Leigh-Anne Pinnock

Leigh-Anne Pinnock was born on 4 October 1991,[1] and was raised in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.[2] Pinnock is of Barbadian and Jamaican ancestry.[3] She is the daughter of Deborah Thornhill, a teacher at the Harlington Community School, and John L. Pinnock, a mechanic, both whom filed for divorce in 2009. She is the youngest of three children and growing up, she looked up to her two older sisters Sian-Louise Pinnock and Sairah Pinnock. Other than her sisters, she also spent most of her time with her grandfather in Jamaica. Pinnock primarily attended Sir William Ramsay School, where she was described as hard-working, ambitious and talented by her drama teacher. Then, she enrolled at the Sylvia Young Theatre School for a couple of years when she was eleven. Before joining Little Mix, she worked as a waitress in Pizza Hut.[4]

Pinnock's first audition on The X Factor was "Only Girl (In the World)" by Rihanna.[5] Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall were initially put in a group named "Orion" and Perrie Edwards and Jesy Nelson were in another group called "Faux Pas". Both groups, however, were eliminated. Later, the four was called back to form into the four-piece group Rhythmix, and they progressed to judges' houses.[6] They eventually reached the live shows and were mentored by Tulisa Contostavlos.[7] On 28 October 2011, it was announced that the group's new name would be Little Mix.[8][9][10] On 11 December 2011, Little Mix were announced as the winners, the first group to win the programme.[11] As of 2020, Pinnock has released six albums with the group: DNA (2012), Salute (2013), Get Weird (2015), Glory Days (2016), LM5 (2018) and Confetti (2020).[12]

In February 2015, Pinnock launched a Tumblr fashion blog called "Leigh Loves".[13] In April 2019, Pinnock, alongside Thirlwall, signed to Sony/ATV via joint venture TwentySeven as published songwriters.[14] Later that month, Pinnock began her own swimwear range with Gabrielle Urquhart, titled In'A'Seashell.[15][16][17] She also became the new face of the sports brand Umbro in March 2019.[18][19] In April 2020, it was announced that Pinnock would be launching a documentary with BBC, detailing experiences of racism and colourism in the United Kingdom.[20] In November 2020, Pinnock released a style edit collection with ASOS, a British online fashion retailer.[21][22] Later that month, it was announced that she would be making her professional acting debut in the upcoming Christmas film Boxing Day.[23]

Between 2013 to 2016, Pinnock was in an on-and-off relationship with footballer Jordan Kiffin who she met at a release party for Little Mix's single "Wings".[24] In 2016, it was confirmed that she had begun dating professional footballer Andre Gray;[25] and the pair became engaged on their four-year anniversary on 28 May 2020.[26] In 2019, Pinnock and Thirlwall, along with other British celebrities, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day.[27] In an interview with Glamour magazine in March 2019, Pinnock opened up about dealing with racism and comments on Twitter while feeling "invisible" for the first three years as the only black girl in Little Mix.[28]

There comes a point in every black human’s life, no matter how much money you have or what you have achieved, you realise racism does not exclude you. Nine years ago, after joining Little Mix, I had the biggest awakening of my life. When we were filming "Wings", we worked with [choreographer] Frank Gatson. He said to me, 'You’re the black girl, you have to work 10 times harder.' Never in my life had someone told me I would need to work harder because of my race. Later on, what Frank Gatson said made sense. I learned that the dream of being in the biggest girl band in the world came with its flaws and consequences. My reality was feeling lonely while touring predominantly white countries. I sang to fans who don't see me or hear me or cheer me on. My reality is feeling anxious before fan events and signings because I always feel like I’m the least favoured. My reality is constantly feeling like I have to work 10 times harder and longer to make my case in the group, because my talent alone isn't enough. My reality is all the times I felt invisible within my group. Part of me is fully aware that my experience would have been even harder to deal with had I been dark-skinned. Our reality is no matter how far you think you’ve come, racism exists.

— Pinnock on the racism she has experienced throughout her career.[29]