During the competition, East became the first-ever contestant to reach number one on the UK iTunes Store chart with her cover of "Uptown Funk".

East's debut solo single "Sax" reached number three on the UK charts and received a platinum music certification.

She has family living in Yorkshire[2] and she has a younger sister named Keshia, who is an entrepreneur and co-founder of their business, The Kurl Kitchen .

[3] She attended Holy Family Technology College in Walthamstow and Queen Mary University of London, where she studied journalism and contemporary history.

[4][5][6] East was in the girl group Addictiv Ladies, who were on series 2 of The X Factor in 2005, mentored by Simon Cowell, but were eliminated in week 1 after ending up in the bottom two with Chico Slimani.

[8][9][10] East signed to the record label Strictly Rhythm in January 2012 and released two singles as the lead artist (credited as Fleur): "Broken Mirror" with Cutline and "Turn the Lights On" (produced by Culture Shock).

[11] In 2013, she featured on Drumsound & Bassline Smith's "One in a Million", which entered the UK Singles Chart at number 53, and headlined the Miss Face of Africa EU ceremony in London.

East worked as a waitress at the London nightclub Aura Mayfair to help support her music career, and was also a fitness model with the agency W Athletic, but struggled with her finances.

Cowell chose East for the live shows, alongside Jay James and eventual winner Ben Haenow.

In the semi-final of the live shows, East performed "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars, a rendition The Guardian's Stuart Heritage described as "truly astonishing [...] Fleur barged in and left the competition in ruins.

It was two minutes and 53 seconds of all-out attack; possibly the biggest moment that any [Simon] Cowell show has produced since we first met Susan Boyle, only this was even more surprising because we already knew Fleur, and this far she'd merely been adequate.

[23] She recorded her debut studio album with musicians including Wayne Hector, the Invisible Men, Jack Splash, and TMS.

East appeared on series 16-19 of Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway where she would go to an area of the UK and give tickets to people for a 'Takeaway Getaway' holiday from TUI.

[33] Later that year, she was announced as a contestant on the twentieth series of Strictly Come Dancing where she was partnered with Vito Coppola.

[10][35] East's early solo work was heavily influenced by drum and bass artists including Netsky and Matrix & Futurebound.