Biography
Alesha Anjanette Dixon is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model and television personality. She first found fame in the all-female R&B/garage trio Mis-Teeq, however, the trio separated in 2005 and Dixon continued pursuing her music career as a solo artist. In 2007 Dixon became a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing and eventually won. In September 2009 Dixon became a judge on Strictly Come Dancing, replacing fellow judge Arlene Phillips.
Birth Name Alesha Anjanette Dixon
Birth date October 7, 1978,
Birth place Hertfordshire, England, UK
Spouse MC Harvey
Genres R&B, pop, hip hop
Occupations Singer, Songwriter, Model,
rapper, Dancer, Television Presenter
Instruments Vocals
Years active 1999–present
Trivia
Her designers of choice are Kookai and Jane Norman.
She and former band-mate Sabrina Washington first met at Dance Attic, a popular dance school in West London.
Was the choreographer and MC in Mis-Teeq.
Her favorite male rapper is Eminem.
Her mother Bev Harris is hairdresser and she also ran the Mis teeq fan club.
She spends a lot of her time writing rap poetry. She used this talent to perform a stunning live performance with Damage at the Shepherds Bush Empire.
Has a sister Leyanne and brothers Adrian, Mark, John, Jereome and Callum.
The beginning of 2005 was the end of Mis-Teeq and Alesha is now aiming to be a solo singer.
Ranked #98 in FHM's '100 Sexiest Women' (2002)
Married MC Harvey at Brocket Hall in Welwyn, Hertfordshire.
She and bridesmaids were dressed by Kosibah Creations for her wedding to MC Harvey.
Appeared in the video for N.E.R.D.'s 'She Wants To Move', after Pharrell Williams noticed her on the cover of FHM.
Daughter-in-law of of bodybuilder Michael Harvey (VIII), known as Bullit in "Gladiators" (1992).
As of September 2009, she has replaced Arlene Phillips as a judge on "Strictly Come Dancing" (2004).
She won the fifth series of "Strictly Come Dancing" (2004) with her professional partner Matthew Cutler.
Alesha Anjanette Dixon was born in Welwyn Garden City on 7 October 1978, to an English mother, Beverly Harris, and Jamaican father, Melvin Dixon; she is mixed race. Dixon has five half-brothers called Adrian, Mark, John, Jeroame, Callum and one half-sister called Leyanne. She was educated at Monk's Walk School, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. Dixon's mother and father split up when Dixon was four years old and Dixon's father moved away, resulting in Dixon later describing her family life as "very dysfunctional". Between the ages of eight and ten, Dixon witnessed her mother suffer domestic abuse from her partner; she only spoke publicly about the issue 21 years later, in 2010. Dixon created a documentary for the BBC, Don't Hit My Mum, regarding the issue of domestic abuse from a child's perspective, and remarked upon her own childhood: "When I think about that time, I don't remember living in harmony, I don't remember any fun times, I suppose because the negativity has clouded it. The negative times and the scary times have blocked anything that was good [...] I believe that every child has the right to grow up in an environment where they feel secure and fearless going into the world, and I didn't really feel that".
Her first job was at Ladbrokes, although she aspired to become a PE teacher after leaving college. After completing a diploma course in sports studies, she had planned to take up a place at Loughborough University, but whilst at dance classes in London she was approached by a talent scout from a production company. Whilst travelling back home on the train she was approached by another scout who was forming a band and asked if she was interested. Dixon's musical hopes had previously been met with scepticism from Melvin Dixon, as he encouraged Alesha to follow a more academic career path. Dixon explained that "his view was there weren't many black British musicians who were overly successful. I said, 'Dad, I can't base my decision on what people haven't done'". Ignoring her father's advice, Dixon decided to pursue a career in music.
Fair play to women if they want to empower themselves or want to go out and buy all their little sex toys. Not my cup of tea personally - I'm quite old-fashioned, which would probably bore the pants off a lot of people. I like my serious relationships. I have a healthy sex life and I don't need any tools. My man does a perfectly good job himself!
