Little Mix: Ready to Fly. Little Mix

      Hello and welcome to the first ever official Little Mix book! We’ve had so much fun writing about our younger years, style secrets, the tour, our X Factor days and each other, and we hope you’ll enjoy reading it every bit as much as we’ve enjoyed putting it together.

      Life with Little Mix has been non-stop since we won The X Factor. It’s been amazing travelling around together and working on our debut album, and it feels so incredible to be getting our music out there whilst, hopefully, spreading a positive and uplifting message!

      We just want to say thanks once again for all of your unbelievable support since day one. It may sound like a bit of a cliché, but without all of you we wouldn’t be writing this right now. As a band we’re happier and closer than ever and we’ve got such massive plans for the future. We’d love you to be there with us every step of the way.

      Lots of love,

      Jade, Leigh-Anne, Jesy and Perrie

      Jade practising her tap and ballet

       LITTLE YEARS

       JADE: I was always quite a shy kid, until I got to know people. The only time I felt really confident was when I was performing. I started doing it when I was six, going to dance and theatre schools, and I loved it. I’ve got an older brother called Karl and we were really supportive of each other. I would always go and watch him playing football, and he would watch me perform. He’s still really supportive and protective now. He always said I would be a singer and he believed in me from the start. In fact, all of my family have been amazingly supportive. I feel so, so lucky. My mam is my best friend – she used to take me everywhere, to every show. She must have spent a lot of money! I’m also really close to my dad. They’ve been there for me every step of the way.

      When I was younger I used to sing at the old people’s homes at Christmas and they used to go, ‘Eee, pet, you’re going to be a star one day!’ I loved doing little shows like that because it made the people who lived there smile, and it was great experience.

      I was a proper swot at school. My mam worked at my primary school so there I had to behave! I was quite an all-rounder. I loved maths and English and I always wanted to be the best I could be in whatever I did. I kept changing my mind about what I was going to do as a career. At first I wanted to be Diana Ross, then a forensic scientist, then a lawyer, then an English teacher and then an artist.

      I was top of everything in secondary school but I still had no idea what I wanted to do long term. I loved dancing and singing, but I didn’t see it as a realistic career, so I was always looking for a plan B.

      I had loads of friends in primary school and I met lots of people through doing performing arts, but it was different when I got to secondary school. I was the only person from my primary school to move there, so I was totally on my own. It was awful. I went from being really popular to knowing absolutely no one. I really closed off from people and became super-sensible and quiet. I used to have my tie done right up to the top and all of my hair scraped back. I was like a normal spotty teenager. I worked really hard and went to all of my lessons, and people must have thought I was soft, because for the first two years at that school I got picked on quite badly. I was still going to tap and ballet classes until I was about 13, and I did drama at school, so that was my outlet when I was feeling upset or lonely. It gave me something to look forward to.

      There was a time when I was bullied so badly by one girl that I bunked off school to avoid her, but in the end I told one of the teachers and thankfully it got sorted out.

      I joined the choir and then in Year 9 my music teacher asked me to get up in assembly and sing, and despite being terrified I went for it. After that I gained more popularity and got more friends, and it was such a relief. My friends Holly, Anna and Sarah are still my best friends now. I know I can always rely on them totally. They really helped me be more confident with my singing and were so encouraging to me.

      I started appearing in lots of musicals and plays, both in school and out of it, so that helped me to meet people too. I tried everything I could to get as much experience as possible when it came to performing, and it was a real release for me. By the end of secondary school I was head girl and everyone knew me because I’d been on The X Factor. I’d managed to take something really swotty and make it cool.

      When I was 16 I started performing gigs in