Leigh-Anne was born and raised in South Shields. She grew an interest singing at a very young age and even put on shows with her sister as the Spice Girls at a young age. In school Leigh-Anne was bullied alot due to her book-smart, She was often called ugly. After she graduated she was taking a year off before joining university. Prior to auditioning for The X-Factor Leigh-Anne was a waitress at Pizza Hut.

Leigh-Anne, along side the other girls of Little Mix did not make it into the bootcamp stage of the television show, The girls were all selected from failed solo auditions and all put into separate groups, being named Faux Pas and Orion (in which Leigh-Anne was in). Neither of the groups made it past the judges house. However, a last-minute decision was made and two members from both groups were selected and put into a third ensemble, named respectably Rthymix.

A few weeks into competition X-Factor executives attempted to Copyright the Rhythmix name, and come to find out that the name was already copywritten. The girls had then decided to change the name of the group to avoid any confusion with a charity that had been step up for helping young people make music. Thus, Little Mix was born. Simon Cowell donated an undisclosed amount to the charity.

Jade, along side the other girls made X-Factor history as weeks went on, becoming the first all-female band to ever make it in the top 6. Little Mix also the only X-Factor contestant to never be in the bottom 2. In December of 2011, Little Mix became the first band in the 8-year run to win the competition, which was followed by the release of the winner’s single “Cannonball” which hit the #1 position in 3 different countries.