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