A former three-time world karate champion, Anne-Marie toured with Ed Sheeran, collaborated with Dizzee Rascal, and scored a Christmas Number 1 on her way to becoming one of the UK's brightest R&B/pop starlets. She was born as Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson on April 7, 1991, and raised in East Tilbury, Essex, where she appeared as a child actress in the West End production of Les Miserables when she was six years old. She took up martial arts three years old and went on to become a black belt in Shokotan karate, winning World Championship titles in both 2002 and 2007. Drawn to music, she released her first single, "Summer Girl," in 2013 and built up her reputation by appearing on tracks by Gorgon City, Magnetic Man, and Rudimental. Her big breakthrough came in 2016, when she teamed up with the electro-pop group Clean Bandit and Jamaican rapper Sean Paul on the hit single "Rockabye," which topped the UK charts for nine consecutive weeks and became the Christmas Number 1 of 2016. Her solo singles "Alarm" (a platinum hit in 2016) and "Ciao Adios" (a platinum hit the following year, as well as her first Top 10 entry as a solo artist) also displayed Anne-Marie's talents as a soulful, electro-pop vocalist who crossed the worlds of grime, R&B, and pop, and she reached Number 4 in the UK charts when she collaborated with DJ Marshmello on 2018's "Friends." Her debut album Speak Your Mind was released that same year, featuring tropical, dancefloor pop anthems that spoke of romantic heartache, everyday anxieties, and empowerment. The record went platinum in the UK, Canada, and the US, and was followed by 2021's Therapy. That same year, she replaced Meghan Trainor as a coach on The Voice UK and won the Music Artist gong at the British LGBT Awards. She spent the next two years adding to her singles discography, releasing tracks from Therapy including "Kiss My (Uh-Oh)" with Little Mix and "Our Song" with Niall Horan. In 2022, she began previewing her third album Unhealthy with lead single "Psycho" (2022)—a collaboration with UK rapper Aitch that went to Number five in the UK—and "Sad Bitch" (2023). After being crowned Musician of the Year at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards 2022 and Best Female at the Global Awards, Unhealthy arrived in all its glory in July 2023, featuring a Top 20 title track with Shania Twain and a guest spot from Khalid on "You & I." In 2023, she was awarded the Brits Billion Award by the British Phonographic Industry.