of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, replacing Marcus Collins, and Green Day's American Idiot stage show playing Whatshername.
In 2017, she joined the Celebrity Big Brother UK line up, wherein she placed as Runner-Up to Sarah Harding from Girls Aloud.
In 2019, she appeared as a guest at Judges' Houses during Season 2 of X Factor Malta, assisting judge Ray Mercieca in the Boys category.
In 2021, she placed as Runner-Up to Presenter AJ Odudu during the final of the second series of ITV2's 'Celebrity Karaoke Club'.
Discography
Singles
As lead artist
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [1] |
IRE [2] |
NL [3] |
SCO [4] | ||||||||||||||
| 2012 | "You Bring Me Joy" | 2 | 21 | 67 | 2 |
|
rowspan="4" Template:N/A | ||||||||||
| 2013 | "Shut Up (And Give Me Whatever You Got)" | 11 | 63 | — | 8 | ||||||||||||
| "Party Over" | 40 | — | — | 36 | |||||||||||||
| 2014 | "California" | 83 | — | — | 43 | ||||||||||||
| "—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released. | |||||||||||||||||
As featured artist
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [6] |
IRE [7] |
SCO [8] | |||
| 2011 | "Wishing on a Star" (as part of The X Factor Finalists 2011 featuring JLS and One Direction) |
1 | 1 | 1 | Charity single |
| UK Series 8 Finalists | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Amelia Lily • Craig Colton • Frankie Cocozza • James Michael • Janet Devlin • Johnny Robinson • Jonjo Kerr • Kitty Brucknell • Little Mix • Marcus Collins • Misha B • Nu Vibe • Sami Brookes • Sophie Habibis • The Risk • 2 Shoes | |||
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Peak positions for Scotland:
- For "You Bring Me Joy": Template:Cite web
- For "Shut Up (And Give Me Whatever You Got)": Template:Cite web
- For "Party Over": Template:Cite web
- For "California": Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Peak positions for the featured singles in the UK:
- For "Wishing on a Star": Template:Cite web
- ↑ Peak positions for the featured singles in Ireland:
- For "Wishing on a Star": Template:Cite web
- ↑ Peak positions for the featured singles in Scotland:
- For "Wishing on a Star": Template:Cite web