On March 1, 2013, Little Mix celebrated the end of the group's 2013 U.K. tour, by having a party at the Mahiki nightclub in London. And according to the Daily Mirror, Little Mix's Jesy Nelson and Diversity's Jordan Banjo have split up after dating each other for nearly a year.
In 2011, Little Mix became the first group to win on "The Factor" U.K.
Diversity is the dance troupe that won "Britain's Got Talent" in 2009, thereby relegating Susan Boyle to second place on the show.
As previously reported, Little Mix's 2013 U.K. tour (which launched on Jan. 24 and ended on Feb. 24) got mostly rave reviews by the media.
Little Mix members Nelson and and Perrie Edwards went to the end-of-tour party without dates, but Little Mix's Jade Thirlwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock brought their respective boyfriends as their dates. Thirlwall and Diversity's Sam Chaske have been a couple since the spring of 2012. Pinnock has been dating soccer player Jordan Kiffin since February 2013.
Other guests at the party were Marvin Humes of JLS (the group that came in second place on "The X Factor" U.K. in 2008); Una Healy of the Saturdays; and Healy's husband, soccer player Ben Fodden. According to the Daily Star, Humes brought gifts, while Healy raised eyebrows by wearing "an odd see-through crystal-esque gown." Rochelle Humes (Marvin's wife) is a member of the Saturdays but she was presumably not at the event because she is pregnant and due to give birth in mid-2013. She may not have felt like going to a party or may have wanted to avoid the public backlash if she was seen partying late at night at a booze-filled bash.
Meanwhile, an unnamed source told the Daily Mirror about the Nelson/Banjo breakup: “Jesy’s become a lot more famous than Jordan and he found it difficult to cope with the amount of male attention she was getting, so they both agreed it was best that they call it a day.”
According to the Daily Mirror: "But Jesy isn’t moping around. She’s been getting 'extremely close' with one of the boys from The Mend, another 'BGT' group who supported the Mixers on tour. The girls enjoyed a party with their backing dancers and sipped the venue’s trademark treasure chest cocktails. They then gatecrashed a private karaoke party and sang cheesy fave 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen. Nothing mends a broken heart better."
Edwards and One Direction's Zayn Malik have been a couple since April 2012. He was not at Little Mix's end-of-tour party since One Direction was performing at a concert in Cardiff, Wales, that night. One Direction's 2013 world tour launched on Feb. 23 and will be going to Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Asia, with announced concert dates through November.
Edwards and Malik recently weathered a sex scandal in which Australian waitress/former stripper Courtney "CJ" Webb accused Malik of cheating on Edwards. Webb told The Sun in an exclusive interview that she and Malik had a one-night stand at his London home while Edwards was away on the Little Mix tour.
Malik, Edwards and their representatives have not commented on Webb's allegations. Although the Daily Mirror initially reported that the couple split up a few days after the cheating scandal made headlines, Malik and Edwards ultimately decided to not let the scandal ruin their relationship. They have been seen looking like a happy couple in public on several occasions.
The four members of Little Mix, who are ages 19 to 21, originally auditioned for "The X Factor" U.K. as solo singers, but they were rejected as solo singers and then put in a group together by "X Factor" U.K. judge Tulisa Contostavlos and other decision makers.
One Direction was also formed in the same way, but Simon Cowell was the group's mentor on the show. One Direction and Little Mix are both signed to Syco Music (the record company co-owned by Cowell and Sony Music) and are both represented by Modest! Management.
Little Mix will be spending some of March 2013 in the U.S. for promotional appearances, according to Syco Music/Columbia Records, but it has not been announced yet what those appearances will be.
Little Mix has been an instant hit in the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, but U.S. sales for Little Mix so far have flopped. As previously reported, Little Mix's first U.S. single, "Wings" (which was released on Feb. 5, 2013), failed to make it on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
It will be an uphill battle for Little Mix to have a huge U.S. breakthrough since there hasn't been an all-female group that's made it big in the U.S. since Destiny's Child amicably disbanded in 2006.
The U.S. release date for Little Mix's first album, "DNA," is to be announced, but Syco/Columbia is aiming for a release date sometime in the summer of 2013. It has not yet been announced if or when Little Mix will tour in the United States.
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