Ricki Pamela Lake is an American television host and actress. She is known for her lead role as Tracy Turnblad in the 1988 film Hairspray, for which she received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. She is also known for her talk show, Ricki Lake, which was broadcast internationally from September 1993 until May 2004. When the show debuted, Lake was 24 and credited as being the youngest person to host a syndicated talk show at the time. In late 2012, Lake began hosting a second syndicated talk show, The Ricki Lake Show. The series was canceled in 2013 after a single season, but Lake won her first Daytime Emmy Award for the project.
Gary Barlow is an English songwriter, singer, record producer, and television personality. He is the lead singer of the pop group Take That.
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The fourth series was broadcast on ITV from 18 August 2007 and was won by Leon Jackson on 15 December 2007, with Rhydian Roberts finishing as the runner-up and Dannii Minogue emerging as the winning mentor. Dermot O'Leary presented for the first time, replacing Kate Thornton, who had been presenting the show since series 1 in 2004. Fearne Cotton replaced Ben Shephard as presenter on the spin-off show The Xtra Factor. The original judging panel consisted of Simon Cowell, Minogue, Sharon Osbourne and Brian Friedman. Friedman left the panel halfway through the first audition episode and was replaced by former judge Louis Walsh.
The X Factor is a British reality television music competition, and part of the global X Factor franchise created by Simon Cowell. Premiering on 4 September 2004, it was produced by Fremantle's British entertainment company, Thames, and Cowell's production company Syco Entertainment for ITV, as well as simulcast on Virgin Media One in Ireland. The programme ran for around 445 episodes across fifteen series, each one primarily broadcast late in the year, until its final episode in December 2018. The majority of episodes were presented by Dermot O'Leary, with some exceptions: the first three series were hosted by Kate Thornton; while Caroline Flack and Olly Murs hosted the show for the twelfth series.
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The fifth series was broadcast on ITV from 16 August 2008 until 13 December 2008. Dermot O'Leary returned to present the main show on ITV, while Fearne Cotton was replaced by Holly Willoughby as presenter of spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2. Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, and Dannii Minogue returned to the judging panel. Sharon Osbourne left after four series and was replaced by Cheryl Cole. The series was won by Alexandra Burke, with Cole emerging as the winning mentor. Auditions in front of producers were held in April and May, with callbacks in front of the judges in June. The number of applicants for series 5 reached an all-time high with a reported 182,000 people auditioning. A number of well-established music acts from around the world, such as Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Girls Aloud, Take That, Il Divo, and series 3 winner Leona Lewis, performed during the live stages of the show.
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The sixth series started on ITV on 22 August 2009 and was won by Joe McElderry on 13 December 2009. Cheryl Cole emerged as the winning mentor for the second consecutive year, the first time in the show's history that a mentor has won back-to-back series. The show was presented by Dermot O'Leary, with spin-off show The Xtra Factor presented by Holly Willoughby on ITV2. McElderry's winner's single was a cover version of Miley Cyrus's "The Climb". Public auditions by aspiring singers began in June 2009 and were held in five cities across the UK. Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Dannii Minogue and Cole returned as judges. This season was the first to be sponsored by TalkTalk after they took over the sponsorship from The Carphone Warehouse. For the first time, auditions were held in front of a live audience. Following initial auditions, the "bootcamp" stage took place in August 2009, where the number of contestants was narrowed down to 24. The 24 contestants were split into their categories, Boys, Girls, Over 25s and Groups, and given a judge to mentor them at the "judges' houses" stage and throughout the finals.
Oliver Stanley Murs is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence after participating on the sixth series of The X Factor in 2009, where he finished as runner-up. Following the show, Murs was signed to RCA Records and Sony Music in the United Kingdom, and Columbia Records in the United States.
The ACM Gospel Choir is a British gospel choir made up of students of the Academy of Contemporary Music. The group first came to public attention in the summer of 2008 when they gained 4th place in BBC One's Saturday night show Last Choir Standing. Shortly after leaving the show the choir released their first album.
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The eighth series aired on ITV on 20 August 2011 and ended on 11 December 2011. Dermot O'Leary hosted the main show on ITV, while Caroline Flack and series 6 runner-up Olly Murs co-presented the spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2. Louis Walsh returned to the judging panel and was joined by Gary Barlow, Kelly Rowland and Tulisa. Barlow, Rowland, Tulisa joined the panel replacing judges, Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole. Series 5 winner Alexandra Burke served as a guest judge for week 4 of the live shows due to Rowland having a throat infection.
Gary Barlow in Concert was the first full solo tour that Gary Barlow had performed in over 13 years. Leg 1 saw him performing songs from his "incredible music career spanning over 20 years" in front of a sell out audience, whilst also raising money for The Prince's Trust and The Royal Foundation during two nights at the Royal Albert Hall. It was announced on 15 October 2012 that Barlow would go on a full solo tour for his second leg of shows, lasting two months around the UK and Ireland.
