The north London voice that landed on two number ones in a year

Jess Glynne was born in Hampstead and raised in Muswell Hill, North London, in a Jewish family. Her mother worked in A&R, and the family name, originally Goldstein, had been changed to Glynne by her grandfather. At fifteen she was invited to take part in the second season of The X Factor, but she dropped out of the audition process after a disagreement with the producers.

Her route to music was indirect. After school she travelled the world, then worked for a music management company and spent four years networking with songwriters and producers and honing her artistry. She did a month-long course at Access to Music in East London, where she met her future collaborators: the songwriter Jin Jin and the producer Bless Beats. Black Butter Records offered a publishing deal, and in August 2013 she signed to Atlantic Records, leaving her job in brand management at a drinks company.

Her break came through guest spots. Deep house producer Route 94 asked her to rewrite and sing his song “My Love”, which reached number one in the UK in February 2014 and was certified platinum. Clean Bandit heard it and invited her onto “Rather Be”, which also topped the UK chart, became the third fastest-selling single and the most streamed song of 2014. Her debut album, I Cry When I Laugh, arrived in 2015 and entered at number one in the UK, spawning “Hold My Hand” and “Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself”.

Always In Between followed in 2018, again at number one, with singles including “I’ll Be There”, “These Days” with Rudimental and “One Touch” with Jax Jones. The first of those made her the first British female solo artist with seven UK number one singles. After leaving Atlantic she signed to EMI and released Jess in 2024. Along the way she collected a Grammy Award and nine Brit Award nominations, and in 2019 Forbes included her among its most influential people under thirty, a long way from the girl who walked out of a talent show audition.