Alesha Anjanette Dixon (born 7 October 1978) is an English singer, rapper, dancer, television personality, and author. She gained recognition in the early 2000s as a member of the R&B, garage and hip hop group Mis-Teeq, who had seven UK top 10 hits, two top 10 double platinum albums, and sold over 12 million records worldwide. Following the group disbanding in 2005, Dixon pursued a music career as a solo artist, signing a recording contract with Polydor Records. In 2006, she released her debut solo single "Lipstick", followed by her debut solo studio album, Fired Up, after which her popularity as a singer had declined and was subsequently dropped from Polydor.
In 2007, Dixon won the fifth series of the BBC One dancing competition show Strictly Come Dancing. Her television exposure led to a successful musical comeback, which included her signing to Asylum Records. In 2008, she released her second studio album, The Alesha Show, which received platinum certification in the UK and spawned the successful singles "The Boy Does Nothing" and "Breathe Slow", the latter of which became her highest charting single and earned her a Brit Award nomination.
In 2009, Dixon became a judge on the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing, and the following year, she released her third studio album, The Entertainer. Shortly after judging on the ninth series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2012, Dixon quit to become a judge on the ITV talent show competition Britain's Got Talent. Her fourth studio album, Do It for Love, was released in 2015. In 2020, Dixon was a judge on America's Got Talent: The Champions, and in 2021, she was a judge on Walk the Line. In 2022, she judged on the tenth season of Australia's Got Talent.
As a television presenter, Dixon has hosted Alesha's Street Dance Stars (2010), Your Face Sounds Familiar (2013), Text Santa (2014–2015), Dance Dance Dance (2017), The Greatest Dancer (2019–2020), Comic Relief (2019–2022), and the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. She has also written a series of children's books titled Lightning Girl.
Life and career
Early life
Alesha Anjanette Dixon was born on 7 October 1978 in Welwyn Garden City to a Jamaican father, Melvin Dixon, and Scottish mother, Beverly Harris. Dixon has six half-siblings.
She was educated at Monk's Walk School, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. Dixon's parents separated when she was four and her father moved away, resulting in her later describing her family life as "very dysfunctional". Between the ages of eight and ten, Dixon witnessed her mother suffer domestic violence from her partner; she only spoke publicly about the issue 21 years later, in 2010. Dixon created a documentary for the BBC, Don't Hit My Mum, regarding the issue of domestic abuse from a child's perspective, and remarked upon her own childhood: "When I think about that time, I don't remember living in harmony, I don't remember any fun times, I suppose because the negativity has clouded it. The negative times and the scary times have blocked anything that was good ... I believe that every child has the right to grow up in an environment where they feel secure and fearless going into the world, and I didn't really feel that".
Dixon's first job was at Ladbrokes, although she aspired to become a PE teacher after leaving college. After completing a diploma course in sports studies, she had planned to take up a place at Loughborough University, but at dance classes in London she was approached by a talent scout from a production company. While travelling back home on the train she was approached by another scout who was forming a group and asked if she was interested.
1999–2005: Mis-Teeq
Dixon's career began in 1999 when she met Sabrina Washington as they both joined a dance school in Fulham, south west London. Together, they decided to form a group when Dixon and Washington, the two co-founders, spotted Su-Elise Nash, a girl auditioning for another group. Dixon and Washington proposed that Nash join the group and together they formed a trio. They were soon signed to Telstar Records with the addition of a new member, Zena McNally, and became the popular UK garage/R&B girl group, Mis-Teeq.
In October 2000, Dixon, then relatively unknown, featured on the single "Rumours" by Damage, which charted modestly at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart. The genre of the track departed from the group's R&B style, in favour of a garage-based sound, however, the tepid reaction from fans ensured Damage did not venture further into garage.