Alesha Dixon

Alesha Anjanette Dixon (born 7 October 1978) is an English singer, songwriter, dancer, author and television personality. Dixon rose to fame in 2001 as a member of the all-female R&B/garage trio Mis-Teeq. The group disbanded in 2005 and Dixon pursued a music career as a solo artist, signing a recording contract to Polydor Records. She began recording her debut solo album, Fired Up, in 2005, releasing her debut single, "Lipstick" and "Knockdown", she was dropped from Polydor. Retaining the rights to her album she released Fired Up in Japan with Lipstick going to number 1.In 2007, Dixon won Strictly Come Dancing. Her television exposure led to a successful comeback, which included her signing to Asylum Records, an offshoot of Warner Music Group. Dixon then released a second album, entitled The Alesha Show, in 2008, which received platinum certification from BPI in the UK and spawned four singles including "The Boy Does Nothing" and "Breathe Slow", the latter of which became her highest charting single and earned her a Brit Award nomination. In September 2009, Dixon became a judge on the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing, replacing Arlene Phillips. The replacement of Phillips by Dixon attracted criticism, as some questioned the extent of Dixon's dancing knowledge. In 2010, Dixon returned for the eighth series of Strictly Come Dancing and released her third studio album, The Entertainer. In January 2012, shortly after completing the ninth series and her third year as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing, Dixon quit to become a judge on Britain's Got Talent. Her fourth studio album, Do It for Love, was released in 2015. As a television presenter, Dixon has hosted Your Face Sounds Familiar (2013), Text Santa (2014–15), Dance Dance Dance (2017), The Greatest Dancer (2019–) and Comic Relief (2019).