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About
- What is a
fanlisting?
A fanlisting is a place for all fans of a particular show, movie,
actor/actress, singer, etc. to come together and build the biggest listing
of people from all around the world who are fans of that subject.
Shayne
Basics
First Name: Shayne
Middle Name: Thomas
Surname: Ward
Nickname: Wardy
Age: 22 years old
Date of Birth: 16th October 1984
Birthplace: Hattersley
Lives: Manchester
Secondary School: St Peter's RC High School
Previous Occupation: Working in New Look, selling
shoes. Arndale Centre, Manchester.
Star Sign: Libra
Eye Colour: Blue
Hair Colour: Brown
Height: 5 ft 9.25 in (176 cm)
Family Members:
Mum: Philomena
Dad: Martin
Brothers/Sisters: Mark (29), Martin (27), Michael (26),
Lisa (23), Twin Emma (21), Leona (17)
Supporter of: Manchester United
X Factor audition number: 9046
Favorite
Football Team: Manchester United
Destination in the World: Australia or Mexico
Part of Body: Eyes
Crisp Flavour: Worcester Sauce
Song off Album (Shayne Ward): Someone to Love
Meal: Mums Meat & Potatoe Pie
International Royalty: Princess Madeline from Sweden
Subject at School: Performing Arts
Biography
You’ve seen it all before and you know what to expect: out of nowhere, some
kid scores a Number One single and album, travels the world selling million of
records, then disappears off the face of the earth and returns having decided
that for album number two it’s time to mature, to ‘grow up’, to leave behind
those youthful follies and explore a Serious New Musical Direction. You could
see it coming a million miles off with the new Shayne Ward album, right? Well,
wrong. After the mature, adult balladeering of his debut this Manchester-born
lad has decided that it’s actually time to act his age. “I’m 22,” he says,
slumped comfortably in jeans, trainers and a hoodie. “Not 42.”
What do 22-year-old lads act like? Well, for one thing they listen to – and make
- the sort of music on Shayne’s second album. It’s music for clubbing, dancing
and drinking. “I’d rather give people a taste of my personality,” Shayne says,
“instead of banging on about ‘my art’ or ‘my creation’. I listen to music for
fun, so why wouldn’t I make it for the same reason?”
Recorded over the last twelve months in Sweden with legendary pop overlord Max
Martin, the Brit-nominated singer’s new album – bursting with an energy few
would have expected from his debut – is an unselfconscious and fruity collection
of pop, R&B and electronica with world class production values taking influences
from Shayne’s own iPod playlists - Prince, Ne-Yo, Justin. These are musical
preferences already familiar to those who saw Shayne on his 2007 arena tour with
its handful of well-chosen cover versions (‘Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough’,
‘When Doves Cry’) nestling among Shayne’s own songs.
Comeback single ‘If That’s Okay With You’ is a funky, dancefloor-bound track
about the end of one relationship and the first, tentative steps into another.
“It’s a ‘would you like to move in with me, can I leave my toothbrush at your
house’ kind of song,” Shayne laughs. “It’s a situation most of us have been in
at some point – scary and exciting at the same time.” ‘If That’s Okay With You’
is the first glimpse of a second album destined to build on the phenomenal
success of Shayne’s first. Debut single ‘That’s My Goal’ smashed the UK record
for first day sales, debuting at Number One and selling more than 1.3 million
copies, followed by the ‘Shayne Ward’ album which also shot straight to Number
One and went platinum in a fortnight. Within six months Shayne was a waxwork in
Madame Tussaud’s and bringing city centres to a standstill (his open air
Manchester gig pulled in tens of thousands of fans) while the singles – ‘No
Promises’, ‘Stand By Me’ - kept coming and tickets for his 18-date UK arena tour
flew out of box offices across the country.
Though Shayne’s been absent from the UK charts for over a year – quite unusual
in these days of whacking out an album every twelve months in the misguided
belief that a high volume of shonky material will somehow maintain a fanbase –
he has hardly been sitting around at home twiddling on his PlayStation.
