Mary-Jess Leaverland is a British singer who won Min Xing Chang Fan Tan (English for: I Want To Sing To The Stars), a Chinese televised talent competition, in December 2009.

Career

Mary-Jess first came to public attention after winning Chinese singing contest Min Xing Chang Fan Tan (English for: I Want To Sing To The Stars). After winning the contest, Mary-Jess still remained virtually unknown in the UK. The show was not broadcast outside of China, so her family and friends could not watch it and her family could not afford to fly over 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 where she signed a contract with Decca Records

Decca Records

Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

She stated in an interview with The Guardian, “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 Sheffield University took Leaverland to Nanjing

Nanjing

' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...

, and when she by chance came across auditions for the talent competition she, typically, 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

Shine (Mary-Jess album)

Shine is the debut album by British Classical Crossover singer-songwriter Mary-Jess Leaverland. The album follows her victory on Chinese television talent contest Min Xing Chang Fan Tan in December 2009...

" was released on the 8th of August and peaked 57 on the UK Albums Chart

UK Albums Chart

The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

.

Leaverland has already begun writing for her second album and continues to write with debut collaborators Helen Boulding

Helen Boulding

Helen Boulding is a London-based singer-songwriter originally from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK. Her first album, New Red Dress, was released in February 2008.-Biography:...

 & Paul Carter. She has also contributed to the Downton Abbey soundtrack by lending vocals to the song "Did I Make The Most Of Loving You?".

Albums

List of albums, with selected chart positions

Title	Album details	Chart positions
		UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
Shine Shine (Mary-Jess album) Shine is the debut album by British Classical Crossover singer-songwriter Mary-Jess Leaverland. The album follows her victory on Chinese television talent contest Min Xing Chang Fan Tan in December 2009...	Released: August 8, 2011 Label: Decca Records Decca Records Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades.... Formats: CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... , digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...	57

Singles

Song	Year	Peak positions	Album
		UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
"Are You The Way Home?"	2011	—	Shine
"Glorious"		—
"Heaven Is Empty"		—