Lawson was born and raised in London. She is the youngest in a family of five, with three brothers and one sister. She began singing at the age of five. Before finding fame on the prime-time TV show The X Factor, Lawson was in a band called Skye. Kyra Simone provided backing vocals, Mark Coutier and Mark Hubden played guitar, Evgeni Vachov was on bass and the drums were courtesy of Ramy...