Ward was born in 1984 in Clayton to Irish Traveller parentsHe 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. He currently resides in Fish Island, London, UK.

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.

Immediately after his victory on The X Factor, Ward signed a recording contract with Sony BMG 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 third 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 a Ivor Nevello Award for being the Best Selling Single.
Ward's second single, "No Promises", a cover of a Bryan Rice song was released on 10 April 2006, and peaked at number two in the UK Singles Chart. Shayne Ward, his self-titled debut album was released on Monday April 17. It sold 201,266 copies in the first week and entered the albums chart at number one. To date, the album has sold 520,000 copies in the UK and a further 200,000 worldwide, reaching number one in eight other countries. The album was certified platinum.
Ward's third single "Stand by Me" failed to make the chart impact of the previous two, entering and peaking in the UK Singles Chart at number fourteen. It fared slightly better in the Irish charts however, reaching number nine.
It was confirmed in Gary Barlow's autobiography, that in 2006, fellow Take That member, Jason Orange threatened to quit the band, and Ward was seriously considered as his replacement. Orange, however, later changed his mind and a replacement was not required.
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 see 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. Ward had successful treatment and was indeed able to return to his singing career. In November 2006, he released his autobiography entitled My Story. He travelled to several places around the UK for book signings, which hundreds of people attended. In early 2007, Ward embarked on a solo tour of UK & Republic of Ireland venues, taking in eighteen concerts in twenty-eight days from late January to mid-February. The tour commenced in Dublin on January 21 and ended in Birmingham on 17 February 2007.

After the completition of his successful debut tour, Ward's fourth single and first from his second album ("If That's OK with You") was given a release date of 20 August 2007, but was then delayed and became a double A-side single with "No U Hang Up". It was finally released on 24 September 2007, and charted at number two in the UK being held off by the Sugababes with "About you now". "No U Hang Up" and "If That's OK with You" charted separately in Ireland, the former reaching number eleven and the latter entering at number one.
Ward's second album, Breathless, was released on 26 November 2007, and after selling over 95,000 copies in its first week, debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart, held off the top spot by his X Factor successor, Leona Lewis's, multi-platinum selling debut, Spirit. In Ireland, the album debuted at number one (removing Lewis's album from the top spot) a position it held for three weeks, and was later certified five times platinum.
The second single from Ward's album was announced as "Breathless", and was released on 19 November 2007. It peaked at number six in the UK and number two in Ireland. On November 10, Ward performed "Breathless" on the live results show of the fourth series of The X Factor, although the single was not available for download until the November 18, followed by a performance on The Paul O'Grady Show on November 19. In the UK the album has been certified platinum with sales of over 450,000.
In May 2008 Ward embarked on his month-long UK tour named The Breathless Tour 2008. He made his stage debut at London's O2 Arena and visited his home town Manchester at the MEN Arena. He also performed his complete show as a support act for Westlife's 2008 tour in front of a crowd of over 80,000 at Ireland's Croke Park. Ward also played on the opening night at the O2, Dublin, at the Cheerios Childline concert on 16 Dec 2008. He sang among big stars including Enrique Iglesias, Anastacia and many more.

Ward is currently working with several producers in the studio on his third studio album, which was thought to be released around summertime, but has been delayed until end of February/start of March. Shayne played at the Marquee, Co. Cork on June 19 2009, after two sell out shows at the same venue last year.
It has recently been revealed that Ward is working with Taio Cruz and Sugababe member Heidi Range for his third album, which has been speculated for release in February/March 2010.

* X Factor Live 2006 (with The X Factor 2005 Finalists)
* Shayne Ward Live 2007
* The Breathless Tour 2008
* Butlins 2007/2008

Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is an English pop and R&B singer–songwriter. Lewis rose to fame in 2006 as the winner of the third series of the British television series The X Factor.

Lewis has become a multi-platinum selling artist and three time Grammy Award nominee. She was proclaimed 'Top New Artist' by Billboard magazine in 2008. Lewis has released two albums to date, Spirit and Echo, in 2007 and 2009 respectively. Spirit became the fastest-selling debut album and the biggest seller of 2007 in both the United Kingdom and Ireland, and made Lewis the first British solo artist to top the Billboard 200 with a debut album. It has sold over 6.5 million copies worldwide.

