Joe McElderry

Joe McElderry

Joe McElderry is a pop singer from South Shields, United Kingdom. He is best known for winning series 6 of The X Factor UK in 2009. He auditions in Manchester with Luther Vandross’s Dance With My Father and goes through the competition in the Boys category, which is mentored by Cheryl Cole.

Early television success

McElderry’s vocals feature on the X Factor Finalists 2009 charity single, a cover of Michael Jackson’s You Are Not Alone, which reaches number one in the UK singles chart in November 2009 and stays there for one week. He wins The X Factor in December 2009, and his debut single, a cover of Miley Cyrus’s The Climb, is released the following day. The single reaches number 2, later goes to number 1, and becomes the fifth highest-selling UK single of 2009. It also tops the Irish singles chart for four weeks and is nominated in the British Single category at the 2010 BRIT Awards.

Albums and later work

McElderry signs to Syco Music and Decca Records. He releases four top 20 albums, with two reaching the UK top three, and becomes the first X Factor contestant to release a fourth album. By 2014, he has sold more than 2 million records worldwide.

Other television and stage work

In January 2010, McElderry appears on the charity single Everybody Hurts as part of the Helping Haiti project organised by Simon Cowell for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. He later wins the second series of Popstar to Operastar in 2011 and the first series of The Jump in 2014. In 2015, he plays Joseph in a touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.