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Shayne Thomas Ward is an Anglo-Irish pop singer who rose to prominence in the UK and Ireland after becoming the winner of the 2005 series of the talent show The X Factor. Although born and raised in Manchester, Ward has openly admitted that he is devoutly Irish, due to the fact that both his parents are from Ireland. He admits it upsets him when people call him a British artist.

Ward is in a relationship with long-term girlfriend, Faye McKeever. He has six siblings, including a twin sister called 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 70k which had been on sale for 4 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 335k 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 #2 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 #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 #14. It fared slightly better in the Irish charts, reaching #9. 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'. Ward is currently working on a new album to be released in March/April 2007. His manager, Louis Walsh, has said that the new material is 'superb' and that it 'will take many people by surprise'. Prior to the release of the new album, Ward is due to make a tour across the UK and Ireland in early 2007, taking in 19 concerts in 28 days from late January to mid February. The tour commences in Dublin, a personal choice of Ward's, on the 21st of January and ends in Birmingham on the 17th of Feburary, 2007.
source: Wikipedia