Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson (born 7 April 1991), known mononymously as Anne-Marie, is an English singer-songwriter. She has attained charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, including Clean Bandit’s “Rockabye”, which peaked at number one, as well as “Alarm”, “Ciao Adios”, “Friends”, “2002”, “Don’t Play” and “Kiss My (Uh-Oh)”. Her debut studio album, Speak Your Mind, was released in 2018 and peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart.

Anne-Marie was nominated for four awards at the 2019 Brit Awards, including Best British Female Solo Artist. To date she has been nominated for ten Brit Awards and has also received a nomination for a Billboard Music Award. In 2015, she signed a record deal with Asylum (a sub-label of Atlantic Records) and began releasing her work through the label. In 2021, she released her second studio album, Therapy, and began appearing as a coach on the television singing competition The Voice UK. Her third studio album, Unhealthy, was released in July 2023.

Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson was born on 7 April 1991 in East Tilbury, Essex. While her mother is a local teacher, her father, a builder and handyman, is from the East End of London. She has an older sister named Samantha. When she was five, Anne-Marie went to stage school. She appeared in two West End productions as a child: she auditioned for Les Misérables aged six, without telling her parents, and performed in Whistle Down the Wind with Jessie J when she was twelve.

Anne-Marie attended St Clere’s School at Stanford-le-Hope, where she also involved herself in performing arts. Her initial popularity there ended when she was fourteen—she was shunned and bullied by her classmates after being accused of cheating on her boyfriend, when she had only spoken to another boy on the phone late at night. Anne-Marie also said she regrets being a difficult child—exacerbated by her grandmother’s death when she was twelve—and was advised by Ed Sheeran to “call [her] mum and dad every day”. She began filming herself singing in her room as a teenager. Anne-Marie went on to go to Palmer’s College in Thurrock.

Anne-Marie is a black belt in Shotokan karate. She began taking lessons aged nine, and became a triple world champion,[13] winning double gold at the world championships and gold at the United Kingdom Karate championships in 2002. She credits karate with teaching her the “discipline and focus” necessary for her singing career, but tours have made it difficult for her to find time for the sport.

Anne-Marie was picked up by Rocket Music and released the demo “Summer Girl” in 2013. It attracted attention when Ed Sheeran linked to it on his Twitter account. A possible solo career was curtailed for her to develop herself as an artist. Guest appearances on songs by Magnetic Man, Gorgon City and Raized by Wolves drew Anne-Marie to the attention of the band Rudimental, and in 2014 they asked her to replace a vocalist who left the band.

Anne-Marie spent two years touring with Rudimental as a vocalist. She also featured on four tracks on their second album We the Generation (2015), including co-features with Dizzee Rascal and Will Heard, and “Rumour Mill”, which reached number 67 on the UK Singles Chart and gave her enough confidence to go solo. She said that she was writing daily while touring. Anne-Marie’s debut extended play (EP), Karate EP, was released on 10 June 2015 under Rudimental’s then-new label Major Tom’s. Produced by Josh Record and Two Inch Records, it contained three tracks and a remix. Debut single “Karate” and “Gemini” led to Anne-Marie making her first solo live performances. The Guardian favorably reviewed “Boy” and opined that Karate “proves she’s ready to step out alone”. She released the single “Do It Right” in November, which peaked at number 90 on the UK Singles Chart.

Her debut album had the working title of Breathing Fire. On 20 May 2016, Anne-Marie released “Alarm”, the first single from her debut album. It spent one week at number 76 in June before resurfacing a month later; it later peaked at number 16 and was certified Platinum in the UK. In October 2016, Anne-Marie was confirmed to play at the thirty-first edition of Eurosonic Noorderslag in Groningen, Netherlands. On 10 October 2016, Anne-Marie featured on Illy’s song “Catch 22”. The same month, Clean Bandit released their song “Rockabye”, with Anne-Marie as main vocalist and featuring Jamaican rapper Sean Paul. It spent nine consecutive weeks at number one and gained the coveted Christmas number one. The song has since been certified multi-platinum across most of Europe, North America and Oceania.

On 10 March 2017, Anne-Marie released “Ciao Adios”, which she had previously performed live at KOKO on 28 November 2016. The single became a top 10 hit in the UK, charting at number nine and being certified Platinum by the BPI. Anne-Marie’s next single saw her collaborate with Snakehips on “Either Way”, which also featured Joey Badass. On 21 September Anne-Marie released “Heavy”, followed by “Then” on 15 December. In 2018, Anne-Marie collaborated with Marshmello on “Friends”. The song was released on 9 February 2018, and was Anne-Marie’s second top five UK hit as a lead artist. 

On 22 February, Anne-Marie announced that her debut studio album, Speak Your Mind, would be released on 27 April 2018. Prior to the release of her album, Anne-Marie released the single “2002” on 20 April in response to constant urging by Ed Sheeran, the co-creator of the song. In July 2018, Anne-Marie featured on a David Guetta song titled “Don’t Leave Me Alone”, which peaked at 18 on the UK Singles chart. In November 2018, Anne-Marie and James Arthur recorded “Rewrite the Stars” from The Greatest Showman for the re-recording of its soundtrack, The Greatest Showman: Reimagined.