Stacey Solomon

Biography

Stacey Chanelle Clare Solomon (born 4 October 1989) is an English television personality and singer. She rose to prominence in 2009 as a contestant on the sixth series of the ITV talent show The X Factor, where she finished in third place. The following year, she won the tenth series of the ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. Solomon's debut single, a cover of "Driving Home for Christmas", was released in 2011, and her debut studio album, Shy, was released in 2015. In 2016, she co-presented I'm a Celebrity: Extra Camp, an ITV2 spin-off from the main show. From 2016 to 2024, she was a panelist on the ITV talk show Loose Women. In 2019, Solomon was a regular panellist on the ITV2 comedy show Celebrity Juice. Since 2021, Solomon presents the BBC One reality series Sort Your Life Out, for which she won a National Television Award, as well as being nominated for two British Academy Television Awards.

== Early life == Stacey Chanelle Clare Solomon was born on 4 October 1989 to Fiona Nash, a nurse, and David Neal Solomon, a photographer. She has two siblings, Jemma, and Matthew. Her parents divorced, when she was young, but kept co-parenting, living close to one another. Solomon grew up in Dagenham, East London, and attended King Solomon High School. Solomon was raised with exposure to both Judaism and Christianity, and has spoken proudly of her heritage.

== Career ==

=== Music ===

==== X Factor ====

In 2009, Solomon auditioned for the sixth series of The X Factor, performing "What a Wonderful World". She was among the top 12 contestants and advanced to the live shows and was mentored by Dannii Minogue. During the first week of the live shows she performed Coldplay's "The Scientist". During week two, she performed "At Last", receiving the most votes of the public. She sang "When You Wish Upon a Star" during the third week. On the fourth week, all contestants had to sing rock songs; Minogue selected "Somewhere Only We Know", and Solomon's performance resulted in positive reviews. On the fifth week, she sang "Son of a Preacher Man". The sixth week into the competition, Solomon sang Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever". During the sixth week, she and her fellow X Factor finalists released a cover of Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone", which topped the charts on the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singles Chart. On the seventh week, she performed "I Can't Make You Love Me". In the quarter-final, Solomon performed "Rule the World" by Take That and "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John. In the semi-final, she performed another Michael Jackson song, "The Way You Make Me Feel", and the song "Somewhere". During the final week, she performed a duet "Feeling Good" with Michael Bublé. She also performed "What a Wonderful World" and "Who Wants to Live Forever". Solomon was the last contestant eliminated, behind winner Joe McElderry and runner-up Olly Murs. Solomon went on tour with her fellow X Factor finalists. She returned to the show in December 2010, where she presented from Essex for winner, Matt Cardle and to the fourteenth series of The X Factor UK in December 2017, presenting alongside George Shelley, interviewing the finalists relatives and friends at the live finals from ExCeL London. She returned in the same position the following year, In 2015, the singer signed to Warren Askew & Oliver Moheda at Total Artist Management.

==== Albums ==== In June 2011, Solomon began working on her debut album. It was a work in progress for several years. Shy was finally released in April 2015. She stated that she had complete control in a bidding war between record labels. In 2011, Solomon performed as the headline act at Paisley's Christmas Lights Switch On event and released a cover of Chris Rea's "Driving Home for Christmas" as her Christmas single. It was used for the Iceland Christmas commercial and reached number 27 in the UK Singles Chart. Solomon was also the headline artist of 2014 tour of the world's largest children's choir, Young Voices, performing tracks from her forthcoming debut album.

=== Television ===