Lewis's debut single "A Moment Like This" became the fastest selling UK single after being downloaded over 50,000 times within thirty minutes of its release. Her second single, "Bleeding Love", reached number one positions in over thirty singles charts around the world. In November 2008 she set a record in the UK for the fastest selling download-only release with her cover version of the Snow Patrol song "Run" which sold 69,244 copies in two days. In November 2009, the first set of dates for her 2010 debut world tour were announced.

Lewis was born in the London Borough of Islington, to Aural Josiah "Joe" Lewis of Afro-Guyanese descent and Maria Lewis of Welsh descent. Her parents enrolled her at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, and from there she attended the Italia Conti Academy and the BRIT School, where she learned to play instruments such as the guitar and piano, and began to write her own songs in the hope of becoming a singer-songwriter, writing her first full-length song at the age of 12. She initially trained in opera, but went on to singing jazz and blues, eventually leading to popular music, citing Minnie Ripperton, Eva Cassidy and Stevie Wonder as her main influences. After leaving the BRIT School at 17, she took a number of jobs to fund studio time, recording a demo album called Twilight.The album, comprised almost exclusively of her own compositions, was recorded under Spiral Music, a production company based in Fulham. "I tried to secure a record deal by doing things my own way. I worked very hard but I never managed to land a contract", said Lewis. Other demos were recorded under licence from UEG Entertainment, later included on an album called Best Kept Secret. However, none of Lewis's demos were released and she considered taking a hiatus from her music career to attend university until her boyfriend persuaded her to enter The X Factor which subsequently severed her connections with UEG.

Lewis auditioned for the third series of The X Factor in 2006, singing "Over the Rainbow". She was mentored by Simon Cowell and was announced the winner on 16 December 2006, winning a £1 million recording contract.

Her debut single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This", was released on CD on 20 December 2006, and was available as a digital download from midnight on 17 December. It broke a world record after it was downloaded 50,000 times in thirty minutes.On 24 December, "A Moment Like This" was crowned the 2006 UK Christmas number-one single, having sold 571,253 copies, outselling the rest of the Top 40's sales combined.The single became the most downloaded song in 2006; it stayed at number one for four weeks and stayed at the top spot in the Irish Singles Chart for six weeks. It went on to sell in the region of 830,000 copies.

n February 2007, Lewis signed a £5 million ($9.7 million) five-album contract in the United States with Clive Davis's record label, J Records, and showcased for several American music executives. A press release was sent out revealing that Cowell and Davis would work together in a first-of-its-kind partnership on both the song and producer selection for Lewis's debut album, entitled Spirit. Lewis recorded tracks for the album in London, Miami, Los Angeles, New York City, and Atlanta, where she worked with several songwriters and record producers including Dallas Austin, Walter Afanasieff, Salaam Remi, Steve Mac,Stargate and Ne-Yo. It was released in November 2007 and entered both the Irish Albums Chart and the UK Albums Chart at number one, becoming the fastest-selling debut album in both countries, and the United Kingdom's fourth fastest selling album of all time. It was released in several other nations in January 2008, and went to number one in New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Germany, South Africa and Switzerland. Two further tracks were recorded in 2008 for the US release of the album: "Forgive Me", produced by Akon, and "Misses Glass", produced by Madd Scientist. It was released in the United States in April 2008 and entered the Billboard 200 at number one, making Lewis the first British artist to reach number one with a debut album. A special edition of Spirit was re-released in November 2008 in Europe, including the songs "Forgive Me", "Misses Glass" and a cover of the Snow Patrol song "Run". The album again went to number one in the UK Albums Chart. To date the album has sold over 6.5 million copies worldwide and has a 9× platinum certification in the UK.

