Amelia Lily

Amelia Lily McQueen (née Oliver), born on 16 October 1994, is an English singer and television personality. She first gained public prominence in 2011 as a contestant on the eighth series of the British television music competition The X Factor, where she reached the final. Following her appearance on the show, she pursued a music career with several chart-placed singles, before expanding into musical theatre and reality television.

Born in Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, to Aranka Bradley and Barry Horowitz, Lily was educated at Chandlers Ridge Primary School and Teesside High School. She began her musical activities as a secondary school student by posting videos of herself singing on YouTube, where her cover of Adele's "Someone Like You" received over one million views. From the age of 13, she wrote songs on her guitar and aspired to be a country singer. During her childhood, she also figure skated for six years and worked on the tills at a local garden centre.

In 2011, Lily auditioned for The X Factor in Liverpool with Erma Franklin's "Piece of My Heart." Selected for the live shows in the Girls category, she was initially eliminated by her mentor in the first week. She returned to the show prior to the sixth live week after winning 48.8% of a public vote to replace a disqualified contestant. During her time on the show, she performed tracks including "The Show Must Go On," "China in Your Hand," and "Since U Been Gone." She advanced to the final at Wembley Arena, where she performed alongside mentor Kelly Rowland and ultimately finished as the last contestant eliminated.

Following the competition, Lily signed a £500,000 record deal with Xenomania, a subsidiary of Sony, and joined the X Factor Live Tour 2012. Her debut single, "You Bring Me Joy," was released in September 2012, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart and number 21 in Ireland. Her follow-up releases, "Shut Up (And Give Me Whatever You Got)" and "Party Over," reached number 11 and number 40 in the UK, respectively. She served as a support act for Girls Aloud's Ten: The Hits Tour and Olly Murs, and performed alongside Jessie J and Lawson. In 2014, she released the single "California" with Warner Music.

Lily entered musical theatre in late 2014, joining the UK tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In 2015, she played the lead role of Whatsername in the London production of American Idiot, and later toured the UK as Princess Fiona in Shrek the Musical from 2017 to 2018. Her television career includes finishing as runner-up on the twentieth series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2017 and joining the cast of the MTV reality series Geordie Shore in 2019. In September 2022, she began hosting the BBC Radio One podcast The Talent Factory: Inside the Music Machine.

Musically, Lily credits Pink as her major influence and idol, and has also cited Kelly Clarkson as a personal hero. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age three, she is the half-sister of Lewis Bradley, and her father, John Barry Oliver, served as manager of Billingham Town. She and her partner, Eddie McQueen, welcomed a daughter in 2025.