Although Cleo Higgins is primarily remembered as the central member of the '90s Manchester-formed R&B pop act Cleopatra, she also resurfaced in 2013, making it to the later stages of BBC TV's The Voice UK. Born in Birmingham in the early '80s, Higgins moved to Manchester at the age of six and formed Cleopatra in the mid-'90s with her sisters Yonah and Zainam. By summer 1998 their debut album, Comin' Atcha!, had graced the Top 30 of both the U.K. and U.S. album charts, and this stateside success was due in part to their signing with Madonna's Maverick label. BRIT Award and MOBO nominations came as a result of this popular debut, which also spawned three U.K. Top Five singles. Their second album, Steppin' Out, never saw a release in the U.K. due to marketing issues, and Cleopatra disbanded following a 2000 promotional tour of the U.S. Although over the next decade Higgins' focus was largely on raising a family, alongside the occasional TV appearance, she also recorded a couple of prestigious duets with the Salford-born tenor Russell Watson. Her 2001 collaboration with him on the track "Someone Like You" appeared on the platinum-selling album The Voice, a record which topped both the U.K. and U.S. classical charts. A debut solo single, "Feelin' Like This," appeared in 2007 on Eastside Records, but the release didn't have enough impact to be accompanied by an album. Instead, following a handful of one-off TV appearances with her sisters, Cleopatra toured again in the U.K. for much of 2008 and 2009. Following a period of study and some time working as a choir instructor, she returned to TV screens in April 2013 with a performance of Beyoncé's "Love on Top" on The Voice UK. Her mentor, will.i.am, ensured that she progressed through the rounds but Higgins was ultimately knocked out of the competition in the semi-final, despite her strong rendition of En Vogue's "Don't Let Go (Love)." ~ James Wilkinson