Lewis's second single, "Bleeding Love", produced by Ryan Tedder and written by Tedder and Jesse McCartney, was released in October 2007 in the UK, where it sold 218,805 copies in its first week, giving it the biggest first-week sales of 2007 to date. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number one, where it stayed for seven weeks, and in the Irish Singles Chart it remained at number one for eight weeks. It reached number one in the singles charts of New Zealand, Australia, France, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Austria, Canada and the United States. "Bleeding Love" won The Record of the Year in December 2007. In February 2008, "Bleeding Love" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 85 and then went on to peak at number one for four non-consecutive weeks. The song became the first track by a UK female to reach number one since Kim Wilde's "You Keep Me Hangin' On" in 1987. Lewis's third single, a double A-side featuring "Better in Time" and "Footprints in the Sand", was released in the United Kingdom in March 2008, in aid of Sport Relief, and she visited South Africa for the charity. The single reached a peak of number two in the UK singles chart selling over 40,000 copies in its first week of physical release. "Better in Time" was released as Lewis's second single in the US, where it peaked at number 11 in the Billboard Hot 100. "Forgive Me" was released as Lewis's fifth single in November 2008; it reached number five in the UK. "Run" was released as a download-only single in the UK, reaching number one, and becoming the UK's fastest-selling download-only single with 69,244 copies sold in two days. Lewis's last single from Spirit, "I Will Be", was released in January 2009, only in North America; it peaked at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 33 on the Pop 100.

In August 2008, she performed "Whole Lotta Love" with guitarist Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin at the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in Beijing, representing the handover to London as the host of the 2012 Summer Olympics. In September 2008, she joined several female singers to perform a single for the anti-cancer campaign Stand Up to Cancer. The single, titled "Just Stand Up!", was performed live during the one-hour telethon that aired on all major US television networks. Lewis received three nominations for the 51st Grammy Awards in December 2008. "Bleeding Love" was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Spirit was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album. She was nominated for four BRIT Awards, in the categories British Female Solo Artist, British Breakthrough Act, British Album for Spirit, and British Single for "Bleeding Love", but despite being the favourite to win the most awards, she received none.She won two awards at the 2008 MOBO Awards: Best Album for Spirit and Best Video for "Bleeding Love". In December 2008 Lewis was named 'Top New Artist' by Billboard magazine.

2009–present: Echo and world tour

Lewis's second album, Echo, was given a worldwide release in November 2009.Production took place throughout 2009, including work with Ryan Tedder, Justin Timberlake,Max Martin, Arnthor Birgisson, Kevin Rudolf, and John Shanks. It was recorded in Los Angeles and took nine months to produce. Lewis described the album as "more guitar-driven" compared to Spirit. One of the albums's songs, "My Hands", appears as the theme song to Final Fantasy XIII's North American and European release. Lewis performed her first full UK show at the Hackney Empire in London on 2 November 2009, performing songs from Spirit and Echo. Echo reached number one in the UK Albums Chart and the top ten of Austria, Ireland and Switzerland.

Despite previous attempts from Lewis's lawyers to ban the release of Best Kept Secret by UEG Music, claiming that the singer had not given her consent, the album was released in January 2009 when the label insisted it owned the rights to the music and Lewis would receive a 50% share of the album's profits. However, a television advert for the album was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority, who said in a statement: "We considered that the claim 'Leona Lewis's new album' misleadingly implied it was the singer's latest recording rather than a new CD of tracks recorded some years ago."[63] The album was released to iTunes in standard and deluxe editions, and two EPs, "Private Party" and "Dip Down"/"Joy", were released in September 2009.

The first single released from Echo was "Happy", which was written by Lewis, Tedder and Evan Bogart and produced by Tedder.The single was released on 15 September 2009, peaking at number two in the UK, and reaching the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Japan and Switzerland. Lewis also recorded the theme song for the 2009 science fiction film Avatar, directed by James Cameron. The song, "I See You", was written by James Horner and Simon Franglen. It was nominated for Best Original Song at the 67th Golden Globe Awards. The single second from Echo entitled "I Got You" was released to radio on 8 December 2009 in North America.

Lewis plans to start her first world tour supporting Spirit and Echo in May 2010, which is reported to be lasting 14 months. It is said that Lewis has hired choreographer Travis Payne for the tour, which is reported to have a Labyrinth theme. Her label have apparently said that money is no object.

