Shayne Ward<\/a> has revealed the brutal way he was dropped from his record label following a mysterious three-year career freeze that derailed his rise to superstardom after The X Factor.<\/p>\n The Manchester-born singer shot to fame in 2005 when he won the second series of the ITV talent show, mentored by Louis Walsh<\/a>. His winner\u2019s single That\u2019s My Goal went straight to Christmas number one, selling more than 700,000 copies in its first week and becoming one of the decade\u2019s fastest-selling singles. His self-titled debut album followed in April 2006, topping the UK chart, while 2007\u2019s Breathless debuted at number two and went platinum in the UK and five-times platinum in Ireland.<\/p>\n Then, without warning, the chart success stopped. Speaking to Westlife star Nicky Byrne on his Nicky Byrne HQ podcast<\/a>, Ward said his label, Sony Music<\/a>, \u201ctook [him] away for three years\u201d after the second album and, to this day, he is \u201cstill not too sure why\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re the first I\u2019ve ever spoken to about it,\u201d he told Byrne. \u201cAfter the second album I was taken away for three years, and I\u2019m still not too sure why. When I came back, the first song was a Nickelback cover \u2014 after all that time. I remember thinking, please don\u2019t let me come out with a cover.\u201d<\/p>\n During the hiatus, Ward continued recording and worked with leading pop producers including RedOne and Savan Kotecha. Several of those tracks later leaked online, among them Black Box, which was eventually recorded by boyband Blue in 2013.<\/p>\n His absence did not go unnoticed. Throughout those three silent years, fans launched online petitions, flooded social media with hashtags and even staged protests outside radio stations demanding his return.<\/p>\n When Ward finally re-emerged in 2010, it was with said cover and his third studio album Obsession, but after so long out of the spotlight, the momentum that had once carried him to stardom had faded.<\/p>\n The day he was dropped by Sony, Ward said, was one he would never forget. \u201cIt was a lovely conversation, really relaxed,\u201d he recalled. \u201cAnd then they told me they were letting me go. I broke down \u2014 I remember saying, \u2018Please don\u2019t take it away from me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Shayne Ward pictured with his Madame Tussauds waxwork which was unveiled in London in 2006 (PA)<\/p>\n As he left the office, he looked around the floor one last time. \u201cI remember looking across \u2014 marketing, international, everyone \u2014 and not one person looked up,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe they\u2019d been told not to, to stay professional. But it stayed with me. For years I used to dream about that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Not long after, he and longtime manager Louis Walsh<\/a> also parted ways \u2014 another blow that left him questioning his place in the industry. \u201cWhen I lost Louis, that\u2019s when the doubt crept in,\u201d he admitted. \u201cMaybe I have lost something\u2026 which now looking back, I hadn\u2019t \u2014 it\u2019s just the way the industry can go. It\u2019s a conveyor belt.\u201d<\/p>\n The Standard have contacted representatives for Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh for comment.<\/p>\n The combined impact left him unable to face performing. \u201cFor many years I was lost and didn\u2019t want to sing,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d lost myself for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n He went home to his east London apartment and spent \u201cyears\u201d trying to work out what came next.<\/p>\n Shayne Ward took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2024 (BBC\/Guy Levy)<\/p>\n Over time, Ward rebuilt. A triumphant West End debut in Rock of Ages earned rave reviews for his powerhouse vocals, followed by a National Television Award-winning turn as Aidan Connor in Coronation Street<\/a>. He later starred in Channel 5\u2019s The Good Ship Murder and appeared on Strictly Come Dancing<\/a> last year, broadening his TV audience.<\/p>\n Lockdown proved a turning point. Encouraged by his fianc\u00e9e, actress Sophie Austin \u2014 with whom he shares two children, Willow and Reign \u2014 Ward returned to writing and producing at home, vowing to release the music he\u2019d been sitting on \u201cover the last three or four years.\u201d \u201cIf people like it, great \u2014 if not, it\u2019s OK,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about being true to myself now.\u201d<\/p>\n Fatherhood, he said, reframed everything. \u201cI don\u2019t want my kids to see me doubting myself,\u201d he explained. \u201cI want them to see that Daddy\u2019s proud, that he\u2019s present, and that he never gave up on what he loves doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Now 40, Ward has returned to his musical roots with self-released single Through The Night, marking his first new music in several years, and a UK tour that includes London\u2019s Shepherd\u2019s Bush Empire on October 16 \u2014 his birthday.<\/p>\n Speaking to Byrne, it feels like a full-circle moment for the If That\u2019s OK With You hitmaker, who supported Westlife at Dublin\u2019s Croke Park in 2012. On social media, he has also said he would \u201cnever say no\u201d to joining Boyzone when they play their Two for the Road shows at London\u2019s Emirates Stadium next year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
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