CeCe Frey

Cecelia Marie "CeCe" Frey (born June 26, 1991) is a singer and songwriter from Decatur, Illinois who finished in 6th place on the second season of The X Factor USA. She appeared on the show in the Young Adults category, mentored by Demi Lovato.

Early life
Frey worked as a mail clerk in a postal department prior to auditioning for The X Factor. Frey has an older sister named Kelsey who died of cerebral palsy at the age of 7, CeCe performed Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" on The X Factor, dedicated to her sister.

Beginnings
Before the X-Factor, Frey covered Christina Aguilera's "Fighter" and Lady Gaga's "Marry The Night" in videos directed by a friend of hers. Frey also covered the Demi Lovato song "Skyscraper" which was reported that Frey may have the chance to sing the song directly to Demi.

2012: The X Factor
She auditioned in Kansas City, Missouri with "Unchained Melody", but Demi was disappointed and stopped her midway, with LA asking her to pick another song. She then sang "Ain't No Other Man", a Christina Aguilera song. During Bootcamp, Frey was compared to Paige Thomas: at The Part 1, they both sang Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You & at the Part 2, they sang Secrets by OneRepublic. She sang the acoustic version of LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It" for the "judges' homes" phase. Her mentor Demi Lovato chose Frey to compete in the live shows. Frey performed "Because the Night" during the first live show on October 31, 2012. During the first live results show on November 1, 2012, Frey and Willie Jones were put into the bottom two where they were asked to "sing for their lives", in order for one of them to remain in the competition.

Frey performed "Out Here On My Own", and Lovato selected her to remain in the competition, sending home Jones. Frey reached #12 in the next week, expected as in Demi Lovato's view, For the second week, CeCe sang Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger", and the judges still questioned her ability and had to sing off against Brock. The voters had her in the bottom two as well, and she sang Cher's "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me". The song proved to be true, as after failing to reach a decision and going to deadlock, the judges kept Cece in the completion, of which she was saved in deadlock.

The third week was one of Cece's successes. She sang a simple version of "All by Myself", showing off her vocal ability. Though Simon Cowell thought she did all the "gimmicks" that come with the song, the voters and other judges enjoyed the performance, putting her safely through to week four. Week four of the competition was Cece's most emotional, as she dedicated Bette Middler's "Wind Beneah My Wings" to her deceased sister. She became so upset while singing, though, she couldn't finish the song and broke down into tears. Voters put her again in the bottom two. She sang Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You" and the judges decided to send Beatrice Miller home, keeping CeCe. This caused an uprising of hatred toward CeCe, as most viewers felt Beatrice deserved to stay more than her, and that she didn't sing as well as Beatrice did.

Regardless, she continued to week five. Frustrated, Cece said in her introduction video that "every week was a comeback week". However, week five seemed to be the big comeback she'd been waiting for. Both the judges and audience alike enjoyed her performance of Christina Aguilera's "Lady Marmalade", The judges applauded her effort but some of them didn't feel it would be enough. "You're going down, but you're going down fighting," said L.A. Reid. And Simon Cowell told her to "pack a suitcase." She was put through to the sixth week by voters. She kicked off the sixth week of the competition with an impressive take on "The Edge of Glory" by Lady GaGa. The judges enjoyed it, and she went on to dominate the Pepsi Challenge performances with a fast-paced, exciting version of "Part of Me", by Katy Perry. It was a good night overall for her, according to the judges, but the public disagreed, putting CeCe in the bottom 2 again.

CeCe was ultimately eliminated on December 6, 2012, finishing in sixth place. She was the last remaining contestant in the Young Adults category.

Performances on The X Factor
CeCe performed the following songs on The X Factor:

2012–present: Post X Factor
Since the show, Frey got signed to LaFace Records (defunct to RCA) which has signed popular artists like P!nk, Usher, and Cee Lo Green. She is also currently working on her first single, called "14:59". The music video will be directed by Patrick Lawrence.

Style and image
Frey best known for her theatrical performance style and her trademark leopard spots, "A couple of years ago I was in this relationship that was not healthy. Frey in an interview, told her fans that the reason she wears a two circle necklace which for her means infinity that is very personal to her. It was in fact very toxic. And I had this idea and I started doing the paint and I realized whenever I was painting it on myself, I felt different. It was an empowering thing."

Influences
Frey influences include Rihanna, Katy Perry, Lady GaGa, Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion and Demi Lovato. CeCe is a big fan of Adam Lambert, Frey talked about Lambert saying, he's amazing! He has a crazy voice and he’s so cool and she remembers watching him on American Idol. Frey is also a big fan of Ke$ha whom gave her advice after being eliminated from X-Factor to never give up and go-on with her career.