Other activities:

In October 2008, The Times reported that Lewis had turned down a $1 million deal with Mohamed Al Fayed to open a Harrods sale. Lewis commented in the press that she turned down the deal on the grounds that Harrods is the only UK department store which continues to stock clothing made from animal fur. She told The Big Issue, "I got a lot of flak for that. There were people who said I should have done it and given the money to charity, but that would have been such a contradiction." She announced in October 2008 that she was in the "bargaining period" of launching her own ethical line of accessories through Topshop,and that she is in the late stages of releasing her own perfume for Europe.

Lewis signed a book deal in January 2009 to release an illustrated autobiography in October 2009. The book, entitled Dreams, contains mostly pictures taken by photographer Dean Freeman.

Personal life:

Lewis lives in Hackney with her boyfriend Lou Al-Chamaa, an electrician, whom she has known since she was approximately ten years old. She has a tattoo of Hebrew letters on her left wrist, symbolising her relationship with Al-Chamaa. A vegetarian since she was 12,Lewis won PETA's Sexiest Vegetarian along with Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis in 2008, and again in 2009 with actor Scott Maslen. She also was named PETA's Person Of The Year for 2008. Lewis is a supporter of the World Society for the Protection of Animals.

At a book signing for Dreams on 14 October 2009 at the Piccadilly branch of Waterstone's book store in central London, Lewis received a punch to the head from Peter Kowalczyk, a 29-year-old man from south London. Eyewitnesses say Lewis ran out with her hand covering her face, whilst security wrestled the attacker, who was reportedly laughing, to the floor. The police were called immediately to the scene and Kowalczyk was arrested.Lewis suffered bruising and was taken to a private doctor as a precaution. She cancelled a scheduled appearance on the BBC's The One Show and a two-day promotional trip to Germany. She later released a statement, saying "Thank you so much for your support, it is truly overwhelming. Yesterday was a horrible shock and left me extremely hurt and upset. I'm very sorry to those I wasn't able to meet at the signing. Thank you again for all of the lovely messages. Love you all." Kowalczyk was subsequently sectioned under the Mental Health Act.[85] He was charged with common assault, for which he was due to appear before City of Westminster magistrates on 26 October 2009. The case was adjourned as Kowalczyk was "not fit to attend court". It was reported that he had a history of mental health problems and may have attacked Lewis due to jealousy, as he had attempted to enter The X Factor but was rejected by producers. On 14 December 2009, Kowalczyk admitted common assault and was ordered to remain in hospital for an indeterminate period.

Discography:

Studio albums

* Spirit (2007)
* Echo (2009)

Tours:

* World tour (2010)

Awards and nominations:

BRIT Awards

The BRIT Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. Lewis has received six nominations across three years, including three nominations in the British Single category, but has yet to win an award. In 2008, Lewis was the favourite to win the most awards

Jackson's second single, "Don't Call This Love", from the album Right Now, was released on 12 October 2008, peaking at #3 in the United Kingdom and #8 in Ireland. The album was released on 21 October 2008, and reached #4 in the UK and #7 in Ireland.

In 2007, Leon Jackson auditioned for the fourth series of The X Factor in Glasgow. During the show, he was mentored by Dannii Minogue. After progressing through the rounds, he reached the final on 15 December 2007, in which he performed a duet with Kylie Minogue of "Better the Devil You Know", as well as three other songs. After the public vote, he was declared winner, receiving a £1 million recording contract with Simon Cowell's company Syco, a division of Sony BMG. Jackson was an outsider to win the competition, and his victory was described as "the biggest shock in the history of reality TV betting." X Factor judge Louis Walsh later said that Jackson had won the vote by about 10%.A number of viewers complained to watchdog Ofcom that they were unable to get through to vote for Jackson's rival Rhydian Roberts, but an Ofcom investigation found that Roberts had not been unfairly disadvantaged.. More than 12 Million people watched the final of Leon winning, and Jackson described taking the X Factor winner's title was "Not Real".

On 11 February 2008, Jackson began the "X Factor Live" tour in the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland with Rhydian Roberts, Same Difference and five other finalists from the 2007 show. They continued the tour in other venues around the UK until 21 March when the tour finished at London's Wembley Arena, thus concluding The X Factor 2007.

