Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson (born 7 April 1991) known professionally as Anne-Marie, is an English singer and songwriter. She spent her early years struggling to become a pop singer and also tried her luck in professional karate championships at least three times. Anne-Marie has said that it was karate that taught her focus and discipline, the two essential characteristics of a successful musician.

Anne-Marie was born and raised in East Tilbury in Essex. Her father was born in Ireland, while her mother is from Essex. She appeared in two West Endproductions as a child-Les Misérables when she was six, and Whistle Down the Wind alongside a young Jessie J when she was 12.

Nicholson practised shotokan karate from the age of nine, and won Double Gold in the 2002 Funakoshi Shotokan Karate Association World Championships, Gold and Silver in the 2007 Funakoshi Shotokan Karate Association World Championships, and Gold in the United Kingdom Traditional Karate Federation National Championships. She credits this with teaching her "discipline and focus – basically everything I need for this career" but now does not have time to practice it frequently, due to performing commitments. She also attended Palmer's College in Thurrock as a teenager.

2013-2015: Career beginnings and Karate
Anne-Marie cut a solo demo for Rocket Records in 2013 called "Summer Girl". Her solo career was curtailed in order for her to develop herself as an artist; in the interim, she guested on tracks by Magnetic Man, Gorgon City and Raized by Wolves, after which she caught the attention of Rudimental; one of their vocalists left, and so they asked Anne-Marie to replace her. She featured on four tracks on their album We the Generation, of which two were co-features with Dizzee Rascal and Will Heard; the latter, "Rumour Mill", reached number 67 on the UK Singles Chart. She spent two years touring alongside them.

On 10 June 2015, Anne-Marie released her debut EP, Karate, which went out on the then-new label Major Tom's; two singles were released from it, "Karate" and "Gemini", which led to Anne-Marie making her first solo live performances. In November 2015 she released "Do It Right", which peaked at number 90 on the UK Singles Chart.

2016-present: Speak Your Mind
On 20 May 2016, Anne-Marie released the first single from her debut album, "Alarm", which spent one week at number 76 in June before resurfacing a month later; it later peaked at number 16 and was certified Platinum in the UK. In October 2016, Anne-Marie was confirmed to play at the thirty-first edition of Eurosonic Noorderslag in Groningen, Netherlands. The same month, Clean Bandit released their song "Rockabye", with Anne-Marie as main vocalist and featuring Jamaican rapper Sean Paul. It spent nine consecutive weeks at number one, and gained the coveted Christmas number one. The song has since been certified multi-platinum across most of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

On 10 March 2017, Anne-Marie released "Ciao Adios", which she had previously performed live at KOKO on 28 November 2016. The single became a top 10 hit in the UK, charting at number nine and being certified Platinum by the BPI. Anne-Marie's next single saw her collaborate with Snakehips on "Either Way", which also featured Joey Badass. On 22 September Anne-Marie released "Heavy", followed by "Then" on 15 December. In 2018, Anne-Marie collaborated with Marshmello on "Friends". The song was released on 9 February 2018, and was Anne-Marie's first top five UK hit as a lead artist. On 21 February, Anne-Marie announced that her debut studio album, Speak Your Mind, would be released on 27 April 2018. Prior to the release of her album, Anne-Marie released the single "2002" on 20 April in response to the constant insisting of Ed Sheeran, the co-creator of the song.