Ray Quinn
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| Ray Quinn | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Raymond Arthur Quinn |
| Also known as | Ray Quinn, Quinny |
| Born | August 25, 1988 |
| Origin | Childwall, Liverpool, England |
| Genre(s) | Vocal jazz, Pop , Swing. |
| Years active | 2006–Present |
| Label(s) | Sony BMG (2006–2007) |
| Associated acts | Leona Lewis |
| Website | rayquinnmusic.com |
Raymond Arthur Quinn (born 25 August 1988 in Knowsley, Merseyside) is an English actor,singer and dancer, third of three sons brought up in Childwall by parents Val and Ray Snr. Ray now resides in Widnes with his partner of three years Kirsty McInerney.
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[edit] Early Life
Quinn attended Rudston Junior School in Childwall and Gateacre Comprehensive School, Liverpool. From a very young age a major influence in his life was his singing coach Suzanne Taylor. His interests in music often led to him being isolated from his peers during his childhood, he described his schoollife as "humming his favourite songs in the corner of the playground whilst all the other lads would be playing football or other things that teenagers would get up to. Quinn went on to study Performing Arts at Merseyside Dance and Drama College for a three year course where he completed two years before joining the X Factor finals.
[edit] Acting career
Quinn is known for playing teenager Anthony Murray in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside.
[edit] Filmography
Merseybeat - BBC drama - actor (2003)
- Doctors, "Owen Miller" (2006)
- The Afternoon Play, "John Reilly" (2005)
- Brookside, "Anthony Murray" (2000-2003)
- Bulletproof, 'Ben' (2006) short film, Cannes Film Festival
- Cactus Jack, 'John' (2005) Short film, BBC
[edit] Theatre
1998
- Me and My Girl, Dancer - Empire Theatre, Liverpool
- Peter Pan, dancer, actor and singer (Lost Boy) - Neptune Theatre, Liverpool
2004
- Buster, Actor - Liverpool Playhouse
2008
- Grease, dancer, actor and singer (Doody) - Piccadilly Theatre, London[1]
[edit] Dance
Disco - British Champion; Ballroom - British Champion, European Champion, World Latin Champion; Latin - British Champion; Modern - British Champion; Ballet - Advanced Level; Tap - Advanced Level; Modern - Advanced Level; Jazz - Advanced Level; Acrobatic Skills i.e. Summersaults, no hand cartwheels
[edit] Radio
The Lost Boys - Narrator of book for Big Toe Radio, September 2004
Millions - Narrator of the film for Big Toe Radio, November 2004
[edit] Awards
- 2002 - Best Dramatic Performance, The British Soap Awards
- 2002 - Best Storyline, The British Soap Awards
- 2002 - Best Young Actor, Inside Soap Awards
- 2002 - Best Performance in a Network Soap, Royal TV Society
- 2005 - Manchester Talent Competition- £5000 prize
- 2007 - Scouseology Award, Best Personality
- 2007 - Liverpool Local Hero Awards, Contribution to Music
[edit] Singing career
February 2005 - Tsunami Appeal - Performance - Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
Quinn finished a respectable 2nd in the 3rd series of The X Factor (2006). He was runner-up to Leona Lewis who was said to be "the best contestant ever on reality TV".
Many of Ray's X Factor performances had an old-fashioned feel, and in the earlier stages of the competition he was criticised by Louis for repeatedly performing swing-style numbers. Sharon Osbourne christened him "panto boy" and the judges generally queried his ability as a pure singer as opposed to a "song-and-dance man". In the later stages some of the judges seemed satisfied that the range of his performances had widened. Quinn earned the nickname of 'the Munster' in the press, for his strong physical resemblence to one of the Munsters. Quinn did not accept this as an insult, instead choosing to receive it as a compliment.
Ray was in the bottom two in the fifth week along with Nikitta, but survived elimination. Ray was the runner up, finishing in second place behind Leona Lewis.
He was in Simon Cowell's category, the 16-24s. Initially, Quinn didn't make Cowell's final seven, but Cowell felt he had made a mistake, and expanded the final seven to a final eight, including Quinn. Quinn was eventually chosen to be in Simon's final four, and went through to the live rounds on Saturday nights and eventually to the final itself. After X Factor, Quinn was signed by Sony BMG and on January 16, 2007 recorded a swing album [2] at the Capitol Records Tower in Los Angeles [3] His debut album Doing It My Way was released 12 March 2007, the same day as fellow X Factor finalist Ben Mills. His debut album went straight to number one in the UK charts. His album also went Gold in the first week [4]
Ray participated in The X Factor UK and Ireland Tour during February and March of 2007
Ray embarked on his own (sell out) solo tour in September through to November 2007 [5]
BBC Songs of Praise - Big Sing - Performance BBC Songs of Praise - Christmas Big Sing - Performance
Ray was dropped by his record label Sony BMG on 6 November 2007 [6]
In a Countdown of 'The Top 50 Reality TV Stars' presented by Chantelle Houghton on the music channel Smash Hits Ray appeared at number 30.
In November 2007 Ray recorded a cover of the song 'You to me are everything' for the album 'Liverpool: Number ones Album', and in January 2008 Ray performed at the Number One Project concert at the Echo Arena, Liverpool.
Ray continues to perform at public and corporate gigs and makes regular television appearances. In June of this year he will be going on the west end show Grease playing the T-bird "Doody" until November
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Year | Information | UK | IRE | WW | Sales and Certifications |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Ray Quinn | 1 | 5 | 10 | U.K sales: 215,000 BPI: Gold |
[edit] Other activities
Ray was a judge on reality show Baby Ballroom: The Championship in 2007, having been a Champion Ballroom dancer himself, alongside Theatre and Television actress, Bonnie Langford and Ballroom Dancing Legend, Pierre Dulaine.
Ray Quinn also appeared on Britain Sings Christmas in December 2007 alongside many celebrities.
BBC - CBBC March 2008 - Ray completed all of his challenges on Hider in the House.
Interests
Ray likes to keep fit by going to the gym, loves driving, sketching, drawing and artwork.
[edit] References
- ^ The Official London Theatre Guide - Quinn swings into Grease. The Official London Theatre Guide. The Society of London Theatre (2008-05-28). Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
- ^ "X Factor loser Ray wins record deal", Irish Examiner, 18 December 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-18.
- ^ "X Factor's Ray heads to Sinatra studios", Digital Spy, 18 December 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-18.
- ^ "Quinn wins X Factor album battle", BBC, 18 March 2007. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
- ^ "Ray Quinn announces UK tour", Digitalspy, 17 February 2007. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
- ^ The X Factor - News - Ray Quinn dropped by record label - Digital Spy
[edit] External links
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