Laura White | |
|---|---|
 White in 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Laura Jane Amanda White (1987-08-31)31 August 1987 (age 38) Atherton,Greater Manchester, England |
| Genres | Soul,jazz,Pop |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano |
| Years active | 2008–present |
Laura Jane Amanda White (born 31 August 1987) is an English singer and songwriter. She was finalist forfifth series of the British TV talent showThe X Factor in 2008, finishing in eighth place. White has penned songs for multiple artists, includingCharles Hamilton's Grammy-nominated "New York Raining" featuringRita Ora. White also co-wrote and featured withGalantis on their hit "Love on Me" andCash Cash "Gasoline". She has also worked withBeverley Knight,Naughty Boy,Hugel,Hannah Grace,Ms Banks,Bugzy Malone,MistaJam,James Carter andLucas & Steve and has recently written forAlicia Keys,Kelly Clarkson,Andre 3000,Galantis,Inna,JP Cooper,Rag'n'Bone Man,Matoma,Steps,Timmy Trumpet,Stormzy andTinie Tempah.
White has written numerous music scores forNetflix's 'The Bold Type',BBC, and manyHBO adverts,[citation needed] including one alongsideMissy Elliott. White also co-wrote and featured on the soundtrack for the ‘Four Kids And It’ blockbuster movie starringMichael Caine.[citation needed] She also pennedThe Voice Australia winner single "Nobody" forTaryn Stokes, charting at number 1.[citation needed]
White has also featured on TV showsThis Morning,Good Morning Britain,Lorraine,Loose Women andAlan Titchmarsh. White has played arenas, theatre tours and many incredible gigs, including being asked to perform shows for hundreds of celebrities alongside duetting withMariah Carey,Coronation Street andLoose Women, many Prime Ministers and invited to theHouse of Commons,
White was also the only[citation needed] contestant of all time raised in parliament due to hundreds of thousands of people petitioning over her exit after leaving theX Factor. TV Awards named it 'the biggest TV exit of all time'. Recent podcasts featuring White include Global'sJenni Falconer's podcast 'RUNPOD' and many music podcasts on songwriting, includingBjorn Ulvaeus (ABBA) podcast andLouise Golbey'sIvor Novello podcast.
White has been singing and playing the piano since she was a young girl. Despite never having had a professional singing lesson, White began singing in jazz bars at the age of 15 and played many festivals. White went toFred Longworth High School inTyldesley, the same school as actorsAnthony Quinlan,Leah Hackett andOliver Lee. She studied herA-Levels in English Literature and Drama atWigan and Leigh College, before going on to studycreative writing atThe University of Bolton.
White was later chosen to be in a soul band alongsideMark Ronson as a producer.
White auditioned for the 2008 series ofThe X Factor and reached the final live stages in the "Girls" category, mentored byCheryl Cole. After performingFallin', byAlicia Keys, on the first live show, White sangYou Are Not Alone as part ofMichael Jackson week the following episode. She then performedGod Bless the Child, originally recorded byBillie Holiday, as part of the third week's focus onbig band music, andSomebody Else's Guy, written and performed byJocelyn Brown, on the fourth live show as part of disco week. After performingEndless Love byLionel Richie andDiana Ross in the fifth week, White was voted off the show on 8 November, after a sing-off againstRuth Lorenzo.[1]
After her elimination, fans of White circulated a petition for broadcasting watchdogOfcom to investigate phone voting procedures on the show, complaining of a lack of transparency in the voting system and of difficulties in getting through to vote for White–allegations which were denied by a show spokesman.[2] The issue was even mentioned in theHouses of Parliament by her local MPAndy Burnham, who commented that White's exit had been "very harsh".[3]
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TheManchester Evening News reported on 11 November 2008 that White had been approached by an as-yet unnamed record company.[4] White was chosen byPeterborough City Council to perform and turn on the annual Christmas lights at Cathedral Square, Peterborough. A crowd of 6,000 attended and cheered as the lights were turned on. White then went on to switch on the lights in the county capital Cambridge on the Sunday night.[5] White was invited to theBrit Awards Launch Party asThe X Factor contestant representing the "Hero" single. White was a judge in the 2009 Miss Manchester contest and sang at the Miss England contest.
In early August 2009, White posted samples of four tracks onto her website. Fans were allowed to vote for one of the four to become her debut single. The candidates were: "You Should Have Known", "Touch You", "Got It Bad" and "Love Hurts". "You Should Have Known" was chosen as her debut single. The song was written by Ivor Novello-winning songwriter Michelle Escoffrey and produced by Ian Green, the man behind Madonna's autumn 2009 albumCelebration. Speaking in October 2009 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winningBlues & Soul, White stated: "I'm really pleased to kick my whole album project off with 'You Should Have Known."[6]
She performed her track "You Should Have Known" onGMTV on 19 August 2009.[7] The video for the single "You Should Have Known" was shot in early September and was uploaded to White's official YouTube account. The single was released on 2 November 2009.[8] To promote the single, White embarked on a promo tour of the UK. "You Should Have Known" debuted and peaked at No. 32 on theUK Singles Chart. White was also part of the alternativeHaiti relief charity single "I Put A Spell on You".