Travelling the globe he’s taken his music to Number One in Hong Kong, Sweden,
Indonesia, Korea, South Africa, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. In some
countries his album went triple platinum, in others it charted higher than
Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. He has, it is fair to say, done fairly
well around the world. “It’s flattering to hit Number One in the UK,” Shayne
says, but he adds that to hit it big in countries where he wasn’t ‘that bloke
off the telly’, and where he stood or fell on the quality of his music, presents
a very different sense of achievement. “Asia is one of those places where you
have to put in the hard work to get something out,” he adds, “and I definitely
did. I love the hard work and the support I got from all that was incredible. I
started from scratch in different countries, and it was an amazing, very
vindicating feeling when it worked out.”
As well as trotting those areas of the globe, Shayne spent a lot of time a
little closer to home, in Sweden with Max Martin and his team of songwriters and
producers. Max is the living pop legend whose talents propelled Britney, *NSYNC
and the Backstreet Boys to fame at the start of the decade then, with a
reinvented guitar pop sound, worked magic on recent releases including Kelly
Clarkson’s ‘Since U Been Gone’. Shayne says. “There's a special feeling when he
is in the room because you know something is going to be big. He’ll pop into the
studio, make some suggestion which seems weird, then by the time he’s left the
room the song has gone off in some amazing new direction.” Shayne adds that
songs which make up this new album are not of the ‘pulled out of the tracks
Britney rejected’ drawer variety favoured by so many of today’s tunesmiths;
written either for or with Shayne the songs – like ‘You Hang Up’ and ‘You Make
Me Wish’ - have an organic, bespoke feel which suits Shayne’s personality down
to the ground. “These are all my songs,” Shayne beams, “and I needed to be proud
of them because I’m going to be the one out there singing them! I can’t wait to
show my fans what I’ve got up my sleeve.”
A stamp has been put on the imagery and the video for the first release from the
album ‘If That’s Okay With You’. The line up of this superstar team only begins
with Max Martin, As for the video, Syco recruited legendary director Wayne Isham
who has brought songs by the likes of Michael Jackson, Ricky Martin and Bon Jovi
to life with his innovative videography. For the creative Shayne has been
photographed by Max Vadukul who has shot countless stars for the cover of
Rolling Stone and Vogue as well as timeless campaigns for Armani and Express.
Back on an album otherwise surprisingly bereft of balladry there’s one song,
'Breathless', which completely hits the spot. “It really stands out as the best
ballad I've ever done,” Shayne smiles, “but even then it doesn’t sound like you
might expect. Just because a song’s down-tempo it doesn’t mean you can’t
surprise people.” Think along the lines of ‘Umbrella’ or ‘Cry Me A River’ and
you’ll pinpoint the kind of state-of-the-art ballads Shayne’s going for –
ballads which don’t need gargantuan key changes or ‘standing up off the stool’
moments to get the job done. “As with a lot of the album I think you hear
‘Breathless’ and you hear something with a lot more depth – a lot more
adventurousness – than I’ve had before,” Shayne says. “It’s been really
important to get the sound of the songs, not just the tunes of those songs, just
right.”
The album’s so well-realised that it’s easy to forget that just two years ago
nobody knew Shayne Ward even existed. Having grown up with six brothers and
sisters Shayne spent his teenage years performing at pubs, clubs, bars and
weddings with two other singers. The money’s alright in that game, but it
doesn’t do much for your self-esteem. Shayne was thinking bigger and, when his
break on TV finally came, he was ready to go the whole way. Since winning
X-Factor he’s grown up in the right ways but stayed exactly the same in all the
right ways too – not an easy feat to pull off, but you’d be hard-pushed to find
a guy with his feet so firmly on the ground as Shayne. One change you will
notice this time around, however, is that he’s hung up his suit and the old
image.
Behind the determination to succeed and a thirst for making great pop music,
Shayne has a refreshingly laid back approach to his career. Eye-wateringly
autobiographical lyrics about ‘my struggle’? “These things can come, I’m just
enjoying myself for now.” Popstar strops re being ‘an artist’? “Fourth album,
hopefully never.” Away from sloppy romance, Shayne’s stepping everything up a
gear. “This is not a love album at all,” he states. “It’s about me being the lad
that I am. I’m having fun, I’m showing my emotional side, I’m showing my sexy
side and I’m unleashing the beast. With each album I'm going to make it the best
that I can - every album is going to be different and better than the last. I
want to see myself in the premiere league of British pop acts, and I’m enjoying
working my arse off to get there.”
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Buy "Breathless"
Buy "Shayne
Ward" |
