Ahead of his concert at The 02, Shayne Ward tells Andy Welch about moving on from his
post-X Factor persona and why silence is golden
When I catch up with Shayne Ward, he is relaxing ahead of his tour. And he's wise to take a breather, for the jaunt around the UK - which ends in Belfast on May 29 - kick-starts a summer of festivals, TV appearances and general busyness.
"There's a lot of stage production, dancers and everything. It's just taking it to the next level from the last time we toured," he said.
"There are a lot of ideas about, so I'm very excited. Hopefully, it'll all be quite spectacular."
For anyone living under a rock for the last couple of years, Shayne won TV talent show X-
Factor in 2005, beating Journey South and this year's Eurovision entry, Andy Abraham, in the final.
As has become customary over the past few years, the eventual
X-Factor winner secures the prestigious Christmas top spot with their debut single, and Shayne was no different, with his first release hitting the top of the charts after it was rush-released to make the deadline.
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The song sold more than 700,000 copies in a few days, including 310,000 on its first day of sale. An album duly followed in April 2006, and, again, sold extremely well.
Shayne's gruelling schedule of promotion, personal appearances and live shows was beginning to take its toll however, and by the time third single Stand By Me was in the shops, every singer's worst fear came true for Shayne, he had nodules on his vocal cords.
Shayne went to America for surgery and now has a strict regime while on tour to make sure he's not affected again.
"It's simple, really. I make sure I get lots of sleep, drink lots of water and that's about it. And I don't speak unless I'm being
spoken to," he said.
"It's just about looking after yourself and being healthy."
Shayne also cuts out booze while on the road.
"If I've got one or two days off in a row, I might buy a few drinks for the band to make sure everyone lets their hair down and relaxes, but I just have to keep in shape so I can't drink. There are definitely no kebabs either."
Shayne's second album, Breathless was released last November, and was a marked change from his debut.
During his time on The X-Factor, the judges earmarked Shayne to become Britain's answer to Justin Timberlake, but when he eventually released his own music, all the R'n'B-tinged pop songs he'd
covered during the competition had gone in favour of flowery,
indistinct ballads.
The second album, however, gave him more upbeat songs and he moves nearer to fulfiling his
potential.
"I wasn't unhappy with how things had been going before the second album was released, not at all," he says, somewhat defensively. "I am happy with the direction of the second album, though. It just means now I can carry on doing what I'm doing, internationally as well, and then I can think about the third album."
The current tour will be the first time Shayne has performed some of the songs from Breathless live. Something he can't wait to do.
"Whether it's a gig or a TV show, I hate standing still when I'm singing. So with these uptempo tracks I can now dance about and people are going to see me having a lot more fun. I'm very excited about that.
"I've had to up my game with the dance steps. It's going to take a good few years until I get to a
really good standard, but I'm still going to my dance classes.
"I've been told it comes naturally to me," he added. "I'd rather be told if it doesn't look good though, because then I wouldn't do it. But yeah, when I did choreography with Brian Friedman, he said he wouldn't teach me if he didn't think I could do it, so that's a real compliment in itself."
On June 1, Shayne will head over to Dublin's Croke Park to be Westlife's support act for the evening. As well as being hugely proud of opening up for his idols, he's also hoping to fulfil a dream.
"I remember seeing this photo of Robbie Williams taken from
behind him while he was on stage at Croke Park," he said.
"You can see him and the
thousands of people watching him. I thought, Wouldn't it be great to have one of those taken' so I think I'm actually more excited about getting a similar photo taken than the actual gig itself."
Shayne Ward live at The 02, Greenwich. May 21. For tickets, call 0844 856 0202.
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