LITTLE Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock has signed a deal to work on solo projects – three months after Jesy Nelson quit band.
The singer is starting a solo career after signing a new deal with a PR agency but has insisted she will continue her “commitments” with Little Mix.
Leigh-Anne, 29, signed a new deal with entertainment company Satellite 414, just three months after bandmate Jesy, also 29, announced she was leaving the Power hitmakers due to struggles with her mental health.
Announcing the news on Twitter, Satellite 414 said: “Huge welcome to Leigh-Anne Pinnock as she joins our SATELLITE414 and Satellite Screen rosters for solo projects across Music, Film and TV.”
Leigh-Anne revealed she’s “incredibly excited” to get started, but promised fans she isn’t turning her back on her career with Little Mix.
She said: “This is such an incredibly exciting time for me and my career. I can’t wait to show everyone what I’ve got coming up. I will continue to work on my solo endeavours alongside my Little Mix commitments.”
Leigh-Anne’s fans praised her for the move, though some worried for the future of Little Mix.
One said: “Wish u all the best leigh. so proud of u”
Another wrote: “WHAT??HERE WE GOO…SOLOS…I USED TO HAVE FAITH IN LITTLE MIX”
The announcement comes after Little Mix – with Jade Thirlwall and Perrie Edwards – spoke about their future following the departure of Jesy in December.
Jade said: “I’m not saying that we’re co-dependent, but we do heavily rely on each other, so it’s been healthy to take a step back and think, ‘What do I want?’
“As we come together and work together this year, we’ll have an even better and healthier relationship with that perspective.
“This time’s taught me that I am still figuring out who I am, too … It’s beautiful that we’re still a group, but we want to help push each other to do our own thing, too.
“It’s like a new dawn of Little Mix.”
And Perrie added: “That’s totally OK. We’re not going to know, individually. We’ve always had each other, it’s always Little Mix – it’s us.”
Whilst Leigh-Anne said: It’s never been an option to not be together and we’ve always known that we are sisters.”