2011-Perrie Edwards2011-
Jesy Nelson2011-2020
Leigh-Anne Pinnock2011-
Jade Thirlwall2011-
Much like One Direction, they met while competing on the UK version of X Factor back in 2011. They were thrown together at the Boot Camp stage of the auditions to make up Little Mix. "It was like a freak accident, wasn't it?" Perri Edwards said to MTV News of the group's formation. "They put us together I think based on our height. They must have seen us together and thought, 'They're exactly the same height. They look good... blah, blah, blah.' But then when we started singing, it just kind of clicked. We're so lucky to have it actually work, I think."
The X Factor judges originally put Perrie Edwards and Jesy Nelson in a quartet named Faux Pas and Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall as part of a trio named Orion. When these groups didn't make the judges house, the foursome were moved again to become Little Mix.
They were originally called Rhythmix, but were forced to change to Little Mix following complaints from a children's music charity of the same name.
Little Mix became on December 11, 2011 the first band to win UK X Factor after being mentored by N Dubz singer Tulisa Contostavlos.
Leigh-Anne Pinnock grew up listening to Mariah Carey. She recalled on
Little Mix's website, "I would blast it in my room and sing to all of her albums. She was one of my biggest idols, since I was about five I remember making up dances and singing with my sister Sairah. We would always hold our own talent shows and perform to our mum and dad."
Both of Perrie Edwards' parents are singers. Her father Alex is in an unsigned band called Alexander's Palace and her mother Debbie was a vocalist.
Jade Thirlwall had competed unsuccessfully in two previous seasons of the X Factor in 2008 and 2010, before being selected to be one quarter of Little Mix.
At school Jade was called "Pickle," "because I was so little you could put me in a pickle jar."
Jesy Nelson is very good at beatboxing and used this skill during various performances on
X Factor and in the Little Mix track "
Going Nowhere." She told
Pop Justice: "I just muck around doing it, and the girls were like, 'yeah, you should do it on the album!' So we did it."
In 2013, Little Mix broke the Spice Girls US chart record with their first album, DNA, entering the Billboard 200 chart at #4. It was the highest ever debut for a British female group, beating the #6 position the Spice Girls achieved in 1997 with their first album Spice.
Perrie Edwards began dating former One Direction band member Zayn Malik in May 2012. The couple got engaged in August 2013 but broke up in August 2015.
As a teenager, Thirlwall struggled with anorexia.
Jesy Nelson was an extra during the Yule Ball scene of the fourth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. She was also in the 2002 hit flick About A Boy.
Perrie Edwards is self-conscious of a childhood scar on her stomach. She told Now Magazine: "When I was little, my oesophagus was too small, so I had to get it operated on to help me eat properly. I had to have lots of operations, so that's why I don't want to show it."
Little Mix made history when they became the first female act to win Best British Group at the 2021 BRIT Awards. The group called out "white male dominance" during their speech and dedicated their gong to all the female groups before them.
"This award isn't just for us, it's for Spice Girls, Sugababes, All Saints, Girls Aloud, all of the incredible, incredible female bands... this one's for you," they said.
Little Mix are the first girl group to clock up 100 weeks in the UK Top 10. They achieved the feat when "
Heartbreak Anthem," their collaboration with Galantis and David Guetta, came in at #7 on the singles chart dated August 5, 2021.
