Ella Henderson


Gabriella Michelle Henderson, known professionally as Ella Henderson, is an English singer and songwriter. She competed in the ninth series of The X Factor UK in 2012, and finished in sixth place despite being a strong favourite to win. She signed with Syco Music shortly after, and released her debut studio album, Chapter One, which reached number one in the UK. The album spawned the chart-topping single "Ghost", as well as the top 20 singles "Glow" and "Yours". Henderson subsequently recorded successful collaborations: "Glitterball" with Sigma, "Here for You" with Kygo, "This Is Real" with Jax Jones and "We Got Love" with Sigala, two of which reached the top 10 in the UK.

Early life

Gabriella Michelle Henderson was born and raised in Tetney, Lincolnshire on 12 January 1996, the daughter of a Scottish father, Sean, and an English mother of Swedish ancestry, Michelle. She has two brothers named Patrick and Fraser, and a sister named Holly.
Henderson began singing around the age of three and taught herself to play the piano a few years later. She began to put on shows for her family at Christmas and developed a special bond with her grandfather Bill, who encouraged her to pursue her love of music and songwriting. Her interest developed further at primary school, Humberston C of E Primary School in Grimsby, and she subsequently decided to audition for a scholarship place at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire.
Henderson succeeded in gaining a scholarship and boarded at the school from the age of 11 to 16. She attended the school at the same time as Dan Ferrari-Lane of boyband District3, who was on The X Factor with Henderson in 2012. In early 2012, Henderson made a singing appearance on a celebrity Christmas special of Channel 4's Come Dine with Me, where she performed "All I Want for Christmas Is You".

Career

2012: ''The X Factor''

In 2012, Henderson auditioned for series nine of The X Factor with the original song called "Missed", which was later included on her debut studio album. She reached the live shows and was mentored by Tulisa. Henderson and James Arthur were controversially in the bottom two in week seven and sang for survival. Tulisa and Louis Walsh voted to send Henderson through to the quarter-final and Nicole Scherzinger and Gary Barlow voted to send Arthur through to the quarter-final. The result went to deadlock and Arthur advanced to the quarter-final receiving 13.7% of the vote and Henderson received 12.1%. She consequently finished in sixth place, despite being a strong favourite to win. Presenter Dermot O'Leary described Henderson's exit as "one of the biggest shocks we've ever had on the results show."
During the show and following her exit, a number of celebrities came out in support and praise of Henderson, including Adele, Chloë Grace Moretz, Simon Cowell, Sarah Millican, Stephen Fry, Lily Allen, Nick Grimshaw and Cher. In 2013, on The Xtra Factor, O'Leary named Henderson the most talented performer in his seven years on the show, in his view.
EpisodeThemeSongOriginal artistResult
First auditionFree choice"Missed"Ella HendersonThrough to Bootcamp
Second auditionFree choice"Midnight Train to Georgia"Gladys Knight & the PipsThrough to Bootcamp
BootcampSolo performance"Believe"CherThrough to Judges' houses
Judges' housesFree choice"I Won't Give Up"Jason MrazThrough to Live show
Live show 1Heroes"Rule the World"Take ThatSafe
Live show 2Love and heartbreak"Loving You"Minnie RipertonSafe
Live show 3Club classics"You Got the Love"Candi StatonSafe
Live show 4Halloween"Bring Me to Life"EvanescenceSafe
Live show 5Number Ones"Firework"Katy PerrySafe
Live show 6Best of British"Written in the Stars"Tinie TempahSafe
Live show 7Guilty pleasures"You're the One That I Want"GreaseBottom two
Live show 7Final showdown"If You're Not the One"Daniel BedingfieldEliminated

2012–2015: ''Chapter One''

