Pop Idol is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer in the UK based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast, one in 2001–2002 and a second in 2003. An immense success when it launched in 2001, Maggie Brown in The Guardian wrote, "the show became a seminal reality/entertainment format once on air that autumn". Series judge Simon Cowell became a major public figure in entertainment, and the show produced instant No. 1 chart hits, including for the first series winner Will Young, whose single "Evergreen" was the fastest-selling debut in UK chart history and the best-selling song of 2002. Pop Idol was subsequently put on an indefinite hiatus after Simon Cowell announced the launch of The X Factor in the UK in April 2004.
William Robert Young is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. He came to prominence after winning the 2002 inaugural series of the ITV talent contest Pop Idol, making him the first winner of the worldwide Idol franchise. His double A-sided debut single "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" was released two weeks after the show's finale and became the fastest-selling debut single in the UK. Young also came in fifth place in World Idol performing the single "Light My Fire" written by the band the Doors.
Darius Campbell Danesh was a Scottish singer-songwriter, actor and film producer. He first came to prominence as Darius Danesh when he appeared in the first series of Popstars in 2001, and the 2002 inaugural series of the ITV talent contest Pop Idol.
Myleene Angela Klass is a British musician, singer, television presenter and model. She was a member of the pop group Hear'Say, and later released two solo classical crossover albums in 2003 and 2007. More recently, Klass has been a television and radio presenter. She has hosted television series including Popstar to Operastar (2010–2011) and BBQ Champ (2015) on ITV and The One Show (2007) on BBC One. She was a regular panellist on the ITV lunchtime chat show Loose Women in 2014 and again from 2024 onwards. In 2006, Klass was runner-up on the sixth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, and returned in 2023 for the "all-stars" series I'm a Celebrity... South Africa, which she won.
Hear'Say were a British pop group. They were created through the ITV reality TV show Popstars in February 2001, the first UK series of the international Popstars franchise. The group, who were signed to Polydor Records, originally consisted of Danny Foster, Myleene Klass, Kym Marsh, Suzanne Shaw, and Noel Sullivan.
Idol is a reality television singing competition format created by British television producer Simon Fuller and developed by Fremantle. The format began in 2001 with the British television series Pop Idol; its first adaptation was the South African series Idols in 2002. It has since become the world's most widely watched television franchise, as well as one of the most successful entertainment formats, adapted in over 56 regions around the world, with its various versions broadcast to 150 countries with a worldwide audience of roughly 3.2 billion people. The franchise has generated more than $2.5 billion in revenue.
Michael Louis Vincent Walsh is an Irish music manager and television personality. He has managed Johnny Logan, Boyzone, Jedward and Westlife, four of Ireland's most successful pop acts in the 1990s and 2000s. He has also served as a judge on television talent competition shows, including Popstars (2001–2002), You're a Star (2003–2004), The X Factor, and Ireland's Got Talent (2018–2019). In 2024, Walsh was a contestant on the twenty-third series of the reality show Celebrity Big Brother.
Nicki Chapman is an English television and radio presenter, talent show judge and public relations agent who previously worked in the British pop music industry.
Noel Sullivan is a Welsh singer and actor. He was a member of the British pop group Hear'Say. Like the other members of the group, he won his part through the talent show Popstars.
Danny Foster is an English pop/soul singer and television personality, who appeared in the inaugural series of the British television talent-show Popstars, going on to become a founder member of the pop group Hear'say.
The X Factor is a British reality television music competition, 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.
Popstars: The Rivals is a British television talent show series that was broadcast on ITV in late 2002. It was the second UK series of the international Popstars franchise. Unlike Popstars, which resulted in the formation of one winning group, Hear'Say, Popstars: The Rivals created two rival groups, Girls Aloud and One True Voice, who competed against each other for the Christmas number one spot on the UK Singles Chart. Girls Aloud won and would go on to achieve twenty consecutive top ten hits, four number ones and six top ten albums, two of which reached number one and from that, group member Cheryl would achieve five number-one singles and two number one albums.
The first series of British reality television show Pop Idol was broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom during the winter months of 2001 and 2002. The show was a singing competition open to people aged between 16 and 26 years old, with the winner receiving a £1 million recording contract to release their debut album. Pop Idol received ratings of as high as 10 million viewers for shows before the live final. The footage of the programme's opening titles, as well as the live final of this series, was used in the first season of American Idol, which began over four months after the airing of the live final, in which Kelly Clarkson won the season.
Pop Idol was a British television talent show that ran for two series, in 2001 and 2003. The show was produced for ITV in a reality television format and aimed to unearth a previously undiscovered singer who could become an international success. Will Young was the winner of the first series and was awarded with a £1 million music recording contract. Young became the most successful contestant with a series of top-five hits, including his debut single "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen", which peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart in 2002 and broke chart sales figure records. During the next seven years he recorded two further number-one singles, while two of his four albums were number-one in the UK Albums Chart. In the second series, Michelle McManus emerged victorious. Her debut single "All This Time" charted at number one in January 2003. Her second single, "The Meaning of Love", charted at a peak of number 16 and an album of the same name reached number three in the UK Albums Chart.
Popstars (UK) is a British reality television show produced for ITV that aired for two series. The first series, Popstars, aimed to find five singers to form a new pop group. During the second series, Popstars: The Rivals, two music groups were formed to compete for the Christmas number-one single in the United Kingdom.
Popstar to Operastar [sic] is a British television programme in which pop stars were trained to sing opera. The show began airing on ITV on 15 January 2010 at 9pm. The show was repeated on TV3 Ireland on Saturday evening. The programme was produced by Renegade Pictures.
Keith Semple is a Northern Irish singer and musician. He originally had his own band Keith Semple Band. In 2002, he took part and was a winner in Popstars: The Rivals, consequently becoming a member of the boyband One True Voice (OTV). After the split-up of the band, Semple had a solo career before joining the Chicago-based rock band 7th Heaven in 2006 as their lead singer. In 2010, he took a shot at the ninth season of American Idol but lost his "golden ticket" place due to his legal status and residency considerations. In October 2012, Semple announced he would be leaving 7th Heaven to pursue his original music and announced the formation of his new band, SEMPLE. In September 2015, he auditioned for season 9 of The Voice as part of Team Adam. He was eliminated from competition after the top 24 round. In 2016, he formed the progressive rock band, The Cyberiam, where he serves as lead singer and guitarist.
Warren Stacey is a British singer from London who came into prominence on the UK television show Popstars, the reality programme that created the pop band Hear'Say. Despite not making it into the group, Stacey went on to be signed by Def Jam Recordings and released his debut single "My Girl, My Girl" in March 2002, which made number 26 on the UK Singles Chart.
Popstars is the debut album by British pop group Hear'Say, formed through the ITV television show Popstars. It was released in the United Kingdom on 26 March 2001. Hear'Say worked with a number of British and Scandinavian producers, including Stargate, and Quiz & Larossi. The album drew comparisons to similarly co-ed pop groups such as S Club 7 and Steps.
Pakistan Idol was a Pakistani reality singing competition that was a part of the Idols franchise created by Simon Fuller and owned by 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia. It was the 50th adaptation of the familiar reality competition format introduced in the British series Pop Idol in 2001. It is developed for the Pakistani entertainment market by Geo TV.
