Ward has six siblings, including a twin sister. 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, 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. His second single was released on Monday 10 April 2006, and it reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart. His album was released on Monday April 17th, 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 #1. The album sold 71,396 copies in its second week, and fell to Number 2. A modelling deal with Calvin Klein’s autumn/winter collection worth over £500,000 is rumoured. Sony BMG released his debut album on 14 July 2006 in Taiwan and other Asian Countries. The self-titled album spawned 3 singles: That’s My Goal, No Promises, and Stand By Me. Since release, it has gone platinum and peaked at number one in some countries. On November 26 2007, Shayne released his second studio album, Breathless. It received mixed reviews and peaked at number one on the Irish Albums Chart. Breathless spawned the singles - No U Hang Up, If That’s Ok With You, Breathless and U Got Me So. |
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