In December 2012, Henderson made an appearance on Ireland's RTÉ The Saturday Night Show, singing "Silent Night". While being interviewed on the show, she revealed that she had signed a record deal with Sony Music Entertainment. She also performed "Last Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" on the Myleene Klass Heart FM show that month. In January 2013, Henderson confirmed she had signed to Simon Cowell's record label Syco Music. During January and February 2013, she took part in The X Factor live tour, where she sang four songs: her X Factor audition song "Missed", "Believe", "Rule the World" and "You Got the Love". She also performed "Believe" at the 18th National Television Awards in January, and appeared as a special guest at the Capital Summertime Ball in June, where she performed a duet of "Beneath Your Beautiful" with Labrinth.
Henderson's debut single, "Ghost", co-written with Ryan Tedder, was released on 8 June 2014. It debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, and remained in the top five of the chart for eight consecutive weeks. It has subsequently been certified platinum for sales in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The song later ranked at number 84 on the Official Charts Company list of the 100 biggest songs of the 2010s in the UK. Its follow-up, "Glow", was released on 5 October 2014 and charted at number seven in the UK. Henderson's debut studio album, Chapter One, was released on 13 October 2014. It was written by Henderson in collaboration with a number of writers and producers including Claude Kelly, Salaam Remi, Babyface and TMS. The album peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart, and was the 19th and 31st best-selling album in the UK in 2014 and 2015, respectively. It was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. The album also charted in the top 20 in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and the United States. Its third and fourth singles, "Yours" and "Mirror Man", were released on 30 November 2014 and 9 March 2015, respectively. The former charted at number 16 in the UK.
Henderson performed as the supporting act for Take That on their 38 date Take That Live 2015 UK tour, while embarking on her debut headlining UK tour in October and November 2015. That July, she featured on drum and bass duo Sigma's single "Glitterball", which peaked at number four in the UK. Henderson also featured on Norwegian record producer and DJ Kygo's song "Here for You", which was released on 4 September. The collaboration achieved global-wide chart success peaking within the top 20 in the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

2016–present: Asylum Records and ''Glorious''

In November 2016, Henderson announced that she had finished recording her second studio album, having worked with Danny O'Donoghue from The Script and producer Max Martin. In April 2017, it was announced that she would be supporting James Arthur on his Back from the Edge Tour. In June, she featured along with other artists, including fellow X Factor artists Leona Lewis, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, James Arthur, Louisa Johnson and Matt Terry on a cover version of Simon & Garfunkel's song "Bridge over Troubled Water", which was recorded to raise money for those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire in London earlier that month. The single reached number one in the UK after only two days sales. Later that year, it was announced that Arthur had recorded a duet with Henderson, reportedly set to be included on her second studio album. While supporting Arthur on his tour, she performed new songs that were set to be included on the record: "Ugly", "Cry Like a Woman", "Bones", "Solid Gold" and "Let's Go Home Together", her duet with Arthur. In February 2018, it was announced that Henderson and Syco Music had parted ways. In a statement, a Syco representative stated: "Syco and Ella Henderson are parting company. We wish Ella all the best for the future and thank her for her hugely successful contribution over the years." In May 2018, Henderson confirmed that she had completed work on her second studio album. Later that year, she signed a record deal with Asylum Records' imprint Major Toms operated by the British group Rudimental, and was working on new material with them, presumably meaning that the previously confirmed album was scrapped. She also supported Rudimental on their European tour that year.
On 13 September 2019, Henderson released "Glorious" as the lead single from her EP of the same name, which was released on 8 November. Its second single, "Young", was released on 21 October. Henderson also featured on Jax Jones' song "This Is Real", from his debut album Snacks , which was released as a single on 21 October, and on Sigala's single "We Got Love", which was released on 1 November. Both tracks charted in the UK, peaking at numbers 9 and 42, respectively. She also provided vocals for Dutch DJ Sam Feldt's song "Hold Me Close" released on 27 March 2020.
Henderson released the single "Take Care of You" on 12 June 2020. The song reached number 51 in the UK. In July, she provided uncredited vocals for a UK top five single she has co-written titled "Lighter" by British DJ and producer Nathan Dawe, featuring British YouTuber and rapper KSI.

Discography

Headlining