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'Super Boy' Shayne Ward

Shayne Ward was called “Super Boy” by the Chinese media upon his first China trip (November 21–24, 2006), referring to his experience as the winner of X Factor, a United Kingdom TV talent show considered similar to China’s Super Girl and the United States’ American Idol television programmes.

UK commentators generally agreed that participants in TV talent shows were nice people with laudable dreams and lovely voices, but when they first saw Shayne Ward on The X Factor, they knew he was different. There was a sense that he didn’t just enjoy performing, he needed it. Ward, in other words, had that elusive X factor, the aura of a would-be start. Now, he’s more than just a great singer; he’s a proper pop star.

The 22-year-old had a relatively tough boyhood in a family of seven siblings nurtured by a single mother. Ward left school to work for his mum as soon as he could.

After rising to the top in the show, his debut single “That’s My Goal” was pretty much a dead cert for the Christmas number one. From the first-day, sales were the third-largest ever recorded for a single in the United Kingdom: some 313,000 copies. The eponymously titled album was recorded in Stockholm, Copenhagen and London with some of pop’s sharpest producers and writers: Steve Mac, Per & David and Cutfather & Joe.

Ward included Beijing and Guangzhou in his Asia promotion trip and penned autographs for his album purchasers in the FAB store at the Oriental Plaza on November 21, a first for a Western European pop singer and a good sign that China may get more attention in and keep in pace with the world music scene. In the past, in general, albums of foreign languages were released one year later in this country than in the major market areas like Europe, the United States, Japan, Australia and sometimes South America.