Michelle Heaton

Michelle Christine Heaton (born 19 July 1979) is a British pop singer, television personality, and sometime glamour model. She was married to former boyband member Andy Scott-Lee.

Career

A former student of Emmanuel City Technology College in Gateshead, Heaton began her singing career in the band Sirens with other girls from the northeast of England. She auditioned and made the final ten for girl band Girl Thing and then rose to fame when she took part in the ITV reality television show Popstars. Heaton reached the final ten but was not selected for the five member band Hear'Say. Soon after, she and the other four unsuccessful applicants formed Liberty X which consisted of herself, Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm, Kelli Young, and Jessica Taylor, signing a record deal with Virgin Records.

Liberty X enjoyed seven Top 10 singles from 2001 to 2005. Their biggest hit, "Just a Little", reached Number 1 in May 2002. "Thinking It Over", "Got To Have Your Love", "Song 4 Lovers", and "Holding on for You" all reached the top 5 in the UK Singles Chart.

Their debut album, Thinking It Over, reached Number 3 in June 2002. Liberty X released another 2 albums, Being Somebody and X, which reached Numbers 12 and 27, respectively.

Liberty X won 2 Brit Awards: for Best British Single and Best British Breakthrough Artist.

From 2004 until 2007, Heaton contributed a regular column to the Hotstars section of OK! magazine. In 2004, she appeared in the fitness DVD Liberty X-Toned.

Solo musical career

Heaton appeared in the single "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" along with Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young of Liberty X with the FHM Hot 100. In October 2007, shortly after Liberty X's split and final performance, Heaton signed a two album solo deal with 19 Records; however, for unknown reasons, she left the label two months later.

Heaton has announced that she will be releasing a cover version of Coldplay's single "Talk" as her debut single. She has also confirmed that all proceeds for the single will go towards an autism charity. Heaton is said to be doing this after fellow You're A Star judge Keith Duffy told her all about the cause and the work he does for the charity. No official release date for the single has been confirmed.

Television appearances

In 2005, Heaton was a contestant on Comic Relief in Da Bungalow and Test The Nation and took part in ITV1's ill-fated Celebrity Wrestling. She has guest-presented the television programmes SM:TV Live, Diggit, CD:UK, CD:UK Hotshots, Toonattik, and Saturday Showdown.

In 2005, Heaton was featured in the MTV UK and Ireland reality television production, Totally Scott-Lee, based around the musical career of Lisa Scott-Lee. In May 2006, Heaton played in goal for England in the Celebrity World Cup Soccer Six tournament. In December 2006, Heaton was a contestant on a celebrity couples edition of Weakest Link. She has appeared in the three part documentary series Michelle & Andy's Big Day on ITV2 and as a reporter in Australia for GMTV. Heaton was one of the judges on You're A Star, an Irish talent show run on RTE in 2008.^[1]

On 2 January 2008, she appeared in a documentary The Truth about Binge Drinking, broadcast on ITV1, where she aimed to drink more than the recommended amount of alcohol for thirty days, to show the price that binge drinkers pay for their habits. She consumed a total of 349 units of alcohol over the space of 21 days. Her body fat index increased from 25% to 29%, and her liver dysfunction increased from 16% to 86%. She ended the binge early after suffering heart palpitations and prolonged pins and needles. Her weight was given as 60 kg (130 lb).^[2]

In 2008, she appeared on the reality television show Fáilte Towers on RTÉ One in Ireland.

Heaton also appeared on a celebrity edition of Come Dine With Me, aired on 17 September 2008, alongside fellow celebrities Peter Stringfellow, Lee Ryan, and Linda Barker. Heaton finished in third place, scoring 21 points.

The fourth series of The Podge and Rodge Show, an Irish spoof chat show on RTÉ One with two bizarre puppet brother farmers as the interviewers, began on 20 October 2008 with Heaton appearing as a guest host for one show.

In 2009, following her appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, Michelle appeared on Snog Marry Avoid? on BBC Three (Monday 23 March 2009). Michelle also appeared as an elf on Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on Saturday 21 March 2009.

Michelle appeared on ITV2's Im A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Now alongside Janice Dickinson in Australia from 16th November 2009 until 23rd November.

She also appeared on the second season finale of the Irish version of The Apprentice, broadcast on December 14th, 2009, where she was the celebrity guest of eventual winner Steve Rayner, who had the task of organising a launch party for the new Ford Fiesta car. As she pulled back the sheet to unveil the new car her foot got caught and she fell to the floor. Fortunately, she managed to get up and laugh it off.^[3]

Glamour modelling

Heaton has taken part in several photoshoots in lingerie, swimwear, and other revealing outfits for men's magazines such as Maxim and Loaded and has commented in the past that she would welcome a move into glamour modelling full time if her singing career was to come to an end^{[citation needed]}. She was chosen as the face (and body) of the Ultimo "Michelle at George" lingerie range, available exclusively at Asda stores nationwide, in September 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Celebrity Big Brother UK (2009)

As of 2 January 2009, Heaton appeared in the UK celebrity version of Big Brother. She was the ninth person to enter the house. In week 3, Heaton faced the public vote against Ulrika Jonsson and was voted out of the house on Monday 19 January. She was the third housemate to have faced eviction.

Recording History

Albums

Singles

References

External links

• Michelle Heaton at the Internet Movie Database