Jackson appeared as a celebrity guest on the first live episode of series five of The X Factor on 11 October 2008, to perform the first single, "Don't Call This Love", from his upcoming album Right Now. The song was released the next day, and peaked at #3 on the UK singles chart and #8 in Ireland. Right Now was released on 20 October 2008. It debuted at #4 on the UK Top 40 Albums chart the week of 26 October 2008.[25] It remained in the Top 40 for three weeks total, before slipping out of the Top 40 but remaining in the Top 75 for an additional six weeks. The album debuted on the Ireland Top 75 Albums chart at #7 for the week of 23 October 2008, staying on that chart for a total of five weeks.

The second single from the album, "Creative", was released as a download-only purchase in late 2008. It peaked at #94 on 29 November 2008 on the UK Singles Download chart. The third and final single, "Stargazing", was released to radio stations in January 2009. It was also made available for purchase as a download-only single.

In December 2008, Jackson performed at the 2008 Hogmany Event in Edinburgh. However in 2007 Jackson pulled out of the Hogmany event where he would have been playing with Scottish singer Amy MacDonald. He pulled out of the event after suffering tonsilitis.

Jackson told The Sun newspaper that he was focusing on preparing for an upcoming concert tour of the UK, which would take place in May and June 2009. Due to poor sales, he had to merge tours and co-headline this tour with fellow former X Factor contestants Same Difference.
Scottish singer and songwriter Sandi Thom had lined up Jackson as a Supporting Guest Act in Glasgow as part of her Homecoming Scotland 2009 Tour.
As of April 2009 half of the concert dates had been cancelled. All but two of the joint tour days from England and Wales remained (with Same Difference playing a solo tour gig in Portsmouth), while seven of the nine tour dates in Scotland remained.
Jackson also announced he would change his musical genre from Old-fashioned Jazz to more guitar-led music. He is working with other musicians including Scottish singer Paolo Nutini's co-writer Jim Duguid as well as writers who have worked with James Morrison. He said "I am switching genres a bit and moving from old-fashioned jazz to the singer-songwriter I love." He added: "I love to sing in a style that's raw and bare. When I create a song on the guitar, it is honest and real. "I wasn't able to show these songs after winning X Factor because they were not well enough known."
On 28th December 2009 during the BBC Radio 1 chart of the decade, in which Jacksons debut single featured, DJ Nihal Arthanayake challenged Leon to get back in the studio and release some new material, after receiving a tweet via twitter suggesting that Jackson would definitely not be making the same chart in ten years time.

Burke was born on 25 August 1988 in Islington, London. Her middle names come from her great grandmother (Imelda) and grandfather (Cecil) and her mother's maiden name (Ewan). She is the daughter of Jamaican-born David Burke and British-born Melissa Bell of African-Jamaican, Irish and Dougla descent, who is a former Soul II Soul member. Her parents split up when she was six. She has lived in Islington all of her life and has four brothers and one sister.
Burke started singing when she was five and, prior to The X Factor, had no professional vocal training. At nine years old, she sang on stage in Bahrain with her mother. At the age of twelve, Burke entered the TV talent show Star for a Night where she was the youngest person in the competition. She was beaten to the number-one spot by Joss Stone. At age twelve, she also sang down the phone to Stevie Wonder. When Burke's mother asked her to sing to Jean Carne, Carne was so impressed that she asked her to perform at her show the next night.
Burke attended Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in Islington and after her GCSEs she left school to pursue a career in music. Before her X Factor success, she had been working as a singer, gigging at weekends in clubs. She also went on tour with "Young Voices", a charity that raises money for children with leukemia, where she performed at large venues such as the Royal Albert Hall.

