Shayne Ward
Background information
Birth name	Shayne Thomas Ward
Born	October 16, 1984 (1984-10-16) (age 22)
Origin	Manchester, England
Genre(s)	Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instrument(s)	Singing
Years active	2005–Present
Label(s)	Sony BMG
Website	http://www.shayne-ward.com/

Shayne Thomas Ward (born 16 October 1984 in Clayton, Manchester) is an English pop singer of Irish descent who rose to prominence in the UK and Ireland after becoming the winner of the 2005 series of the talent show The X Factor.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Discography 2.1 Albums 2.2 Singles 3 Tour 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

Biography

Ward is in a relationship with long-term girlfriend, Faye. He has six siblings, including a twin sister named Emma. Prior to his participation in The X Factor, Ward was in a band called Destiny with two women named Tracy Murphy and Tracey Lyle. They performed at pubs, clubs and weddings. Ward also reached the final thirty of Popstars: The Rivals.

During The X Factor competition, Shayne 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,[ though technically it was not in one day because sales of downloads for this song were around 70.000 which had been on sale for four days before the physical release] making it the fourth fastest selling single of all time (behind Elton John's "Candle in the Wind" and Will Young's "Anything Is Possible/Evergreen", which sold 685,000 and 403,000 copies in their first days of sale respectively, and 335,000 for Gareth Gates' "Unchained Melody").

His second single "No Promises" (a cover of a Bryan Rice song) was released on 10 April 2006, and it reached number two in the UK Singles Chart. His album was released on Monday April 17, and it sold over 95,000 copies on the first two days of release. By the end of the week, the album sold 201,266 copies at number 1. The album has sold 450,000 copies in total in the UK.

Ward's third single "Stand by Me" failed to set the charts alight like the previous two, entering the UK top 20 at #17. It fared slightly better in the Irish charts, reaching #9. Although this single reached number 9 in Ireland, many people inside and outside of music have now labelled him the new Steve Brookstein due to the decrease in popularity.

Sony BMG released Ward's debut album on 14 July 2006 in Taiwan and other [Asia] countries. He is currently enjoying major success there and in South Africa and he has had some success across Scandinavia.

In August 2006, it was reported that Ward had developed vocal cord nodules — the same condition that stopped the singing career of Julie Andrews — and was to be flown out to Los Angeles in early September to a specialist surgeon. His manager, Louis Walsh, released a statement that he was confident Ward would be fine and would be back at work by the end of the month. In November 2006, he released his autobiography entitled 'My Story'. He travelled to a few places around the country and did book signings which thousands of people attended.

Ward is currently working on a new album to be released in October/November 2007. Prior to the release of the new album, Ward went on tour across the UK and Ireland in early 2007, taking in eighteen concerts in twenty-eight days from late January to mid February. The tour commenced in Dublin on 21 January and ended in Birmingham on 17 February 2007.

It has been confirmed that Ward's new single will be "If That's OK with You", which has a release date of 24th September 2007, with the new album to follow in November. On 3rd August 2007, his official website announced that it will be a double a side single with 'No U Hang Up'

Discography

Albums

Album cover	Album information
	Shayne Ward Released: April 17, 2006 Asia: July 14, 2006 UK Certification: Platinum Peak positions: #1 (UK, Ireland), #8 (Sweden)

Singles

Year	Single	Chart positions					UK certification	Album
		UK	IRE	UWC	SWE	NOR
2005	"That's My Goal"	1	1	12	58	—	Platinum	Shayne Ward
2006	"No Promises"	2	1	—	4	13	Gold
	"Stand by Me"	14	9	—	—	—	—
2007	"If That's OK with You"/ No U Hang Up	TBR	TBR	TBR	TBR	TBR	TBR	TBA

Tour

Main article: Shayne Ward Live 2007

See also

• The X Factor UK series 2
• Andy Abraham, 2nd placed finalist in the competition
• Journey South, 3rd placed finalist in the competition
• Brenda Edwards' 4th place semi finalist in the competition

References

1. Fan page at Music Square

External links