List of The X Factor finalists (UK series 2)

The second UK series of The X Factor ran from 20 August 2005 to 17 December 2005 with the same judges from the first series: Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh. The series attracted 75,000 people to auditions. Shayne Ward, mentored by Walsh, was declared the winner.

Cowell's Syco label released three albums by Ward, in 2006, 2007, and 2010; Ward was dropped by the label in 2011.

16–24s

Walsh was in charge of the 16–24s for this series.

Nicholas Dorsett

Nicholas Dorsett (born 27 May 1987) is from Enfield, London. Upon completing his A-Levels, Dorsett auditioned for the X Factor and was an early favourite alongside eventual winner Shayne Ward.^[1] However, in Week Six, he was eliminated after judge Osbourne, who held the casting vote that week, backed The Conway Sisters.^[2]

Following his departure from the show, Dorsett, now known as Nick D, has performed as a singer at Butlins, and released EP No Help or Handouts which include the singles "T.R.U.S.T" and "It's Alright".

Phillip Magee

Phillip Joseph Magee (born 22 April 1984) is a Northern Irish former student of Queen's University. The Larne native was one of two Irish acts in the series and survived two weeks before being voted off by judge Cowell, who described his performance of "Johnny B Goode" as "Shakin' Stevens at a wedding".^[3] During his tenure as a contestant, his mother was rushed to hospital following an asthma attack; the news was concealed from him until his departure.^[3]

Magee, who later dropped out of University to pursue a career in music, has since told an interviewer: "I got very down, drank a lot and let myself go."^[4][5] He was also in the news after his brothers Paul and David committed suicide in 2007 and 2009 respectively.^[6] His family were featured on the show 'Airline' which catalogued their attempts to fly with EasyJet to England to see him appear in one of his shows.

Shayne Ward

Shayne Thomas Ward (born 16 October 1984) was a Mancunian shop assistant who had previously reached the final thirty of Popstars: The Rivals.In 2005, he impressed the X Factor judges and became the bookmakers' favourite to win the show. After reaching the final, he defeated Journey South and Andy Abraham, and was named as the winner .^[7] He had not fallen into the bottom two throughout the entire competition, and won by a margin of 1.2% of the vote, out of a reported 10.8 million phone votes cast by viewers.

Ward's first single "That's My Goal" became the Christmas single of 2005, and remains the only original winner's song to date. After his third album failed to reach the Top Ten, he was duly dropped by Syco Music.^[8]

Chenai Zinyuku

Chenai Zinyuku (born 1 June 1986) is of Zimbabwean and English descent and from Bradford.^[9] She had competed in the first series of X Factor where she was placed in Osbourne's 16–24 category, but was sent home during the bootcamp stage. She tried again the following year with more success but was eliminated in Week 4.

Zinyuku has since signed a record deal and recorded a single with dance act Lockout – a dance version of Sarah Connor's "Bounce"^[5]

Over 25s

Osbourne looking after the Over-25s

Andy Abraham

Andrew "Andy" Abraham (born 16 July 1964) is a former refuse collector. Prior to this he worked as a bus driver for Arriva London. Abraham, who is of Grenadian descent, was narrowly beaten to the top spot on The X Factor by Shayne Ward by 1.2% of the national public vote.

Abraham has since released four albums, including his debut The Impossible Dream, which reached number two on the UK Albums Chart. In 2008, he represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest, where he placed last out of 25 countries.

Brenda Edwards

Brenda Edwards is a former accounts manager and mother-of-two from Luton who quickly became popular with the audience due to her vocals and personality. Before competing in the X Factor, she had sung in pentecostal choirs and had unsuccessfully attempted to land a record deal.^[10]

Edwards is now a West End actress, and has starred in several productions including Carmen Jones, We Will Rock You, and most notably Chicago. In 2007, she was named Favourite Reality Star at the Screen Nation awards.^[11]

Maria Lawson

Maria Lawson (born 24 May 1975, London) is a former property developer who had previously sung back-up for Gabrielle.^[12] She auditioned for the first series of the show, but was rejected by Cowell after reaching the Bootcamp rounds. In 2005 she auditioned for the second series, and he admitted that he had made a mistake in not putting her through to the live shows. After her performances at Bootcamp and Osbourne's home in Los Angeles, Lawson was selected as part of Osbourne's final four. At the beginning of the live shows, she was hotly tipped to take the title, and performances of "Piece of My Heart" and "You're Beautiful" made her one of the solid favourites to win until she was eliminated after Walsh chose to save Irish quartet The Conway Sisters after both acts were in the Bottom Two. Osbourne later stated "This is a travesty. This is about where they're from, not talent. They're not an Irish mafia", referring to the fact that both Walsh and The Conways were Irish.^[13]