2005–2008: The X Factor
2005:
Burke auditioned for the second series of The X Factor in 2005 (which was eventually won by Shayne Ward). She made it through to the final seven in Louis Walsh's 16–24 category, effectively the top 21 of the competition; however, Walsh did not choose her for his final four as he felt that she was too young for the competition.
2008:
Burke's second bid to win The X Factor came in 2008. Falling into the "Girls" category, she was mentored by Girls Aloud's Cheryl Cole who selected her for the finals—a series of ten weekly live shows in which contestants are progressively eliminated by public vote. On the first live show, Burke performed Whitney Houston's classic "I Wanna Dance with Somebody". For the second live show she covered "I'll Be There" by The Jackson 5. In week three, big band week, Burke performed Christina Aguilera's "Candyman" and received her first standing ovation. For the disco-themed fourth live show, Burke performed Donna Summer's "On the Radio". During Mariah Carey week on 8 November, Burke and the other finalists met Carey for individual masterclasses, with Carey complimenting Burke on her voice. Burke performed "Without You" and received a standing ovation from the judges who all gave her positive comments. Cowell commented that "by any standard, that was just outstanding". Following the show Burke's performance was also praised by Carey who called her rendition of the song "absolutely amazing".
In weeks 6 and 7, Burke received positive comments from the judging panel for her performances of Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful" and Dan Hartman's "Relight My Fire" (the popularity of which in the UK is mostly a result of Take That's 1993 revival thereof). Week 8 saw her replace Diana Vickers as the bookies' favourite after performing Britney Spears' "Toxic" and Beyoncé Knowles' "Listen", for which she received yet another standing ovation. In week 9, Burke performed Rihanna's hit song "Don't Stop the Music" and again received positive comments, with Louis calling her "the British Beyoncé" and Simon commenting "...We may be seeing the birth of a star here [...] you've got it all, that was a terrific performance". Diana Vickers was eliminated in the semi-final, to the shock and upset of both Burke and Eoghan Quigg. Burke confessed after Vickers' final performance that she thought Vickers was going to win.
Burke was joined in the grand final by Irish teenager Eoghan Quigg and boyband JLS. She sang "Listen" as a duet with Beyoncé (who later performed her UK number-one single "If I Were a Boy"), and after performing with the American singer she proclaimed: "I have achieved a dream".
"Hallelujah"
After the elimination of Quigg she sang what would become her debut single, a 1984 song by Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah", for the first time. Finally, with over eight million votes cast in total, Burke was revealed as the winner with 58% of the final vote. The single went on to become the Christmas number one of 2008, holding the top spot for three weeks and selling one million copies. There was also a campaign to take Jeff Buckley's cover of "Hallelujah" to the top of the Christmas chart to deny Burke the top spot. The campaign was fuelled by Jeff Buckley fans' dislike of The X Factor's commercialism and the song's arrangement, as well as a desire by this contingent to introduce younger music fans to Buckley's version. Burke herself was not enamoured of the choice of song, remarking "It just didn’t do anything for me"

On 13 February 2009 it was reported that Burke signed a £3.5 million, five-album US record deal with Epic Records.
Burke's first album was originally scheduled for March 2009 however, Simon Cowell confirmed that her album was scheduled for release later in the year to allow Burke to polish her skills and find the right songs for the album and that it would not be rushed, as previously happened with Leona Lewis' debut album. The album was released on 19 October 2009 in the UK, titled Overcome.
Burke's first commercial single from her debut album is titled "Bad Boys". The single featuring Flo Rida premiered in the UK on The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 on 25 August 2009.On 18 October 2009 Bad Boys topped the UK singles chart.
After visiting Burke in the studio, Beyoncé spoke of possibly recording a duet with Burke and also for Burke to join her for Beyonce's second European leg of her I Am… Tour.
American rapper 50 Cent has expressed an interest in Burke, correctly predicting that she would win The X Factor and invited her to appear in an upcoming music video of his, most likely for a song from his upcoming album Before I Self Destruct.
On 19 July 2009, Burke confirmed that she had signed a six figure contract with Italian fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana, to become the face of a new fashion line. She will also model their clothes and accessories in her music videos.
Burke performed on the Royal Variety Show on 7 December 2009.
It was confirmed by Burke on 17 November 2009, that "Broken Heels" will be the 2nd commercial single, (3rd overall), from Overcome. She also confirmed via her Official Twitter page that the video was shot in Los Angeles on 22 and 23 November 2009. The single is set to be released on the 18 January 2010. Burke appeared on the The Paul O'Grady Show on 3 November 2009 to perform "The Silence". She performed on penultimate episode on 17 December 2009 singing "Broken Heels".
It was confirmed on 31 December 2009 that "Hallelujah" is the 5th and "Bad Boys" is the 68th biggest selling singles of the Decade. "Bad Boys" is the 8th biggest selling single of 2009.
Hallelujah is the 6th biggest selling single of the decade in Ireland.

