Jessie J

English singer/songwriter Jessie J fuses profound, emotive vocals with an incisive pop sensibility and an approachable persona that echoes Beyoncé, Gwen Stefani, and P!nk. After navigating multiple professional obstacles and health challenges, she delivered three U.K. Top Five albums in the early 2010s—Who You Are (2011), Alive (2013), and Sweet Talker (2014)—while also cutting multi-platinum, chart-topping tracks such as “Price Tag,” “Domino,” and the all-star collaboration “Bang Bang.” Although activity slowed toward the decade’s end, she kept issuing recordings, among them 2018’s R.O.S.E., and expanded into television singing contests both as a competitor, taking the win on China’s I Am a Singer, and as a coach on The Voice Kids UK.

Born Jessica Cornish in Chadwell Heath, London in 1988, she entered the entertainment world at eleven by appearing in the West End staging of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Whistle Down the Wind. Following musical-theater studies at the renowned BRITS School, she secured a contract with independent label Gut Records, which folded before issuing any of her material.

After suffering a minor stroke at eighteen, she obtained a Sony publishing deal and wrote hits for artists including Chris Brown, Dutch X Factor winner Lisa Lois, and Miley Cyrus—the latter’s American number-two single “Party in the USA.” Having cultivated a substantial online following, she joined Universal Records and collaborated with hitmaker Dr. Luke (Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson), Atlanta rapper B.o.B, and R&B producer Labrinth on her debut album, Who You Are. In 2010 her opening single, “Do It Like a Dude,” originally composed for Rihanna, climbed to number 25 on the U.K. charts; shortly afterward she earned the Critics Choice Award at the 2011 Brit Awards, following in the path of Adele, Florence + the Machine, and Ellie Goulding. An appearance on Saturday Night Live that same year aligned with the album’s American re-release.

After completing a tour that reached the U.K., Ireland, Australia, Malaysia, and her debut North American date, Jessie J became the first U.K. female solo artist to land six Top Ten singles from one studio album. The sixth of those, “LaserLight” featuring David Guetta, gained momentum from her role as a judge on the U.K. edition of The Voice. The program allowed her to showcase her vocal-coaching skills while forging connections with both longtime supporters and new viewers on prime-time television. Fellow coaches Tom Jones and will.i.am joined her for a performance at Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Concert in June 2012, after which she returned to the studio for the follow-up to Who You Are.

Upon concluding her second and final season coaching The Voice in 2013, J released the singles “Wild” and “It’s My Party” ahead of her second album, Alive, that September. When plans for a U.S.-exclusive Alive edition with Pharrell Williams were set aside, she concentrated instead on fresh material that became her third studio LP, Sweet Talker. Working with Diplo, the-Dream, and the previously mentioned Pharrell, she also partnered with De La Soul and 2 Chainz, while Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj appeared on the lead single “Bang Bang,” which entered at number one in the U.K. and reached the Top Ten in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Bulgaria. Sweet Talker arrived in October 2014, charting inside the Top Ten in both the U.S. and U.K. Stepping away from music briefly, she joined the judging panel for the 2015 season of the Australian singing competition The Voice. That year she also launched a tour supporting Sweet Talker.

Jessie J put out several new singles in 2017, among them “Real Deal” and “Queen,” earmarked for a projected 2018 album. Before completing it she re-entered the television singing-competition arena, this time as a contestant. China’s I Am a Singer 2018 placed her as the sole non-Asia-based participant alongside Taiwan pop diva Angela Chang, X Factor Philippines winner KZ, and additional entrants from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. She claimed the title that April, becoming the first non-Chinese singer to win the contest. Returning to her own recordings, she issued the four-part R.O.S.E. album, which dropped in EP-length installments across four days in May 2018. Divided into sections labeled R (Realisations), O (Obsessions), S (Sex), and E (Empowerment), the project was produced by DJ Camper. She closed her eventful 2018 with the holiday album This Christmas Day.

The next year she extended her television presence by serving as a judge on the third season of the U.K.’s The Voice Kids. Although new music remained relatively sparse, she ended the decade with several single releases, including the Don Diablo collaboration “Brave.” In 2020 she joined pop singer Mike Posner on “Weaponry” from his album Operation: Wake Up. She resurfaced in 2021 with the disco-driven single “I Want Love.”