X Factor - Simply Girlband

Monday, 6 October 2008

Bristol-based female quartet Girlband never had a proper name when they first entered the competition, so they've kept "Girlband" - but as judge Simon Cowell said in their first audition: "That's ok".

The group was given one of the coveted places in the X Factor finals by Louis Walsh, who told them: "You should be really proud to have come this far."

Let's find out a little bit more about the members of Girlband...

Tita Lau

19 year-old Tita has tried for years to make it as a solo artist in the music business but after numerous knock-backs she decided to form the group with fellow Bristol singer Layla who was also trying to make it big.

They wanted to see if they stood a better chance as a girl group so recruited Tita’s younger sister and a local friend Marisa to form Girlband.

Tita had already experienced a bit of success with a band called Glitzzi Girlz when she was younger. They supported boy band Blue on tour.

But now the waitress is in the X Factor final she is determined to make her own dreams come true

Phoebe Jay Lau

Phoebe is the youngest member of Girlband and is Tita’s younger sister. The rest of the girls think she is the giggly one of the group!

17 year-old was set to begin a university course studying business in October but has decided to defer for now.

She will instead be concentrating all her efforts on achieving success in the X Factor Finals with Girlband.

Marisa Billitteri

19 year-old Marisa claims to be the quietest member of Girlband, something which may be attributed to the fact she was badly bullied by a gang of girls at school between the ages of 16-17 .

Marisa still lives at home with her family and has been singing for over 12 years.

She has entered many a singing competition competitions and even a Disney Channel event called Star Ticket in 2003.

But 2008 saw her get a dream ticket to the X Factor finals with Girlband.

Layla Manoochehri

22 year-old Layla is the only member of the group that doesn't come from Bristol.

The Birmingham girl has been singing for many years, she's been a song writer (co written a song for Lisa Stansfield) and even recorded a rock album in Germany.

She reached the final 50 in the first series of Pop Idol but, like her band mates, she had enough getting nowhere as a soloist so decided to form Girlband with Tita to see if they could crack it.

Layla claims to be the small cute one of the band!

Do you want Girlband to win? Vote in our X Factor poll.

Meet the other X Factor groups.

X Factor photo gallery.