Jessie J

Birth and Family

In 1988, Jessie was born on the 27^th of March in St Joe’s Hospital. Jessie’s parents were Stephen Cornish and Rose Arthur, and she is the youngest sister of three. Her sisters, Hannah and Rachel, are five and seven years older than her and were both head girls in their education. This led to high expectations of Jessie, as her family and friends expected her to follow the same path of academia.

Childhood

Jessie’s education in primary began in 1992, when she went to Mossfield Primary School in Salford. Her secondary school was Mayfield High in the London Borough of Redbridge, and she also attended Colin’s Performing Arts School. As an eleven year old she was given a part in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End production of Whistle down the Wind.

It wasn’t all fun and acting for Jessie though. During her school time, she was bullied and teased by her fellow pupils. Despite this, at the sight of Jessie’s fame and fortune, her ex-fellow pupils were clamouring to be her friend ‘as they had been once upon a time’, or so they said.

Jessie’s sisters, Hannah and Rachel, were both very academic. Jessie herself, however, chose not to follow in their footsteps. She states that she was ‘never really that good at anything’. She also says that anything to do with acting, styling, singing and such like was completely her thing, but when it came to sums there was no hope! However, she never based her intelligence on exams. Jessie was always a talented songwriter. At the age of 16 she attended the Brit School of Arts (which is very difficult to get into.).

Early Career

Jessie began her early career in 2006. Signed to Gut Records, Jessie began recording an album for the label, but the company went bankrupt before anything was released. As previously mentioned, Jessie was a talented songwriter, so at the age of 21 she wrote the well-known song ‘Party in the U.S.A.’, but, however, failed to sing this song, so Miley Cyrus did. She has also written other lyrics for award winning artistes such as Chris Brown. Also, Jessie was part of a girl band called Soul Deep. She stayed with them for two years, but left because she thought ‘it wasn’t going anywhere’.

Who You Are

In late 2010, Jessie introduced her first single for Who You Are, ‘Do It Like A Dude’. Her original inspiration for the song came from Rihanna’s ‘Rude Boy’ which was released around the same time. The next single, ‘Price Tag’ came out in late January 2011, and on the 25^th of February it was on the ‘Who You Are’ album alongside many other songs, which are: Nobody’s Perfect, Abracadabra, Big White Room, Casualty Of Love, Rainbow, Who’s Laughing Now, Mamma Knows Best, L.O.V.E., Stand Up, I Need This, and of course Who You Are. On the 6^th of March 2011 the album first entered the charts at number two, on the UK Album Charts.

2012-present

Jessie J is now very well known for her singing and song writing, which was her wish since childhood. It’s actually partly being bullied that’s made her so strong and given her so much ability to persist, even when things don’t go well. Some of her latest songs are Domino (released January 27^th 2012) and LaserLight (released 4^th May 2012).

Conclusion

Persisting has been a vital thing for Jessie during her school life particularly. Jessie J is an inspiration to some people because she shows us that no matter what has happened in your past, no matter if you’re not perfect, you can get there if you really try. That is to say, don’t worry if you don’t own the right lipstick or the cool hair gel- just be yourself, and remember to persist!

By Safie and Maddy