It’s been more than two years since they last appeared in Dorset, but girl band Little Mix are set to bewitch fans once again with a date at Bournemouth International Centre.

The Get Weird tour, which follows the release of their album by the same name, due to be released on November 6, was announced earlier in the year, but the band’s members have been hitting the headlines for their personal lives rather than their music of late.

Jesy Nelson, 24, could soon be set to tie the knot to her beau, Rixton singer Jake Roche, 22, after he proposed to her live on stage in Manchester, while their pair were serenaded by Ed Sheeran.

Meanwhile Perrie Edwards, who spent part of her childhood in Weymouth, attending Radipole Primary School before moving to South Shields, was reportedly left devastated following her split with former One Direction star Zayn Malik after he called off their engagement.

The Dorset Echo was the first to announce Perrie and Zayn’s engagement in 2013, and also reported how Zayn, who visited Weymouth several times with Perrie and even spent New Year in the town in 2013, bought a house in Dorset.

Perrie, 22, has clearly been left distraught by the situation, even crying during a live performance, but has credited the friendship of her bandmates for seeing her through the tough times: “Do you know what? I’m good,” she said.

“We are having an absolute blast in America, things are going so well, and I just wake up every day and I thank my lucky stars I have these three girls.”

It was the close relationship between the girls – Jesy, Perrie, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall – which helped them woo X Factor viewers to win the show in 2011, and go on to sell more than seven million records and achieve two UK number one singles and two platinum albums – DNA and Salute.

Get Weird is the band’s eagerly anticipated third album, with its first single, Black Magic, storming straight to number one on the Official Chart in the UK.

The band gave a spellbinding performance of the track at the Teen Choice Awards ceremony in LA recently, but it’s clear they have remained down to earth, with Perrie regularly returning to her beloved Weymouth to visit friends and family, including her aunt and cousins, and with her cousin to visit a community farm near Dorchester that helps people with learning difficulties.

Named after Steve Perry from rock band Journey, she was perhaps always destined for stardom. A young Perrie honed her dance moves at June Hornby’s Weymouth Dance Studio, mastering ballet and tap at the Derby Street school, while also enjoying sessions at Whizz Kids activity club at the United Reform Church.

“I love Weymouth and like to come down as often as I can,” she said.

“I have friends there and like spending time there.”

The feeling is obviously mutual, with Perrie admitting the residents of Weymouth always recognise her when she visits.

“Although I spent more time in South Shields I can walk round and no one knows who I am,” she said.

“But in Weymouth people are always coming up to say hello.”

•Little Mix are at the BIC on Tuesday, March 15. Tickets from 0844 576 3000 or bic.co.uk.