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The ninth series began airing on ITV on 18 August 2012 and ended on 9 December 2012. Dermot O'Leary returned as presenter of the main show on ITV, whilst Caroline Flack and Olly Murs returned to co-present The Xtra Factor on ITV2. Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow and Tulisa returned as judges. Nicole Scherzinger was confirmed as the fourth permanent judge after Geri Halliwell, Leona Lewis, Rita Ora, Mel B, Anastacia and Scherzinger herself stood in as guest judges for the vacant position left by Kelly Rowland. After the show of 8 December, two of Scherzinger's acts, James Arthur and Jahméne Douglas, became the top two, meaning that Scherzinger was guaranteed to win. Arthur was announced as the winner on 9 December, and released a cover of Shontelle's "Impossible" as his winner's song. As of 2016, it is the most successful winner's single in the show's history.
The Voice UK is a British singing competition television series. Created by John de Mol and Roel van Velzen, it premiered on BBC One during the spring television cycle on 24 March 2012. Based on the original The Voice of Holland, and part of The Voice franchise, it has aired twelve series and aims to find currently unsigned singing talent contested by aspiring singers, drawn from public auditions. Presented by Emma Willis since 2014, it was previously presented by Holly Willoughby and Reggie Yates from 2012 to 2013 and Marvin Humes from 2014 to 2016. The winners receive a recording contract with Universal Music Group. Winners of each series have been: Leanne Mitchell, Andrea Begley, Jermain Jackman, Stevie McCrorie, Kevin Simm, Mo Adeniran, Ruti Olajugbagbe, Molly Hocking, Blessing Chitapa, Craig Eddie, Anthonia Edwards and Jen & Liv.
The Diamond Jubilee Concert was a British music concert and celebration held outside Buckingham Palace on The Mall in London on 4 June 2012. The concert was organised by Take That singer-songwriter Gary Barlow and was part of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The tenth series began airing on ITV on 31 August, and finished on 15 December 2013. Dermot O'Leary returned to present the main show on ITV and Caroline Flack was back to present spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2, along with comedian Matt Richardson, who replaced Olly Murs. Flack also presented backstage segments during the live shows. Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow and Nicole Scherzinger returned as judges for their respective tenth, third and second series, with Sharon Osbourne returning to replace Tulisa after five series away. This was Barlow's final series as a judge. Osbourne and Scherzinger also departed the series, but reprised their roles as judges with Walsh again in series 13 and series 14.
The X Factor was an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent; the winner of which received a Sony Music Australia recording contract. Season 6 premiered on the Seven Network on 13 July 2014 and ended on 20 October 2014. Luke Jacobz returned as host, while Dannii Minogue, Redfoo, Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Ronan Keating returned as judges. Comedy duo Luke & Wyatt joined the sixth season as the hosts of the online spin-off show The Fan Factor. The winner was Marlisa Punzalan and her winner's single "Stand by You" was released after the final. Punzalan became the youngest winner of the show at 15 years old and was the first contestant from the Girls category to do so. She was mentored by Keating, who won as mentor for the second time after previously mentoring season two winner Altiyan Childs in 2010.
The Voice UK is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The sixth series began airing on 7 January 2017, with Emma Willis hosting the main show, and Cel Spellman presenting online spin-off show The V Room. It is the first series to air on ITV since its move from BBC One. will.i.am returned for his sixth series as a coach, Sir Tom Jones also returned to the show after a series hiatus, replacing Paloma Faith, and Jennifer Hudson and Gavin Rossdale joined as new coaches on the show, replacing Boy George and Ricky Wilson. Mo Adeniran won the competition, marking Jennifer Hudson's first and only win as a coach. Additionally, JHud became the first new coach to win on her first attempt, as well as, the first female coach to win a series of the show.
Pitch Battle is a British singing show hosted by Mel Giedroyc on BBC One, which aired for one series in 2017. The show sees rival musical groups facing-off against each other, inspired by the 2012 film Pitch Perfect. At the final on 22 July 2017, Leeds Contemporary Singers were crowned the winners.
The Voice UK is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The seventh series began airing on 6 January 2018 and concluded on 7 April 2018. It was presented by Emma Willis on ITV. will.i.am, Jennifer Hudson and Sir Tom Jones return for their seventh, second and sixth series, respectively, with Olly Murs replacing Gavin Rossdale as a new coach for the series. Previous runner-up Jamie Miller replaced Cel Spellman as the presenter of companion show, The V Room, broadcast through the ITV Hub.
The eleventh series of Dancing on Ice debuted on 6 January 2019 on ITV. Filming took place in the purpose-built studio at Bovingdon Airfield. An announcement was made on 11 March 2018, during the series ten finale, that the show had been recommissioned for another series.
Starstruck is a British television talent series that has aired on ITV since 12 February 2022. It features a singing contest in which members of the public impersonate showbiz stars. The series is presented by Olly Murs with a judging panel, in the first series, consisting of Adam Lambert, Beverley Knight, Jason Manford and Sheridan Smith. Smith left the show after the first series due to other commitments and was replaced by Shania Twain. The series is described by some media outlets as a revived and reformatted version of Stars in Their Eyes. In September 2023, it was announced that the show had been cancelled after two series.
