Shayne Ward biography
Shayne Thomas Ward (born 16 October 1984 in Manchester, England) is an Irish-English pop singer who rose to fame as the winner of second series of The X Factor. He has sold over 3 million records worldwide and has had number one albums and singles in 9 countries.
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.
His first single, "That's My Goal", was released in the UK on 21 December 2005 and became the last number one of 2005, hitting the top spot on 31 December. 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'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 had a stated value of £1 million, of which £150,000 was a cash advance and the remainder was allocated to recording and marketing costs.
Early life
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. 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.
Career
2005: The X Factor
In early 2005, Ward auditioned for the second series of
The X Factor. He impressed all three judges (Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh) and passed through to the next round. His category (16 to 24 year olds) was then mentored by Walsh, and Ward was chosen to be among Walsh's top four contestants and perform on the live shows. Ward quickly became the bookmakers' favourite to win the show, and after making it to the grand final, he defeated Simon Cowell's duo Journey South and Sharon Osbourne's over-25 singer Andy Abraham and was crowned as the winner of
The X Factor 2005. He had not fallen into the bottom two throughout the entire competition, and won by a margin of 1.2% of the vote, out of a reported 10.8 million phone votes cast by viewers. Immediately after the competition, his
X Factor mentor Louis Walsh became his manager under a joint venture with Global Publishing and Walsh Global Management.
2006-07: Life after X Factor and Shayne Ward
Immediately after his victory on
The X Factor, Ward signed a recording contract with Syco Music and his first single, "That's My Goal", was released in the UK on Wednesday, 21 December 2005. After selling 742,000 copies in the first week (including 313,000 on its first day), it became the Christmas number one single of 2005, held the top spot for four weeks and stayed in the top 75 until June 2006, a 21-week run. It became (at that time) the fourth fastest-selling UK single of all time, beaten only by Elton John's "Candle in the Wind", Will Young's "Anything Is Possible/Evergreen", and Gareth Gates' "Unchained Melody" which sold 685,000, 403,000 and 335,000 copies in their first days of sale respectively. To date, "That's My Goal" has sold over 1.3 million copies in the UK. Ward also won an Ivor Nevello Award for being the Best Selling Single.
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