Today, one of the worlds biggest pop stars, Anne-Marie’s rise has been stratospheric.
For many, her name may be one that stretches only a year and a half back in the memory. However, Anne-Marie and her team’s rapid rise came after years of hard work. CelebMix looks back over the journey that has made the pop star we love today.
Really, Anne-Marie’s stardom was written in the stars from a young age, she always had that feisty determination and grit that has helped push her forward in the industry over the past 24 months. At six-years-old, she auditioned for a starring role in West End’s Les Misérables without telling her parents, landed it, and then went on to star in Whistle Down the Wind (alongside none other than Jessie J) at 12-years-old. The youngster was already moving in the right circles.
Happy birthday @JessieJ ?????? (we still dress the same) pic.twitter.com/4rsLoLtq2d
— ?ANNE-MARIE? (@AnneMarie) March 27, 2018
Fast forward 10-years and Anne-Marie is cutting a heavy-electronic solo demo, ‘Summer Girl’, for Rocker Records. At only 22-years-old, the ‘2002’-singer was still finding her feet in the industry, and her solo career was put on a brief pause while she gained more experience working with the likes of Gorgon City and Magnetic Man.
That decision paid off. Whilst working with the big EDM and house groups, lending her vocals to Gorgon City’s ‘Elevate’, it was then that Hackney band Rudimental caught on to Anne-Marie’s talent. The Anne-Marie x Rudimental partnership that blossomed from that is one that would reap huge benefits for the pop star’s future career.
In June 2015, Anne-Marie put out her debut EP, Karate. That EP, featuring fan favourites such as ‘Karate’ and ‘Gemini’, started to prompt quiet, yet approving reviews from critics and led to solo TV performances on the likes of Bring The Noise and SBTV. The star’s endearing personality took its first steps into the limelight. ‘Do It Right’ followed next, alongside her first solo headline show at Oslo Hackney in October of that year. That venue may only hold a mere 300 people (she’s now selling out venues of 5,000) but the stars were finally aligning over her solo career.
As 2016 arrived, Anne-Marie headed out on her first headline tour to venues including Nottingham’s Bodega and London’s Village Underground. It was on this tour that everything clicked. Jazz Sherman, the pop star’s tour manager, was already on board and now Beanie, who Anne-Marie knew from touring with Rudimental came in on guitar whilst Ashton Miranda and Oli Wiseman provided keys and drums. With those four on board, the live show was a firecracker of an affair. Tracks including ‘Breathing Fire’ and ‘Used To Love You’ became permanent fixtures of the live set and rave reviews of the star’s charisma started coming in.
Jazz, Beanie, Ashton and Oli haven’t left Anne-Marie’s side since. It’s a formidable bond that is electric on stage. There’s a genuine chemistry between the four, no matter the size of the show. It’s a credit to Anne-Marie’s grounded nature and the other musician’s desire to drive the project forward – a potent combination.
A couple of months later and the next single, ‘Alarm’, had gone platinum in the UK. It was the powerful pop of that track that marked the singer’s voice as one that would not leave radio play for a very, very long time.
Still a key part of the Rudimental team, it was with the group that Anne-Marie kept reaching more and more people. Rudimental released sophomore and Number 1 album, We The Generation, in 2015. Anne-Marie featured on stand-out singles ‘Rumour Mill’ and ‘Love Ain’t Just A Word’, as well as album track ‘All That Love’. Two years on the road with Rudimental saw her play the likes of Alexandra Palace and The O2 Arena in 2016, Anne-Marie growing and blowing away crowds of thousands of people a night.
The singer’s first solo festival performances came in the summer of 2016 at Wildlife and Parklife. In September a first award-show nomination for MOBO’s best newcomer acknowledged her talent and a small headline tour in the U.S.A. in October saw her plant her roots there.
October 2016 was also the moment that Anne-Marie began to move from up-and-coming solo artist to worldwide superstar. Featuring on Clean Bandit’s ‘Rockabye’, a track that would spend nine consecutive weeks at Number 1, it became clear that Anne-Marie has a voice capable of hooking the nation. Come December, and the songstress has sold out her own huge headline tour, including a date at London’s prestigious Koko.
As soon as 2017 hit, Anne-Marie was rocketing to today’s status as one of the leading female voices in pop. ‘Ciao Adios’ was released in March and hit the Top 10, she hopped on Snakehips’ ‘Either Way’ as well as Nick Jonas’ ‘Remember I Told You’, and released ‘Heavy’ in September. The first of many team-ups with friend and collaborator Ed Sheeran saw her hit the UK’s biggest arenas again on a support tour. She also stunned at festivals such as Reading and Leeds, V Festival and BST Hyde Park. Anne-Marie was drawing in huge crowds, making headlines for all the right reasons and gaining huge momentum. If holding the UK’s pop fans in the palm of her hand wasn’t enough, Anne-Marie was back flexing her support show muscle in the States with Clean Bandit for 14 dates in October.
At the end of 2017, the stats spoke for themselves. On Spotify alone, Anne-Marie had reached 28 million fans in 61 countries.
2018 kicked off with mammoth Marshmello-collab ‘Friends’, nothing needs to be said about that track’s success. Another rise in venues came in March as she played a sold-out headline tour which culminated in a night at London’s Roundhouse.
When Anne-Marie’s debut record, Speak Your Mind, came out in April this year, the journey to one of world pop’s best was complete. That album is a flawless debut effort. It’s pop at it’s best, wittily written and bursting with enthusiasm.
What’s come since then has been hard to miss. TV performances galore, playing the very biggest stadiums in the world with Ed Sheeran and another platinum track in ‘2002’.
Right now, she’s glowing on a remix of The Greatest Showman’s ‘Rewrite The Stars’ and finishing her biggest headline shows to date – even more lined up across Europe in 2019.
On the surface, Anne-Marie’s rise seems all glitz and glamour, a growth conducted without even breaking a sweat. Really, the singer and the whole team have worked harder than anyone else to become the best. Honest, relatable and caring, she holds such a special place in fans’ hearts.
Anne-Marie is a pop heavyweight. And it may not even be premature to call her the best out there right now.