Simon Phillip Cowell is an English television personality, entrepreneur, and record executive. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows Pop Idol (2001–2003), The X Factor UK, and Britain's Got Talent (2007–present), as well as the American television talent competition shows American Idol (2002–2010), The X Factor US (2011–2013), and America's Got Talent (2016–present). Cowell founded the British entertainment company Syco in 2005, as well as its now-defunct predecessor, Syco Music in 2002.
Shayne Thomas Ward is an English singer. He rose to fame as the winner of the second series of The X Factor. His debut single, "That's My Goal", was released in the United Kingdom on 21 December 2005 and reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and was that year's Christmas number one. It sold 313,000 copies on its first day of sales, making it the third-fastest-selling single of all time in the UK, behind Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" and Will Young's "Evergreen", which sold 685,000 and 400,000 copies in their first days of sale, respectively.
Leona Louise Lewis is a British singer, songwriter, actress, and model. Born and raised in Islington, Inner London, she later attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieved national recognition when she won the third series of the television talent show The X Factor in 2006, winning a £1 million recording contract with Syco Music. Her winner's single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This", peaked at number one for four weeks on the UK Singles Chart and broke a world record by reaching 50,000 digital downloads within 30 minutes. In February 2007, Lewis signed a five-album contract in the United States with Clive Davis's record label, J Records.
The MacDonald Brothers, now performing as The Macs, are a Scottish pop folk duo from Ayr, South Ayrshire, Scotland, consisting of brothers Brian and Craig MacDonald. They first rose to prominence in the third UK series of television talent show The X Factor in 2006, and have since gone on to release four studio albums. Their debut studio album, self-titled The MacDonald Brothers was released in April 2007 to positive reviews. The album went on to top the charts in their native Scotland and also performed well on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number 18.
Leon Jackson is a Scottish singer. He won the fourth series of the British talent show The X Factor in 2007. Following his win, Jackson was the main star of his on-web series entitled Leon's Life, which ran from 2007 until 2008. Jackson's début album, Right Now (2008) finished the year as the 75th best-selling album in the UK, and included the singles, "Don't Call This Love", "Creative" and "Stargazing".
Syco Music, originally and formerly S Records, was a division of Syco Entertainment which operated from 2002 until 2020. The label was founded by British entrepreneur, record executive and media personality Simon Cowell, who was formerly employed at Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG).
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.
Pop is the debut studio album from British pop duo and 2007 The X Factor finalists Same Difference. The album was released on December 1, 2008 by Syco Records. The album debuted at number 22 on the UK Album Chart, on first week sales of 31,064.
"We R One" was the first single from British brother and sister duo Same Difference's debut studio album, Pop. The song was also the duo's debut single. The duo rose to fame when they came third place in the fourth series of ITV1 talent competition The X Factor. The duo performed the song on The X Factor on 22 November 2008, before releasing it physically two days later on 24 November 2008. The single was written by Jörgen Elofsson and Pär Westerlund, and produced by the Swedish production group Quiz & Larossi. The video for the song was filmed in Los Angeles, and features the duo in a car wash, with a large group of backing singers and dancers similar to the movies High School Musical and Grease.
Marvin Richard James Humes is an English singer-songwriter, disc jockey, radio host, television presenter, and former actor. Before rising to prominence as a member of the British boy band JLS, he had an acting role in Holby City. As part of JLS, he achieved five number-one singles on the UK Singles Charts and a number-one album on the UK Albums Charts. As of December 2013, they have sold over 10 million records worldwide.
Overcome is the debut studio album by British singer Alexandra Burke, released 19 October 2009 on Syco Music. The release of the album came a year after Burke won the British talent show, The X Factor, with the recording process taking place between 2008 and 2009. Critics praised the album for showcasing Burke's vocal charm and characterisation, comparing her vocal to American singers Anastacia and Whitney Houston and its contemporary finish; using a variety of acclaimed producers including RedOne and Ne-Yo.
James Andrew Arthur is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame after winning the ninth series of The X Factor in 2012. His debut single, a cover of Shontelle's "Impossible", was released by Syco Music after the final, and debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart. Since then, it has gone on to sell over 2.5 million copies worldwide, making it the most successful winner's single in the show's history.
Emblem3 is an American rap rock band from Sequim, Washington, consisting of Wesley Stromberg, Drew Chadwick, and Keaton Stromberg. In 2013, they signed with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records and Columbia Records after being the tenth contestant eliminated on the second season of The X Factor. Their first single, "Chloe ", was released on April 15, 2013, and their debut album, entitled Nothing to Lose, was released on July 30, 2013.
Samantha Florence Bailey is an English pop singer who won the tenth series of The X Factor in 2013. Following her win, her debut single, a cover of Demi Lovato's "Skyscraper" was released on 15 December 2013, achieving the Christmas number one on 22 December 2013. She was the first X Factor winner in three years to gain the Christmas number one spot.
Gabriella Michelle Henderson is an English singer and songwriter. She competed in the ninth series of The X Factor UK in 2012, being the eighth contestant eliminated despite being a strong favourite to win. She signed with Syco Music shortly after, and released her debut studio album, Chapter One (2014), which reached number one in the UK. The album spawned the chart-topping single "Ghost", as well as the top 20 singles "Glow" and "Yours". Henderson went on a four-year hiatus in 2015. Her second studio album, Everything I Didn't Say, was released in 2022.
Fleur Lillibeth Yolande East is an English singer-songwriter, rapper and presenter. East competed on the second series of The X Factor in 2005 as part of the girl group Addictiv Ladies but was unsuccessful. In 2012, she signed with Strictly Rhythm and released songs with dance musicians including Drumsound & Bassline Smith and released One in a Million" (2013), which peaked at number fifty three on the UK Singles Chart. As a solo act she returned to The X Factor for its eleventh series, and finished in second place.
Ben Haenow is the self-titled debut studio album by English singer Ben Haenow, released on 13 November 2015, through Syco Music and RCA Records. After winning the eleventh series of The X Factor in 2014, Haenow travelled to Los Angeles to immediately begin development of the album by collaborating with established musicians such as Kelly Clarkson, Julian Bunetta, Iain James, Kodaline, Anne Preven, Red Triangle, Steve Robson, J.R. Rotem, and Amy Wadge.
Love, Sax and Flashbacks is the debut studio album by English singer, songwriter and rapper Fleur East. It was released on 4 December 2015, through Syco.
Reggie 'n' Bollie are a Ghanaian music duo consisting of Reggie Zippy and Bollie Babeface. They formed in 2012 and are best known for finishing as runners-up on the twelfth series of The X Factor UK in 2015.
"Turn Me On" is the debut solo single by British singer Sean Smith. It was written by Christian Ingebrigtsen of the British–Norwegian pop group a1 and Nalle Ahlstedt. The track was released on 23 September 2016 through Energise Records. It became the label's fastest selling physical single, and the music video amassed over 26,000 views in its first 3 weeks of release. The remix EP which featured a remix by Paul Varney reached number 15 on the UK iTunes dance album chart.
