Shayne Ward

Profile

Real Name: Shayne Thomas Ward
Date of Birth: October 16, 1984
Place of Birth: Manchester, England

Albums

Shayne Ward (2006)
Breathless (2007)
Obsession (2010)

Biography

Shayne Thomas Ward is an English pop singer, who rose to fame as the winner of second series of The X Factor. He has had number one albums and singles in the UK and Ireland.

Ward was born in 1984 in Clayton to Irish Traveller parents Martin and Philomena. He has a twin sister named Emma and five other siblings: Mark, Martin, Michael, Lisa and Leona. He is a Manchester United supporter, and in 2002 he reached the final thirty of Popstars: The Rivals, the television show that created Girls Aloud. Prior to his participation in The X Factor, Ward was in a band called Destiny with two women named Tracy Murphy and Tracey Lyle, performing at pubs, clubs and weddings.

During The X Factor competition, Ward was mentored by manager Louis Walsh. The Bookies' favourite to win the show, he defeated duo Journey South and singer Andy Abraham in the final screened by ITV1 by a margin of 1.2% of the vote, out of a reputed 10.8 million phone votes cast by viewers (since the programme was watched by an audience averaging 9.2 million people, it is likely that some viewers cast multiple votes for all finalists).

His first single, "That's My Goal", was released in the UK on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 and became the Christmas number one in 2005. It sold 313,000 copies on its first day of sales, making it the third fastest selling single of all time (behind Elton John's "Candle in the Wind" and Will Young's "Evergreen", which sold 685,000 and 400,000 copies in their first days of sale respectively).

Ward became a controversial figure in the final weeks of the competition when it emerged that his father, Martin Ward, is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence for rape. Ward has acknowledged his father's crime in recent interviews with the British press, and his popularity remained unaffected.

Ward's prize, as winner, was a recording contract with Simon Cowell's Syco record label, which is co-owned by Sony Music Entertainment. The contract has a stated value of £1 million, of which £150,000 is a cash advance and the remainder is allocated to recording and marketing costs.

Videos

Links

Official Website: http://www.shayneward.com/
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shayne_Ward

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