Joshua Ryan Freese is an American session drummer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and composer. He is the son of tuba soloist Stan Freese and the older brother of musician Jason Freese.
Matti Antero Kristian Fagerholm, better known by his stage name, Michael Monroe, is a Finnish rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who rose to fame as the vocalist for the glam punk band Hanoi Rocks, and has served as the frontman for all-star side projects, such as Demolition 23 and Jerusalem Slim.
Lee Terrence Sullivan is the British drummer for the London-based alternative rock band Bôa. Lee is the son of Terence Sullivan, the drummer for the rock band Renaissance and his wife, Christine Sullivan. He plays drums, piano and percussion. At the age of seven, Lee first performed with father on stage at one of Renaissance's concerts at the Apollo. He later joined the band Chapter VI. The band produced a single track called "The King of Comedy" and an EP called Bucket Chemistry.
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The third series was broadcast on ITV from 19 August 2006 until 16 December 2006. Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Simon Cowell all returned for their third series on the judging panel. Kate Thornton returned to present the main show on ITV, while Ben Shephard returned to present spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2. After the semi-final on 9 December, Cowell became the winning judge even though the series had not yet finished, as two of his acts, Ray Quinn and Leona Lewis, became the two finalists. Lewis won the series on 16 December, with Quinn finishing as runner-up.
Britain's Got Talent is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global Got Talent franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, it is produced by both Thames and Syco Entertainment, distributed by Fremantle, and broadcast on ITV every year in late Spring to early Summer. The show was originally intended for production in 2005, but filming was suspended in the wake of a dispute between ITV and the programme's originally planned host. Following the success of America's Got Talent that year, production resumed and the programme eventually premiered on 9 June 2007.
Escala is an electronic string quartet, from London, England who rose to fame when they performed on and reached the final of the second series of Britain's Got Talent on ITV1 in May 2008.
Timothy Lee McKenzie, better known by his stage name Labrinth, is a British singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer. After initially pursuing a career in music production, Simon Cowell signed him to his record label Syco Music as a recording artist, after which Labrinth became the first singer who Cowell signed without having competed on a talent show in six years. He has been referred to as “one of the most important British musicians of his generation.”
Ronan Parke is an English singer from Poringland, Norfolk, UK who came runner-up in the fifth series of ITV show Britain's Got Talent in 2011 when he was 12 despite being the bookies' favourite to win. Since appearing on the show, he had signed a joint record deal with Sony Music and released a charted self-titled debut album Ronan Parke on 24 October 2011 which reached 22 on the Official Chart. He has also released a number of singles, including a Christmas single in 2012 and a charity single "Defined" in 2013 with the anti bullying organisation Kidscape. In 2018 he released a single titled "No Love " followed by an original album titled Found My Way and a Christmas single titled "Cheers".
Jai McDowall is a Scottish singer–songwriter who won the fifth series of Britain's Got Talent in June 2011. As the winner, he received £100,000 and performed at the 2011 Royal Variety Performance. McDowall was signed to Syco Music, a subdivision of record label giant, Sony Music.
The sixth series of Britain's Got Talent, a British talent competition series, was broadcast in the UK during 2012, from 24 March to 12 May on ITV. The sixth series saw Simon Cowell resume a full commitment to the programme following the previous series, yet neither David Hasselhoff and Michael McIntyre returned to take part in the new series, leading to them being replaced by Alesha Dixon and David Walliams. Because of her pregnancy during filming of the auditions, Amanda Holden was required to miss a number of sessions, leading to producers asking Carmen Electra to step in as a guest judge in her place.
The Voice UK is a British singing competition television series. Created by John de Mol, 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 ten series and aims to find currently unsigned singing talent contested by aspiring singers, drawn from public auditions. The winners receive a recording contract with Polydor Records. Winners of the ten series have been: Leanne Mitchell, Andrea Begley, Jermain Jackman, Stevie McCrorie, Kevin Simm, Mo Adeniran, Ruti Olajugbagbe, Molly Hocking, Blessing Chitapa and Craig Eddie.
"Express Yourself" is a song by English musician Labrinth. Written by Labrinth and Charles Wright, it was released as the fourth single from his debut studio album, Electronic Earth on 7 May 2012. It interpolates "Express Yourself" by Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, which was the same song sampled by N.W.A. in their 1988 song of the same name, and the famous drum break from James Brown's "Funky Drummer".
"Beneath Your Beautiful" is a song by British musicians Labrinth and Emeli Sandé. Written by Labrinth, Mike Posner and Sandé, it was promoted as the sixth single from Labrinth's debut album, Electronic Earth (2012), and is included as a bonus track on the US Deluxe Edition of Sandé's debut studio album Our Version of Events. Impacting from 18 October 2012, and following a well-received performance on the ninth series of The X Factor, the single would go on to sell 108,000 copies in the UK during its first week and top the UK Singles Chart. It became Labrinth's first number one single as a lead artist and additionally became his first top 40 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number 34. The song was nominated for 'Best British Single' at the 2013 BRIT Awards and was ranked the twelfth best-selling single of 2012 in the UK.
"Playing with Fire" is a hip hop song composed and performed by British rapper Plan B, featuring vocals from the track's producer and mixer, Labrinth. The song was released on 3 December 2012 as the fourth and final single from the ill Manors soundtrack, a film which Plan B also directed.
Jake Brook, better known by his stage name Lunar C, is an English rapper.
Union J were an English boy band, their final lineup consisting of members JJ Hamblett and Jaymi Hensley. The band previously also included George Shelley, who left in 2016 and was replaced by Casey Johnson, who left several months later , and Josh Cuthbert, who left in 2018. The band formed in 2011, originally as a trio known as Triple J, consisting of Cuthbert, Hamblett and Hensley. They auditioned for the ninth series of the British television music competition The X Factor where they met Shelley who joined the band at the judges' request. They finished fourth and were subsequently signed to Sony Music subsidiary RCA Records. Their debut single "Carry You" was released in June 2013. Their self-titled debut studio album followed in October 2013 and peaked at number 6 on the UK Albums Chart.
Francine Lewis is an English actress, model, television presenter and impressionist, best known for participating in the ITV talent show series Britain's Got Talent in 2013.
Jack Carroll is an English comedian and actor. He competed in the seventh series of Britain's Got Talent at the age of 14, finishing as the runner-up. As an actor, he appeared in two series of the CBBC series Ministry of Curious Stuff and from 2014 to 2018, he starred in the Sky sitcom Trollied. Carroll, whose cerebral palsy is often a subject of his act, won a Pride of Britain award in 2012.
The eighth series of Britain's Got Talent, a British talent competition series, began broadcasting in the UK during 2014, from 12 April to 7 June on ITV; because of England's international friendly with Peru, the show took a break on 30 May to avoid clashing with live coverage of the match. Auditions were held in Northern Ireland instead of Scotland for this series, with hosts Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly having to stand in for Simon Cowell, after illness forced him to be absent during a day of auditions. It was also the first series in the show's history to have a buzzer used during the live final, and was the first to include the "Golden Buzzer" – a format introduced to the programme, which had begun to appear within the Got Talent franchise since it was first introduced on Germany's Got Talent in 2012.
The Return is the debut studio album by British musician and producer Kamaal Williams. It was released on 25 May 2018, under his Black Focus Record label. After the breakup of the band Yussef Kamaal, Williams sought to recreate the sounds of their 2016 album Black Focus with bassist Pete Martin, drummer Josh McKenzie and producer Richard Samuels. The album is built on improvisation and its ideas are based on their recorded jam sessions.
