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| Birth Name(s) : Will Young |
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Full Will Young Biography
William Robert Young BA (Exon) (born January 20, 1979) is a British singer and actor. He catapulted to fame in 2002 after winning the inaugural UK Pop Idol contest. He has continued to work very successfully in music, and also as an actor.
Young was born in Reading/Wokingham, Berkshire, with a non-identical twin, Rupert. He also has an older sister, Emma. He was educated at Horris Hill preparatory school and Wellington College.
Young read Politics at the University of Exeter. At university, some of his haunts included Timepiece, The Old Firehouse, and Harry's, where he used to work. In September 2001, he became a student at The Arts Educational Schools in Chiswick, London, starting a three-year course in musical theatre with a scholarship.
Young subsequently revealed that he was gay, in order to pre-empt a tabloid newspaper that was preparing to run a story 'outing' him. He also stated that he had never hidden, and was comfortable with, his sexuality. This is explained in his book "Anything Is Possible", on page 229. He also reaffirmed this to the BBC.
In August 2002, he performed at the closing ceremony of the 2002 Commonwealth Games singing Sweetest Feeling in the pouring rain. He was praised by the announcer Grandmaster Flash who said that it was not easy entering a talent show.
In November 2005, Young appeared in his second Royal Command Performance performing a new song All Time Love for the first time. He was accompanied by pianist Howard Francis.
On 20 May 2006, he sang "Who Am I, "Leave Right Now" and "Love the One You're With" at The Prince's Trust 30th Birthday which took place at the Tower of London.
On 27 October 2006 Will sang his song "Home", the closing track on his triple platinum third album "Keep On", at Nitin Sawhney's concert in the BBC Electric Proms series of concerts. He followed this by performing in South Africa for Nelson Mandela's Unite of the Stars charity concerts. Also appearing were Ronan Keating, Banarama and Shayne Ward. In December 2006, he performed at the Dolce Vita Ball in London.
On 1 July 2007, he appeared at the Concert for Diana at the new Wembley Stadium. He sang Switch It On but the concert was running late and his performance of his hit song Leave Right Now had to be cut. He has also recently narrated an audio version of the Roald Dahl novel, Danny, the Champion of the World.
Young was the headline act at the Proms in the Park which took place in Hyde Park on 8 September 2007 as part of the Last Night of the Proms. He sang seven of his most recent songs, including Switch It On, Keep On and his multi-platinum single Leave Right Now.
Will Young took part in the Little Noise Sessions, a series of intimate, acoustic gigs for the learning disability charity, Mencap He performed on Thursday 22nd November with special guests at Islington's Union Chapel, which is acclaimed for its ambience and acoustics. It was an intimate gig as the venue only holds 600. Other artists featured in the Little Noise Sessions, which run from 21st to 28th November include Athlete, The Hoosiers, We Are Scientists, Young Knives, The Pigeon Detectives, Snow Patrol, The Enemy and Keane. Jo Whiley hosted the events.
Taken from his second album, "Friday's Child" was first the hugely successful "Leave Right Now", for which the writer Eg White scooped an Ivor Novello songwriting award. The second and third singles were "Your Game" and "Friday's Child" respectively. This second album is often deemed to be Young's most successful, selling over 1.6 million copies (five times platinum) and containing several tracks co-written by him, the album received a great many accolades and much critical acclaim.
His third album, Keep On, was released in November 2005, along with a revamped website, together with the first single from the same, "Switch It On", which confounded much expectation of the singer as it strayed from the predictable successful ballad formula. He released a second single in the form of "All Time Love" which was very well received, reaching number three in the sales charts and achieving Young's highest ever airplay. A third single "Who Am I" was released in April 2006, accompanied by an innovative video based on old episodes of Blue Peter, whereby Young was superimposed into scenes from decades past.
Critics, including the well respected and acclaimed critic Nicholas de Jonghe, thought Will played the role of Nicky just as it should have been played and he wrote, "revelatory Will finds key to Coward classic". Some, however, were not as complimentary.
Young supports the charity Women's Aid, about which he wrote: "I am proud to put my name beside this cause and hope that I may be able to help more people affected by the terrors of domestic violence as well as help to create a wider awareness within our society."
Young has been an ambassador for The Prince's Trust since 2002 and performed at the 30th anniversary concert in the grounds of the Tower of London.
Together with Dame Helen Mirren, Helena Bonham Carter and Martin Freeman, Will Young is appearing in a series of advertisements during the Christmas period 2007 for Oxfam; "Oxfam Unwrapped". |
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