Ella Henderson

Gabriella Michelle “Ella” Henderson (born 12 January 1996) is an English singer and songwriter. She competed in the ninth series of The X Factor UK in 2012, and finished in sixth place despite being a strong favourite to win. She signed with Syco Music shortly after, and released her debut studio album, Chapter One (2014), which reached number one in the UK. The album spawned the chart-topping single “Ghost”, as well as the top 20 singles “Glow” and “Yours”. Henderson subsequently recorded successful collaborations: “Glitterball” with Sigma, “Here for You” with Kygo (both 2015), “This Is Real” with Jax Jones, “We Got Love” with Sigala (both in 2019), and “Let’s Go Home Together” with Tom Grennan (2021), two of which reached the top 10 in the UK.

Gabriella Michelle Henderson was born and raised in Tetney, Lincolnshire on 12 January 1996,[1][2] to a Scottish father, Sean, and an English mother of Swedish ancestry, Michelle. She has two brothers named Patrick and Fraser, and a sister named Holly.[3]

Henderson began singing around the age of three and taught herself to play the piano a few years later. She began to put on shows for her family at Christmas and developed a special bond with her grandfather Bill, who encouraged her to pursue her love of music and songwriting.[4] Her interest developed further at primary school, Humberston C of E Primary School in Grimsby, and she subsequently decided to audition for a scholarship place at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire.[2]

Henderson succeeded in gaining a scholarship and boarded at the school from the age of 11 to 16. She attended the school at the same time as Dan Ferrari-Lane of boyband District3, who was on The X Factor with Henderson in 2012.[5] In early 2012, Henderson made a singing appearance on a celebrity Christmas special of Channel 4’s Come Dine with Me, where she performed “All I Want for Christmas Is You”.[6]