Alexandra Burke has recently signed a five album £3.5 million recording deal with Epic Records, which is expected to give her international fame. She will go on a US promotional tour and then will release her music in the USA.
Burke has recently said, 'I'm really looking forward to it, but at the same time extremely nervous and scared because it's a whole new world. It was all because of Beyonce. She rang up people and was like "You need to watch this girl"'.

Birth Name: Joseph McElderry
Born: 16 June 1991 (1991-06-16) (age 18)
South Shields,Tyne and Wear,England
Genres: Pop
Occupations: Singer
Instruments: Vocals
Years active: 2009–present
Labels: Sony Music, Syco Music (2009–present)
Associated acts:The X Factor 2009 Winner


Joseph McElderry (born 16 June 1991 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England) is an English singer. He won the sixth series of the ITV show The X Factor in 2009. His first single "The Climb" reached #1 on the UK and Irish Singles Charts.

Early life:

Born in South Shields, England, Joe is the only child of Jim McElderry and Eileen Joyce.The couple separated when McElderry was a child, but have said they have a great relationship. McElderry was raised with help from his grandmother Hilda Joyce and his aunts. Hilda used to sing in a band called The Dolly Mixtures, who performed in the pubs and clubs of the North-East of England.

McElderry attended Harton Technology College in Lisle Road, South Shields, before joining South Tyneside College to study AS level school qualifications, and Newcastle College to study performing arts.

Singing career:

He was the Pride of South Tyneside's Young Performer of the Year in 2008.. McElderry studies for BTEC National Diploma in Performing Arts at Newcastle College Performance Academy. He was backed by the college to win The X Factor. He took the role of Danny Zuko in Grease performed at Harton Technology College. McElderry had previously auditioned for The X Factor in 2007, but felt too young compared to the other contestants and opted to walk away.

2009: The X Factor:

McElderry auditioned in Manchester and sang Luther Vandross' "Dance with My Father". The audition was televised on 22 August 2009. After this performance, he got full support from the judges. He travelled to Marrakesh in Morocco with mentor, Cheryl Cole, and guest judge Will Young, and was picked as one of her final three contestants in the boys’ category to progress to the live shows.

Final:

McElderry's first song in the final was Luther Vandross' "Dance With My Father", the song he sang at his audition. His second song was a duet with George Michael, sining "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". His third song was "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", which he sang on the eighth live show. McElderry secured his place in the final two after winning the public vote alongside Olly Murs. Stacey Solomon missed out on a place, despite giving a confident performance. They both performed the winner's song "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus in Sunday night's final. McElderry won the series, and went on to release his first single, "The Climb". McElderry told the Sunday Mirror that he wanted to win the title for his grandmother, Hilda

Performances:

McElderry performed the following songs during the contest:

Auditions: "Dance with My Father"
Bootcamp: "Praying for Time"
Judges' House: "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"
Week 1: "No Regrets"
Week 2: "Where Do Broken Hearts Go"
Week 3: "Sway"
Week 4: "Don't Stop Believin'"
Week 5: "Circle of Life"
Week 6: "Somebody to Love"
Week 7: "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"
Week 8(Quarter Final): "Could It Be Magic" and "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"
Week 9(Semi-final):"She's Out of My Life" and "Open Arms"
Week 10(Final): "Dance with My Father","Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" (Performed with George Michael),"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word","Don't Stop Believin'" and "The Climb" Winner's song

The Climb:

McElderry's debut single is "The Climb", originally recorded by Miley Cyrus for the 2009 film Hannah Montana: The Movie. The song was written by Jessi Alexander and Jon Mabe, who were inspired by their experiences in the music industry. It was available to download at 00:00 on 14 December 2009 and was released physically on 16 December 2009.
According to industry sources, approximately 100,000 copies of the single were sold on the day of its release. The song was a contender for 2009's British Christmas Number One, competing against, and losing to Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name". Following this, the song moved up to the top spot in the UK singles chart on 27th December. It conceded the top position to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance after staying one week at the top of the British charts.