I make a conscious decision not to vote as I don't trust anybody that runs the country because you give somebody too much power and they let it go to their heads. Tony Blair is only the front man. He's not necessarily the man that actually pulls the strings
I believe if a child is in a secure, stable environment they can go out into the world fearless. But if a child doesn't have that feeling of security because of the uncertainties around them, it affects them. Probably some of the greatest songwriters in the world are insecure people because they have inner fears.
Career
She first found fame in the all-female R&B/garage trio Mis-Teeq, however, the trio separated in 2005 and Dixon continued pursuing her music career as a solo artist, signing to Polydor Records. Dixon began recording her debut solo album, Fired Up in 2006, but due to poor record sales of her first two singles, "Lipstick" and "Knockdown", she was dropped from Polydor.
In 2007 Dixon became a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing and eventually won. Her television exposure led to a successful comeback, which included her signing to Asylum Records, an offshoot of Warner Music Group. Dixon then released a second album, entitled The Alesha Show in 2008, which received platinum certification from BPI in the UK.
In September 2009 Dixon became a judge on the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing, replacing fellow judge Arlene Phillips. The replacement of Phillips by Dixon attracted criticism, as some questioned the extent of Dixon's dancing knowledge. Dixon herself dismissed the criticism, describing it as a "storm in a teacup", and refused to stand down as judge. In 2010 Dixon returned for the eighth series of Strictly Come Dancing and released her third studio album, The Entertainer.
As a model, Dixon is represented by Select Model Management and has appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan, FHM, Arena, Company, Bliss and other magazines and in various other editorial fashion shoots. In 2008 a poll showed that Dixon had "Britain's sexiest legs" beating Alexandra Burke, Naomi Campbell, Tiana Benjamin, Lily Cole and others. Dixon was cast as the lead female in the music video for "She Wants to Move" by N.E.R.D. Dixon has been featured in FHM's annual 100 sexiest women in the world poll on a number of occasions. She is managed by Malcolm Blair.
Dixon has also presented many well-known shows in the UK, such as the MOBO Awards, CD:UK, ITV2's coverage of The Brit Awards and presented the Live From the Red Carpet show at the 62nd British Academy Film Awards for E!. She has also been a guest on BBC One's current affairs programme This Week on two occasions, in November 2006 and December 2007. In 2009 it was reported that Dixon was in talks with television companies about a possible chatshow. In 2009 she co-presented Children in Need alongside Terry Wogan and Tess Daly, she also presented 2008's coverage from BT Tower.
In March 2010, she presented the Mister World 2010 pageant, which took place in Incheon, Korea.
Dixon took part in series 5 of hit TV show Strictly Come Dancing in 2007, partnered with professional dancer Matthew Cutler. Dixon was at first hesitant to join, fearing that snobbery within the music industry would damage her career. In a later interview she said, "There’s always this preconceived idea that people do reality TV shows because they want to kick-start their careers whereas I was actually worried that it would affect it."[69] They had been the favourite from the third week, receiving the most points from the judges on numerous occasions. Dixon herself gained high appraisal from the judges, even being likened to a "young Josephine Baker" by Bruno Tonioli. They received 4.5 million votes in the final, beating actor Matt Di Angelo and professional dancer Flavia Cacace to win the glitter disco ball.
Dixon was dubbed the "British Beyoncé" by Strictly Come Dancing host Bruce Forsyth, Alesha later said "There's only one Beyoncé. When Bruce said that, I got embarrassed. It’s very sweet... but it’s not true."Mis-Teeq were often cited as the British equivalent to Destiny's Child; the trio that first gave Beyoncé media attention.
Dixon is currently the most successful contestant to ever take part in Strictly Come Dancing, with an average point score of 36.5/40, the highest average score from any contestant to ever take part in the show.
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