Mary-Jess Leaverland, or simply Mary-Jess, is an English singer and songwriter who won Min Xing Chang Fan Tian (or in English: I Want to Sing to the Stars), the Chinese version of The X Factor, which was televised to 70 million people in December 2009. Early years Mary-Jess Leaverland was born on 28 March 1990 in Gloucester, England, and grew up in a musical household. Her mother Liz and her grandmother were both singers. When Jess was nine years old, her grandmother got her an audition with the Gloucester Cathedral Youth Choir, mainly for the experience, but she was surprised to be accepted even though she was two years too young. Mary-Jess went on to study Music and Chinese at the University of Sheffield and in her second year went for a year's placement in Nanjing, China, where she decided to enter a live televised singing competition. After achieving success from the singing competition, Mary-Jess left university after receiving a record deal to pursue her singing career. Career Breakthrough (2010-2011) Mary-Jess advanced through Min Xing Chang Fan Tian (or in English: I Want to Sing to the Stars) all the way to the final, where she won the grand prize after competing live on Chinese television every night for three weeks. After winning the contest however, Jess still remained virtually unknown in the UK. The show was not broadcast outside Jiangsu Province, China, so her family and friends could not watch it and her family could not afford to fly to China to watch her. When an interview she gave to a local Gloucester paper was picked up by the national press, the news spread, and Leaverland was offered several recording contracts and she signed a recording contract with Decca Records. She was signed to Decca from March 2010 to November 2011. Mary-Jess stated in an interview with The Guardian that "I was awful at French but Chinese caught my attention with all the different tones. Each word had its own tune." The Music and Chinese Studies course at the University of Sheffield took Leaverland to Nanjing, and when she by chance came across auditions for the talent competition she wanted to get involved. "I really thought they would want a Chinese person to win. I couldn't believe it when it was me." Her debut album Shine was released on 8 August 2011 and peaked at no. 57 on the