A teenage Alesha Dixon was originally planning to train as a PE teacher at Loughborough University before a chance meeting at a London dance studio changed everything.
It was in 1997 that Alesha - who turns 42 today - met fellow singer Sabrina Washington at Dance Attic in Fulham. With Su-Elise Nash they went on to form Mis-Teeq and sell 12 million records worldwide, have seven consecutive top-ten singles and perform at the Queen's Jubilee.
At the top of her game, in 2004 Alesha was even chosen as the star of N.E.R.D's video to She Wants To Move and in 2005 she quit the band to go solo.
Her first single, Lipstick, from her Fired Up album went to number 14, but when her follow-up Knockdown limped in at number 45, she was savagely dropped by
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