Artist Background

Lily Palmer

Lily Elizabeth Palmer (born September 15, 1996) is a British singer from Sheffield. She has a sister, Amelie, who is two years older than her. Her Grandmother is Lithuanian and her Grandfather is Polish. When she was 12 years old, Palmer created a band along with her sister, cousin (Joe Richards) and his friend. They called themselves Vivid Panic and performed at school and busked around Sheffield. The band lasted for three years before Richards and Palmer were left as a duo.  

When Palmer was 16 Vivid Panic auditioned for the ninth series of The X Factor in Manchester, singing a version of fun.’s Some Nights with Richards on the guitar and back up vocals. The performance was greatly praised by the judges, with Nicole Sherzinger in tears and Louis Walsh saying “you guys have pure talent; amazing vocals”. They also received a standing ovation from the audience. They again wowed the judges at Bootcamp, singing Beyoncé’s Crazy in Love as a cappella, sending them to Las Vegas with Walsh for the Judges’ Houses stage of the competition. There they performed Carly Rae Jepson’s hit Call Me Maybe, sending them through to the live shows. Unfortunately before the inaugural show, Richards became ill and was unable to continue. After much deliberation, Walsh made the controversial decision to carry on mentoring Palmer as a solo artist, despite her now fitting into the Girls category rather than the Groups.

 

Palmer made it to the final having only one being in the bottom two once (where the judges voted for her over Rylan Clark). After meeting Ed Sheeran when he performed on the show in the sixth week, he agreed to join her for the duet in the final. The two sang a rendition Sheeran’s Give Me Love. At this point she was eliminated, coming third overall in the competition.

After two years recording. Palmer is releasing her debut single Shake It Off, which is mostly directed at those who criticised her during her unusual X Factor journey.