Background and career
Jessica Louise Nelson (born 14 June 1991) is an English singer. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Little Mix, who were formed during the eighth series of The X Factor in 2011. As part of Little Mix, Nelson achieved seventeen top-ten singles and five number-one singles on the UK Singles Chart. In 2019, Nelson released a documentary titled Jesy Nelson: Odd One Out, which focused on her struggles with body image, mental health and online bullying. It won the Factual Entertainment Award at the 25th National Television Awards and the Visionary Honour Award for Documentary of the Year. Nelson's private life, departure from Little Mix in 2020, and solo career have been the subject of media scrutiny in the UK. In 2020, she was hospitalised for attempting to commit suicide. In October 2021, she released her debut single titled "Boyz", featuring rapper Nicki Minaj. It debuted at number four on the UK Singles Chart. In April 2023, she released her follow-up single, "Bad Thing". Nelson became an advocate for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) after her twin daughters had been diagnosed with the condition. In 2025, she began campaigns for the inclusion of SMA in the UK newborn screening programme to enable earlier diagnosis and treatment. In 2026, she announced she would be taking a break from the music industry due to mental health issues and the birth of her children.
Jessica Louise Nelson was born on 14 June 1991 in Romford, east London, to John Nelson, a businessman, and Janis Nelson, a police community support officer. Her parents separated when she was five. She is the second youngest of four children with an older sister Jade, an older brother Jonathan and a younger brother Joseph. Nelson attended Jo Richardson Community School and Abbs Cross Academy and Arts College in Hornchurch, London. She also attended the Sylvia Young and Yvonne Rhodes Theatre Schools. Prior to auditioning for The X Factor, Nelson worked as a barmaid in Dagenham. In 2020, Nelson said that, as a child, she had non-speaking roles as an extra in About a Boy (2002) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).
Her first audition was "Bust Your Windows" by Jazmine Sullivan, and successfully auditioned as a soloist for the eighth series of the UK version of The X Factor in front of judges Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow, Tulisa Contostavlos and Kelly Rowland, but failed the first challenge of the "bootcamp" section to progress through to the Girls category (solo females aged 16–24). Nelson and Perrie Edwards were placed in a group called "Faux Pas" while Jade Thirlwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock were to be put in a group named "Orion". Both groups, however, failed to progress. A later decision by the judges recalled two members from each group to form the four-piece group Rhythmix, sending them through to the "judges' houses" section. They eventually reached the live shows and were mentored by Tulisa Contostavlos. On 28 October 2011, it was announced that the band's new name would be Little Mix. On 11 December 2011, Little Mix were announced as the winners, making them the first band ever to win the British version of the show.
After winning the show, Little Mix signed a record deal with Syco Music, owned by Simon Cowell. Since joining Little Mix, Nelson has faced cyber-bullying and struggled to cope during her time on The X Factor. Nelson released six albums with the group; DNA (2012), Salute (2013), Get Weird (2015), Glory Days (2016), LM5 (2018) and Confetti (2020) The last of which was released a month before she left the group. Nelson released her documentary on BBC Three in 2019, titled Jesy Nelson: Odd One Out. The documentary was based on her experiences with body image and online bullying. It was BBC Three's top factual title since the channel moved online and on BBC One it was watched by 3.3 million viewers. The documentary won the Factual Entertainment Award at the 25th National Television Awards. In December 2020, she announced her departure from the group due to prolonged issues with her mental health. She said: "I find the constant pressure of being in a girl group and living up to expectations very hard."
In May 2021, Nelson announced that she had signed a record deal with Polydor Records and that she would be releasing solo music later in the year. On 8 October 2021, she released her debut solo single, "Boyz", which featured Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj. The single, which interpolates the song "Bad Boy for Life" by Diddy who made a cameo appearance in a music video for "Boyz", was met with moderate reception and debuted at number four on the UK singles chart. In June 2022, Nelson revealed that her debut album was almost finished, but a month later it was announced that she had split from Polydor amid "creative differences", and the record remains unreleased. In December 2022, it was reported that Nelson had filmed a music video for a follow-up single titled "Cried Out", which was later shelved in favour of her second official solo single, "Bad Thing", released independently on 14 April 2023. Upon its release, Nelson received praise from the charity Women's Aid due to the song's themes of domestic abuse. The single peaked at number 15 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart. Nelson next planned to release "Cried Out" as her third single, but in July 2023, it was reported that the single was scrapped. Nelson collaborated with Zion Foster on the single "Mine", which was released on 2 August 2024. On 13 February 2026, Nelson released her docuseries Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix on Amazon Prime Video. In the docuseries, Nelson announced that she would be stepping away from the music industry due to mental health reasons and the birth of her children.
Nelson has 15 tattoos, including a quote on her upper right arm: "Music is the strongest form of magic".
