Ray Quinn

Ray Quinn
Background information
Birth name	Raymond Arthur Quinn Jr
Born	(1988-08-25) 25 August 1988 (age 23)
Origin	Childwall, Liverpool, England
Genres	Vocal jazz, Pop, Swing.
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Sony BMG (2006–2007)
Website	rayquinnworld.co.uk

Raymond Arthur "Ray" Quinn (born 25 August 1988 in Liverpool, Merseyside) is an English actor, singer, and dancer. He finished second in talent show The X Factor in 2006, and won the 2009 series of Dancing on Ice. He also appeared as victimised teenager Anthony Murray in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside. In his theatre performance, as of December 2010, he announced on stage his engagement to Emma Stephens which was made on Christmas Day 2010. They wed in a beach ceremony in Barbados on March 31st 2012, the same day they announced they were expecting their 1st child that is due is July.

Ray is currently appearing in the UK National Tour of 'Legally Blonde the Musical' as Warner Huntington III.

Early life

Quinn attended Rudston Junior School in Childwall and Gateacre Comprehensive School, Liverpool.^{[citation needed]} From a very young age a major influence in his life was his dance coach Suzanne Taylor.^[1] Quinn often claims that his interests in dancing led to him being isolated from his peers during his childhood.

Quinn went on to study Performing Arts at Merseyside Dance and Drama Centre for a three-year course where he completed two years before joining the X Factor finals.^{[citation needed]} Quinn has married his West End co-star Emma Stephens.

Singing career

The X Factor (2006)

In 2006, Quinn took part in the third series of UK talent show The X Factor.

Quinn was in the 16–24s category which was mentored by Simon Cowell. As the category's mentor, Cowell chose which contestants made it to the live rounds of the show. Initially, Quinn did not make Cowell's selection of seven contestants for the later stages of the competition, but Cowell subsequently “felt he had made a mistake”. It was then decided that the seven should be expanded to eight, and Quinn was called back. Quinn went on to be chosen as one of Cowell's final four contestants who would appear in the live rounds of the competition.

Many of Quinn's X Factor performances had an old-fashioned feel, and in the earlier stages of the competition he was criticised by judge Louis Walsh for repeatedly performing swing-style numbers. Judge Sharon Osbourne once referred to him as "panto boy" and the judges generally queried his ability as a pure singer as opposed to a "song-and-dance man".

For the first four weeks of the series Quinn survived in the contest without being in the bottom two sing-off. In week five, however, Quinn, along with Nikitta Angus, polled the fewest votes from the public. Walsh voted for Quinn to leave the competition, but Cowell and Osbourne voted in Quinn's favour, keeping him in the contest. Quinn then survived the next four weeks, in the penultimate week gaining the highest number of votes from the public, before eventually narrowly finishing as runner-up to Leona Lewis in the final a week later.

Following the conclusion of the show, Quinn participated in The X Factor UK and Ireland Tour with the other finalists from the third series. This took place in February and March 2007.

Quinn was associated with fellow third-series finalists Eton Road prior to the auditions.^[2][3]

Post X Factor

After The X Factor, Quinn was signed by Sony BMG and on 16 January 2007 recorded a swing album^[4] at the Capitol Records Tower in Los Angeles.^[5] His self-titled debut album Doing It My Way was released on 12 March 2007, the same day as that of fellow The X Factor finalist Ben Mills. The album went straight to number one in the UK charts. It also went Gold in the first week.^[6]

Quinn embarked on his own solo tour from September to November 2007.^[7]

Quinn was subsequently dropped by his record label, on 6 November 2007.^[8]

In November 2007, Quinn recorded a cover of the song "You to Me Are Everything" for the album Liverpool: Number Ones Album and in January 2008, he performed at the Number One Project concert at the Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Television appearances

Quinn won the fourth series of British TV contest Dancing On Ice, which began on 11 January 2009. He was partnered by professional ice skater Maria Filippov. His decision to take part generated a small amount of (local) controversy, as he suddenly dropped out of the pantomime in which he was supposed to be performing, mid-run, in order to prepare for the TV show.^[9][10] This left many school-children upset, especially when the panto closed early, a few days after he left.^[11] In every week (excluding week two, which featured the girls only) on Dancing On Ice, he topped the leaderboard. In his sixth week he scored the maximum 30. Quinn was announced winner of Dancing on Ice 2009 after receiving a perfect score of 60/60. He joined the other contestants and toured the country on the Dancing On Ice Tour.

On Sunday 21 June 2009 Quinn took part in an edition of All Star Family Fortunes which was broadcast on ITV1 in the Autumn of 2009. He appeared on the first programme of the 2010 edition of Dancing on Ice as current Champion and also performed a skating routine with his former skating partner from the show.

Quinn took part in Sing If You Can, appearing in episode 3 with his team called Skywalker with captain Darren Gough and Camilla Kerslake. They won the show, which raised money for Teenage Cancer Trust. His team also appeared in the final again winning and becoming the first champions of Sing If You Can.

Appearances

Film and television

• Brookside, "Anthony Murray" (2000–2003)
• Merseybeat (2003)
• Doctors, "Owen Miller" (2006)
• The Afternoon Play, "John Reilly" (2005)
• Bulletproof, "Ben" (2006) short film, Cannes Film Festival (France)
• Cactus Jack, "John" (2005) short film, BBC

Theatre

1998

• Me and My Girl, dancer – Empire Theatre, Liverpool
• Peter Pan, dancer, actor and singer (Lost Boy) – Neptune Theatre, Liverpool

2004

• Buster, actor – Harlow Playhouse

2008

• Grease, dancer, actor and singer (Doody) – Piccadilly Theatre, London^[12]

• Aladdin, Aladdin – Broadway Theatre, Peterborough^[13]

2009

• Grease, dancer, actor and singer (Danny Zuko)
• Sleeping Beauty (Pantomime) (Prince Daniel)

2010 Dirty Dancing, Billy Kosteki

• Top Hat at the Palladium,18 July 2010 – Personal appearance for Top Hat Stage School to raise awareness for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
• Jack and the Beanstalk, dancer, actor and singer (Jack Trott) – Royal & Derngate, Northampton

2011

• Dirty Dancing, Billy Kosteki

2012

• Legally Blonde, Warner Huntington III

Radio

• The Lost Boys – Narrator of book for Big Toe Radio, September 2004
• Millions – Narrator of the film for Big Toe Radio, November 2004
• The Believers – Actor playing part of James, April 2010

Discography

Tours

• X Factor 2006 (as of 2007) Tour
• Dancing on Ice Tour 2009
• Dancing on Ice Tour 2010

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

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ray Quinn

• Official website
• Ray Quinn on Myspace
• Ray Quinn at the Internet Movie Database