Louisa Johnson Biography

Louisa Johnson (born 11 January 1998) is an English singer from Thurrock, Essex, England. She was the winner of the twelfth UK series of The X Factor in 2015. Johnson is the programme's youngest winner and is the only winner whose winning song did not reach number one. Johnson is currently working on her debut album, due for release later in 2016.

Early life

Johnson was born in 1998 in Essex to David Johnson and Lisa Hawkyard. She was raised in Thurrock, In 2014, she auditioned for Britain's Got Talent, but was unsuccessful. She has attributed this to being too young and unprepared.

Career

2015-present: The X Factor and debut album

In 2015, Johnson auditioned for the twelfth series of The X Factor, singing The Jackson 5's "Who's Lovin' You". She picked this record because "it is a really really hard song to sing, but I wanted to make a good impression". She received a standing ovation from all four judges and the audience afterwards and progressed through to "bootcamp". At the first challenge at "bootcamp", she sang "Proud Mary" with 4th Impact (formerly known as 4th Power), Sherilyn Hamilton-Shaw, Neneth Lyons, Jasmine Leigh Morris and Andre Batchelor, and was sent through to the next challenge. She sang "Lay Me Down" in the second challenge and made it through to the six-chair challenge.

Johnson competed in the "girls" category at "bootcamp" and was mentored, at the decision of the public, by Rita Ora. She successfully made it past the six-chair challenge to "judges' houses", singing "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" by Jennifer Hudson; when Johnson arrived, all six chairs had been filled, and Ora described the atmosphere as "like a zoo". At judges' houses, she sang "Respect" by Aretha Franklin in front of Ora and Meghan Trainor in Los Angeles; this performance gained media attention, as its televising saw Johnson wearing two separate pairs of shoes, with some viewers inferring some sort of faking. Two weeks after that performance was recorded, Louisa was chosen by Ora for the live shows, along with Lauren Murray and Kiera Weathers; that category's Monica Michael later returned as a wildcard entry.

Following the eliminations of Weathers, Michael and Murray in the second, third and sixth weeks, respectively, Johnson made it to the final along with Reggie 'n' Bollie and Ch Chesterman, in so doing becoming the final female in the competition. On 12 December, she duetted with her mentor, Ora. The following night, she sang her winner's single, a cover of "Forever Young" by Bob Dylan. On 13 December 2015, she won The X Factor, becoming the first winner in the Girls category since Alexandra Burke in 2008, and also the youngest winner ever, overtaking Joe McElderry, who was 18 years old when he won in 2009.

The X Factor performances and results (2015)
Show	Song choice	Theme	Result
Auditions	"Who's Lovin' You"	rowspan="5"	Through to bootcamp
Bootcamp - challenge 1	"Proud Mary"	Through to challenge 2
Bootcamp - challenge 2	"Lay Me Down"	Through to six-chair challenge
Six-chair challenge	"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"	Through to judges' houses
Judges' houses	"Respect"	Through to live shows
Live show 1	"God Only Knows"	This Is Me	Safe (1st)
Live show 2	"Billie Jean"	Reinvention	Safe (1st)
Live show 3	"Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)"	Movie week	Safe (1st)
Live show 4	"Let It Go"	Love & Heartbreak	Safe (2nd)
Live show 5	"Love Yourself"	Jukebox	Safe (3rd)
	"Jealous"	Judges' choice
Semi-final	"The Power of Love"	Songs to get me to the final	Safe (1st)
	"It's a Man's Man's Man's World"
Final	"I Believe I Can Fly"	New song	Safe (1st)
	"And I Am Telling You" (with Rita Ora)	Celebrity duet
	"It's a Man's Man's Man's World"	Favourite performance	Winner (1st)
	"Forever Young"	Winner's single

After winning The X Factor, Johnson released "Forever Young". The day after her victory, she plugged the single on The X Factor judge Nick Grimshaw's radio show, Good Morning Britain, Lorraine and This Morning, consecutively. Her version of the song entered the UK Singles Chart on 18 December 2015, at number nine, and became the lowest ever position on entry for a debut single from an X Factor winner. This can be attributed, in part, to the movement of the chart day from Sunday, when she was announced as the winner, to Friday, resulting in her single only receiving four days' sales. The single dropped to number twelve the following week becoming the lowest ranking X Factor winner's song ever on the Christmas Day chart. Overall the single is the lowest charting X Factor winner's single to date as all other winner's singles managed to top the chart.

On 18 December 2015, Johnson performed "Forever Young" on the 2015 Text Santa broadcast. On 20 December 2015, ITV2 aired a documentary called The X Factor Winner's Story 2015. There were indications that, unlike most other The X Factor winners, her debut studio album would be released as quickly as possible, maybe as early as 26 February 2016, and would include the single "Forever Young". However, she told Digital Spy "If I don't like it, no way is it going out. People are going to know me through that album - so it needs to be perfect."

On 30 March, Johnson revealed a song called "Ruin It with a Kiss", which will feature on her debut album.

Personal life

Johnson is a supporter of Premier League football team West Ham United.

Discography

Singles

Title	Year	Peak chart positions			Album
		UK	IRE	SCO
"Forever Young"	2015	9	5	2

Tours

• The X Factor Live Tour (2016)