White released her debut extended play,What My Mother Taught Me in 2013.[9]
White has written songs for artists includingInna,[10]Leona Lewis,Eliza Doolittle, andCher Lloyd.[11][12] White had her first number one with artistGin Lee in 2012 and also penned songs for many Danish artists and Dutch X Factor winnerLisa Lois. White wrote "New York Raining" forCharles Hamilton &Rita Ora, which was featured on the soundtrack of the US TV show,Empire and nominated for a Grammy in 2015.
In 2016, White confirmed signing a publishing deal to Peer Publishing UK.[13] She released her second extended play,No. 95 in February 2016.[14] She also wrote and featured as a vocalist on theGalantis single, "Love on Me". In 2017, White wrote and featured on songs withExample,Bugzy Malone and confirmed her album was being written alongside featured production fromNaughty Boy.
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In 2023, White released the single "Lemons", the lead single from her upcoming debut studio album.[15] In February 2024, White announced that her debut album would be available to pre–order from the 8th March 2024, sixteen years following her appearance onThe X Factor in 2008.[16] Her debut studio album,Woman to Woman, is scheduled to be released in November 2024.[17]
In 2024, she released her debut album ‘Woman To Woman’, one of the best-selling pre-orders of the year, featuring some of the world's most successful songwriters (Toby Gad,Cathy Dennis, Eg White). Laura White also released a string of singles in the lead up to the album, including more collaborations withGalantis and spent much of the year touring the UK. Recent shows include London, Manchester dates and played for theBBC with theBBC Philharmonic.
In 2025, White went Viral performing withDJ AG in London’s Kings Cross. That September, she released the single 'Ricky Hatton (Northern Girl)'.
White is anManchester United,Tottenham Hotspur,Brentford andBolton Wanderers supporter.[18]
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Woman to Woman |
|
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| What My Mother Taught Me[20] |
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| No.95[21] |
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| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | UK Indie | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | "You Should Have Known" | 32 | 2 | Non-album single | |||||||||||||||
| 2013 | "What My Mother Taught Me" | — | — | What My Mother Taught Me | |||||||||||||||
| 2015 | "Kind of Blue"[22] | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||||||||||
| 2016 | "Martha" | — | — | The Painted Door - EP | |||||||||||||||
| 2018 | "Heartbreaker" (featuringMs Banks) | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||||||||||
| 2019 | "Back to You" (with One Bit) | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| "Nobody" | — | — | |||||||||||||||||
| 2020 | "Happiness"[23] | — | — | The Bold Type | |||||||||||||||
| "Push It Right" (with MOTi) | — | — | Non-album single | ||||||||||||||||
| "When You're Dancing" (withMike Candys) | — | — | |||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | "Lemons" | — | — | Woman to Woman | |||||||||||||||
| 2025 | "Ricky Hatton (Northern Girl)" | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||||||||||
| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "—" | |||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | IRE | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | "Hero" (with The X Factor Finalists) | 1 | 1 | Non-album single | |||||||||||||||
| 2010 | "I Put a Spell on You" (with Shane MacGowan and Friends) | — | — | Helping Haiti | |||||||||||||||
| 2013 | "Dalt Vila" (Sister Bliss & Wally Lopez featuring Laura White)[24] | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||||||||||||
| 2015 | "Circles" (Xploder featuring Laura White & Manga St Hilare)[25] | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | "Love on Me" (Galantis andHook n Sling) | 16 | 21 | The Aviary | |||||||||||||||
| 2017 | "Lullaby" (SKIY featuring Laura White) | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||||||||||||
| 2018 | "Ladykiller" (Brunelle featuring Laura White) | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| "Ce sour ?" (El Profesor featuring Laura White [HUGEL Remix]) | — | — | |||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | "Ultimatum" (Mistajam featuring Laura White) | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 2020 | "Gasoline" (Cash Cash featuring Laura White)[26] | — | — | Say It Like You Feel It | |||||||||||||||
| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Artist | Album | Song | Co-written with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Tracy Wang | Sky EP | "Dreamer" | Ian Barter |
| 2018 | Goldstone | Eurovision: You Decide | "I Feel the Love" | Raul Rats, Joakim Buddee, Eric Lumiere |
| Jaz Ellington | "You" | Herman Gardarfve,Ashley Hicklin | ||
| 2019 | Hannah Grace | Remedy | "Different Kind of Love" | Hannah Vivian-Byrne |
| Gattusso | Non-album single | "Million Things"with Disco Killers | Uri Illuz, Reem Taoz, Matthew Kramer | |
| MOTi | "All the Love You Got" | Timotheus Romme, Friso Venema | ||
| 2020 | Inna | "Nobody" | Ki McPhail,Fridolin Walcher | |
| Steps | What the Future Holds | "One Touch" | Christopher Wahle, Neil Treppas | |
| 2023 | Beverley Knight | The Fifth Chapter | "Someone Else's Problem" | Christopher Neil, Peter Vale |
White toured onThe X Factor live tour, with fellow series 5 finalists. White was also touring withPeter Andre with hisRevelation Tour. She continues to perform in gigs/festivals. She has performed her own shows at the Lowry Theatre Manchester, Camden Assembly London and more dates for 2020.