In 2006 Lawson, who had postponed her honeymoon to compete,^[14] released the single "Sleepwalking"; she has also worked as a lingerie model, fronting campaigns for Bravissimo^[15] and Brastop.^[16]

Chico

Yousseph "Chico" Slimani (born 2 April 1971) is a Welsh singer of Moroccan descent who had previously worked as a goat herder and stripper. His X Factor audition is notable as judge Cowell walked out in disgust after fellow judges Walsh and Osbourne voted him through to the second round. Slimani quickly became one of the competition's most controversial contestants due top his questionable vocal ability, but managed to remain in the contest until the quarter finals when he was voted out. To date he remains the only contestant to perform an original song – "It's Chico Time". He planned to release it as a single for Christmas; this was postponed for contractual reasons until February 2006 when it entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 1.

Slimani is still in the music business, and in 2008 he appeared in the reality TV show CelebAir in which he placed third.^[17] He also participated in the seventh series of Dancing on Ice in 2011.

Groups

Cowell was in charge of groups.

4Tune

4Tune were a Southampton-based quartet made up of Phil Kemish, brothers Mike and Anthony Hannides, and their cousin Simon Vitsaides, who are all of mixed heritage. In 2004, they competed in the first series of the competition, but were eliminated by their then-mentor Louis Walsh in favour of fellow group Voices with Soul; It was later revealed that 4Tune already had a management contract which was against the show's rules, but they were drafted back onto the show when they received a call from a producer who asked them to audition again.^[18][19] Despite their impressive rendition of "I'll Be There" during the second live show, Sharon Osbourne, who held the casting vote, chose to send them home instead of Chennai. 4Tune later complained that they had been eliminated from the show because of a personal vendetta between the judges.^[20]

Since the show, 4Tune appear to have disbanded. The Hannides brothers are now songwriter/producers; their work has included "My Name" by McLean and "Every Little Part of Me" by Alesha Dixon. Kemish now works in online marketing for musical acts.^[19][21]

Addictiv Ladies

Addictiv Ladies were the first act to be eliminated from the competition, and consisted of A Level students and childhood friends Fleur East, Nicola Owusu-Akontoh, Stephanie Yamson and Vivienne Umeh. Before competing in The X Factor, the London-based quartet had taken part in other talent shows including "London Battle of the Boroughs" in which they placed third^[22] Following their departure from the show, Addictiv Ladies complained that Walsh, who held the casting vote that week, had voted against them to spite Cowell^[23] – they confronted him after he made the decision to save Chico, and Walsh reportedly mocked them claiming "The only reason why you were here in the first place is because Simon Cowell wanted to sleep with you."^[24]

In 2014, lead singer East auditioned again for the show as a solo artist in the Over 25s category, and finished runner-up.^[25][26]

The Conway Sisters

The Conway Sisters consisted of Irish siblings Laura, Marie, Sharon and Sinead, who were all born and raised in Sligo. In week 5 of The X Factor, they found themselves in the bottom-two with crowd favourite Maria Lawson; the latter was voted off by Louis Walsh who held the casting vote that week, prompting booing from the studio audience and fellow judge Sharon Osbourne to claim that "he voted with his passport" – referring to the fact that both Walsh and the Conway Sisters were Irish. The decision provoked controversy in the media, especially when it was revealed that Walsh had known the Conways personally prior to the competition.^[27] The Conways then worked for the rest of their tenure without the guidance of Cowell, who now persisted with negative comments.^[28] They were eliminated in week seven after Cowell voted against them – the first time that an X Factor mentor had voted off their own act with two acts in different category. Upon their dismissal from the competition, the group claimed that Walsh had been their true mentor.

The Conway Sisters have since broken up, with Laura attempting to pursue a solo career.

Journey South

Journey South are an English singing duo, consisting of brothers Andy and Carl Pemberton. They are originally from Middlesbrough, Teesside, and performed in pubs and clubs throughout the United Kingdom for over eight years, prior to auditioning for The X Factor. The duo ended the competition in third place. They have stated that Bon Jovi, U2 and Mary J. Blige have been influences for their work.

References