2012-2018, 2025-Ally Brooke Hernandez
Camila Cabello2012-2016
Normani Kordei
Dinah Jane Hansen
Lauren Jauregui
The girl group is made up of five singers who all successfully auditioned as soloists on the 2012 series of The X Factor, but failed to progress individually to the Judges' Houses stage of the competition. Simon Cowell decided that the individual contestants were too special to let go, so at the end of the show's Boot Camp week, the five girls became Fifth Harmony.
Fifth Harmony finishing in third place on The X Factor behind Tate Stevens and Carly Rose Sonenclar. They signed a joint deal with Syco Music, owned by Simon Cowell, and Epic Records, L.A. Reid's record label.
Miami native Lauren Jauregui is of Hispanic descent. She first remembers singing at a karaoke party at age two, but other than a few school talent shows and a fifth-grade performance of the National Anthem, most of her singing was done in private until her successful audition for The X Factor.
Born in Cojimar, Cuba, Camila Cabello and her family shuttled between Havana and Mexico for the first five years of her life before they moved to the US when she was six. Growing up listening to such Latin artists as Celia Cruz and Alejandro Fernandez, Camila kept her singing to the confines of her bedroom. "I didn't sing in front of people until my actual X Factor audition," she recalled. "I didn't want those two minutes to end. When they did, I knew performing was the only thing I could see myself doing for the rest of my life."
Camila's Twitter bio reads, "On my journey to the moon, i trip, spill stuff, pretend im a fairy, and eat a lot of bananas."
Normani Hamilton was born in Atlanta and raised in New Orleans. Her family later relocated to Houston after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Normani was raised in the gospel tradition and has been performing since she was three. She recorded her first single at the age 13 and also had a small role on the HBO series Treme.
San Antonio, Texas born and bred Ally Brooke Hernandez is of Hispanic descent. Her musical theatricality comes from having performed at charity events, high schools, and sports events since the age of nine. "That's when I developed such a huge passion for singing and the stage," she explains.
Dinah Jane Hansen hails from Santa Ana, California and is of Tongan and Polynesian heritage. At the age of 11, she told her parents she wanted to pursue a singing career. "The first time I performed I remember feeling so nervous and scared," she recalled. "I was behind the curtains and I could hear the announcer say my name. All I could think was, 'I hope they like me, I hope they don't boo.' But they applauded and I remember thinking this is definitely something I want to do one day."
The group's mixed Hispanic, African-American and Polynesian heritage makes them a musical melting pot. "We like that when girls look at us, they don't see perfect little blond-haired, blue-eyed Barbie dolls," Lauren told Billboard magazine. "We all have different body types and different skin."
Fifth Harmony's fans call themselves "Harmonizers." "We don't really think of them as fans," Normani says. "They're more like friends who support us."
Camila Cabello admitted to
Jam! Music that she is not a natural dancer. "I can't dance and I have two left feet and I (am) super, super awkward," she said. "So when '
Bo$$' came out, I didn't have a choice but to hop on the train. It just kind of left (the station) and I had to either get on or get off. I wasn't going to get off. I just started to do chair routines!"
Fifth Harmony was actually the third name for the group. They were formerly known as LYLAS (Love You Like A Sister) and 1432.
Asked by
Pop Crush what Fifth Harmony normally do before a big show, Normani Kordei replied:
"What I normally do before going on stage is pray – normally we do a group prayer with the crew or whoever is around, like our security guard, our tour manager and whoever else is back there and wants to pray with us. We get in a circle and normally Ally leads the prayer, or sometimes Dinah or I will.
We also listen to music on our UE BOOMs – it's a really loud speaker, so we kind of just jam out!"
When Cabello left Fifth Harmony in 2016, the Genius site
crunched some numbers and concluded she sang 45% of the lyrics when she was still a member.
