Real Like You.
Real Like You, made up of Jess Folley, Virginia Hampson, Luena Martinez, Kellimarie Willis, and Halle Williams, have been working non-stop on their music – writing, recording and producing their own music alongside some of the music industry’s top collaborators including Klas Ahlund and Fred Ball.
Each member brings their own individual style and skillset to the group;
Jess (18) grew up in Essex and started writing original songs a couple of years ago from home. In 2017 she won ITV’s The Voice Kids with Pixie Lott mentoring her, and since then she has wanted to take her singing career even further. Speaking of her role in the group, Jess said, “the girls all call me baby! I’m the youngest in the band, so I automatically got the role, but I am a belter – so baby with a big voice!”
Virginia (19) also grew up in Essex with her family and says her older sister is the most important figure in her life and shares her love of performing. Before joining Real Like You, Virginia was studying for her A Levels and loves to paint as well as sing, but her lifetime ambition is to simply ‘be happy’. Despite not having any formal vocal training, she has always sung and performed since the age of eight. “The girls say I’m crazy and silly, I just love to bring up the energy,” said Virginia.
Luena (22) lives in London and sets herself the challenge of writing a song a day and has done so for the last two years. She believes in the ‘Power of Music’ and goes into schools to speak to young people about positive mental health. On her role in the group, she said “I’m so lucky to have gained four new sisters.” “I’m the oldest in the group, so I feel like I am the mother of the group, I’m really protective of the girls, and feel like we’re all supporting each other.”
Kellimarie (19) lives in Coventry and has grown up in a family of performers, with her grandfather, mum and aunty all singing. She is the youngest of five and found singing the best way to stand out amongst her brothers. Before Real Like You, she was studying song writing part-time in Birmingham and loves to write her own music. As for her role in the group, Kellimarie said, “I am definitely the songwriter of the group at the moment and I love writing music with the rest of the girls”
And finally, Halle (21) lives in London and studied dance and musical theatre at Urdang Academy. Dancing was her first love, and sees being the ‘dancer’ as her role in the group. She also studied photography and hopes to use that knowledge to help steer the girls’ creative direction and constantly help create content with the band. When defining the kind of music the group wants to do, she said “Current. We wanna make current, dance-y, feel-good, sassy music that everyone will enjoy and want to dance and sing along to.”
