Ray Quinn

Ray Quinn
Contestant Profile
Birth Date	25 August 1988
Age	37
Hometown	Gateacre, Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Occupation	Actor singer
3
Category	16-24s
Mentor	Simon Cowell
Placement	Runner-up (2/12)
Gallery

Raymond Arthur Quinn (born 25 August 1988) is an English jazz singer. He auditioned for Series 3 of The X Factor UK and made it all the way to the final as part of the 16-24s category mentored by Simon Cowell.

He finished as runner-up to fellow category member Leona Lewis.

The X Factor

Quinn rose to further prominence when he auditioned for the third series of The X Factor, singing a medley of "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" and "Devil in Disguise". Prior to appearing on the show, he was a performing arts student at the Merseyside Dance and Drama College, where he previously received some vocal training. He received three yeses from the judges, and progressed through to bootcamp. Quinn was placed in the 16-24s category, with Simon Cowell as his mentor. However, whilst singing in front of Cowell and Sinitta, he partially stumbled and forgot the lyrics to "Easy" by Commodores. Initially, he was told he wasn't progressing through to judges' houses, but a change within the series format allowed him to successfully continue with the competition. He later sang "Smile" for his judges' houses performance, and afterwards was granted a place as one of the four acts through to the live shows.

During the live shows, many of Quinn's song choices and performances were old-fashioned and swing-based. Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne, in the earlier stages of the competition, queried him over his ability as a pure singer rather than a 'song-and-dance' man. However, in the later stages, he widened the range of his performances more into singing pop songs, and to which the judges were satisfied with Quinn's ability to do so. In week five, he was placed in the bottom two against Nikitta Angus, but survived elimination. He managed to progress through the competition up to week 10, where he was the series runner-up, losing to eventual winner Leona Lewis.

Performances

Episode	Theme	Song	Result
Audition	Free choice	"Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"	Advanced
Bootcamp 1		"(You're the) Devil in Disguise"	Advanced
Bootcamp 2		"Easy"	Advanced
Judges' houses	Free choice	"Smile"	Advanced
Week 1	Motown	"Ben"	Safe
Week 2	Songs by Rod Stewart	"What a Wonderful World"	Safe
Week 3	Big band	"Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"	Safe
Week 4	Songs by ABBA	"Waterloo"	Safe
Week 5	Love songs	"Crazy Little Thing Called Love"	Bottom two
Week 6	Number ones	"Livin' la Vida Loca"	Safe
Week 7	Songs from the movies	"The Way You Look Tonight"	Safe
		"Jailhouse Rock"
Week 8	Songs by Barry Manilow	"Mandy"	Safe
	Contestant's choice	"My Way"
Week 9: Semi-final	Songs to get you to the final	"Smile"	Safe
		"You'll Never Walk Alone"
Week 10: Final	Favourite performance	"My Way"	Runner-up
	Celebrity duets	"That's Life" (with Westlife)
		"Fly Me to the Moon"
	Winner's single	"A Moment Like This"

Post The X Factor

In 2009 & 2014, he won series 4 & series 9 of Dancing on Ice.

2007: Doing It My Way, breakthrough and label drop

In December 2006, two days after finishing on The X Factor, Quinn signed a record deal with Cowell's label SYCO to release a debut swing album. Recording process for the album began through January 2007 at the Capitol Records Tower in Los Angeles, where he was accompanied by a 48-piece orchestra.

His debut album, Doing It My Way was released on 12 March 2007. Coincidentally, another X Factor finalist Ben Mills released his album on the same day. The album became a critical and commercial success. It entered the UK Album Chart at number one, and sold 127,000 copies in its first week of release, before being certified platinum. The album also featured covers of old swing and vocal jazz classics, some of which were recorded by Frank Sinatra himself. Quinn made British music history as he was the youngest male solo artist and the first person to have a number one album without releasing a single.

During the summer of that year, he was a judge on the ITV dance competition show Baby Ballroom, alongside Bonnie Langford and Pierre Dulaine. The programme centered on finding the best junior ballroom dancers.

Quinn embarked on his own solo tour from September to November 2007, where he performed within 30 cities across the UK. However, on 6 November 2007, it was announced that he had been subsequently dropped by Sony BMG.

2009–2015: Television and Stage

Quinn participated as a contestant on the fourth series of Dancing on Ice. He paired with professional skater Maria Filippov. Throughout the series, the couple earned high scores and praise from the ice panel each week. On 22 March 2009, he and Filippov won the competition over Donal MacIntyre and Jessica Taylor.

From 11 May to 28 November that year, he played Danny Zuko in the West End production of Grease at Picadilly Theatre. He starred alongside his future wife Emma Stephens, who played Sandy. Quinn previously played the role of Doody during the first production of the musical in 2008. In 2011, he reprised the role of Danny for two weeks at the Liverpool Empire. Other stage acting credits that Quinn has mainly featured in include: Jack Trott in Jack in the Beanstalk, the Prince in Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, Warner Huntington III in Legally Blonde, and Billy Kosteki in Dirty Dancing.

In December 2012, Quinn was cast as the title character in the Aladdin musical, alongside comedian and presenter Don Maclean and actor Tim Flavin. He played the role at the Poole Lighthouse Theatre until 6 January 2013. He also portrayed Peter Pan in Peter Pan at the Liverpool Empire from December 2013 to January 2014, which also starred Stephens as Wendy Darling.

Quinn later returned to participate on Dancing on Ice, for the final and All-Star series of the show. He was paired with Maria Filippov again. On 9 March 2014, he and Filippov were crowned the champions of the series, and ultimate winners of the programme. He beat out Hayley Tamaddon and Beth Tweddle for the title.

He reprised his role as Aladdin again at the Liverpool Empire, from 13 December 2014 to 4 January 2015, alongside Claire Sweeney as the Genie and Pete Price as the Emperor.

In January 2015, he was a contestant on the celebrity talent show, Get Your Act Together. His mentor was actress and impressionist Debra Stephenson, whom he learned and mastered the craft of impressions from. Quinn was announced as the winner of the series, with James Bolam and Claire Richards in second and third place respectively.

2015–2018: Dare to Dream and Judy: The Judy Garland Songbook

In September 2014, Quinn announced that he was planning to return to music, and had already started working on material for a second studio album.

He released his first single in eight years, "They Say Love" on 23 February 2015. Later that month, it was revealed that the title for the upcoming studio album would be called Dare to Dream, which was scheduled for an April 2015 release and promoted on a tour of the same name but was ultimately not released.

In May 2015, Quinn was part of the cast of Judy: The Judy Garland Songbook, alongside Lorna Luft and Louise Dearman. The show featured never before seen clips and interviews of Garland herself, as well as live performances of her original songs.

2018–2019: Hollyoaks

On 26 November 2018, Quinn joined Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks as character Jonny Baxter. His character is an employee at The Bean and part of a right wing extremist group. He left the show in November 2019 when the story arc surrounding the far right came to an end.

2020-2021: Undeniable and Coronavirus pandemic

Quinn's second album, Undeniable, was released on 28 August 2020.

During the Coronavirus pandemic, Quinn revealed that he had been working as a delivery driver for courier company Hermes. In April 2021, Quinn announced he had begun a new career laying carpets at his family firm, alongside brothers Robin and Darren.

2024: Limelight Club - P&O Cruises

He is currently headlining each night at the Limelight Club on P&O cruise ships with his own show.

Trivia

• He was born on the same day as Series 5 winner Alexandra Burke.
• As a child, he was best-known for portraying bullied schoolboy Anthony Murray on British soap opera Brookside.