Ray Quinn

Raymond Arthur "Ray" Quinn (born 25 August 1988 in Liverpool, Merseyside) is a British actor, singer, and dancer. He finished second in talent show The X Factor in 2006, and won the 2009 series of Dancing on Ice. He also appeared as victimised teenager Anthony Murray in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside. In December 2010, he announced on stage his engagement to Emma Stephens which was made on Christmas Day 2010. They wed in a beach ceremony in Barbados on March 31, 2012, the same day as they announced they were expecting their first child in Summer 2012. Their first child, a son Harry Frank was born on August 2, 2012.

Ray has recently (July) finished a six-month run in the UK National Tour of 'Legally Blonde the Musical' as Warner Huntington III and is currently starring in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice as Billy from September to 1 December and then pantomime as Aladdin at Lighthouse, Poole's Centre for the Arts in Dorset from December 2012 until January 2013. He will reprise his role in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice from end January 2013 until the end of June 2013 Ray also continues to perform his 50s Swing classics around the country.

Early life
Quinn attended Rudston Junior School in Childwall and Gateacre Comprehensive School, Liverpool. From a very young age a major influence in his life was his dance coach Suzanne Taylor.

Quinn went to his first dance class at the age of three and began his dancing career at the age of six at the Chiltern School of Dance and Drama under the guidance of his mentor and manager Mrs Colette Byatt and Ballroom Dance teacher Margaret Redmond. Quinn competed at Junior level throughout his childhood becoming an accomplished dancer winning a number of competitions including British Disco Champion and competing in many other styles of dance including Modern. At the age of 10 Ray was British number one for under 12s and went on to be European Champion and World Latin Champion in Ballroom Dancing with a ranking of second in the world.

Quinn began singing at the age of nine with Mrs Suzanne Taylor and continued his singing training with Suzanne throughout his time at Merseyside Dance and Drama College.

In 2005 Quinn was the winner of the Open Mic UK talent Competition Search for a Star, held at Willows Centre, Manchester.

Quinn went on to study Performing Arts at Merseyside Dance and Drama Centre for a three-year course where he completed two years before joining the X Factor finals.

The X Factor (2006)
In 2006, Quinn took part in the third series of UK talent show The X Factor.

Quinn was in the 16–24s category which was mentored by Simon Cowell. As the category's mentor, Cowell chose which contestants made it to the live rounds of the show. Initially, Quinn did not make Cowell's selection of seven contestants for the later stages of the competition, but Cowell subsequently “felt he had made a mistake”. It was then decided that the seven should be expanded to eight, and Quinn was called back. Quinn went on to be chosen as one of Cowell's final four contestants who would appear in the live rounds of the competition.

Many of Quinn's X Factor performances had an old-fashioned feel, and in the earlier stages of the competition he was criticised by judge Louis Walsh for repeatedly performing swing-style numbers. Judge Sharon Osbourne once referred to him as "panto boy" and the judges generally queried his ability as a pure singer as opposed to a "song-and-dance man".

For the first four weeks of the series Quinn survived in the contest without being in the bottom two sing-off. In week five, however, Quinn, along with Nikitta Angus, polled the fewest votes from the public. Walsh voted for Quinn to leave the competition, but Cowell and Osbourne voted in Quinn's favour, keeping him in the contest. Quinn then survived the next four weeks, in the penultimate week gaining the highest number of votes from the public, before eventually narrowly finishing as runner-up to Leona Lewis in the final a week later.

Following the conclusion of the show, Quinn participated in The X Factor UK and Ireland Tour with the other finalists from the third series. This took place in February and March 2007.

Post X Factor
After The X Factor, Quinn was signed by Sony BMG and on 16 January 2007 recorded a swing album at the Capitol Records Tower in Los Angeles. His self-titled debut album Doing It My Way was released on 12 March 2007, the same day as that of fellow The X Factor finalist Ben Mills. The album went straight to number one in the UK charts. It also went Platinum in the first week.

Quinn embarked on his own solo tour from September to November 2007.

Quinn was subsequently dropped by his record label, on 6 November 2007.

In November 2007, Quinn recorded a cover of the song "You to Me Are Everything" for the album Liverpool: Number Ones Album and in January 2008, he performed at the Number One Project concert at the Echo Arena, Liverpool.

A remix of Ray Quinn's recording of New York, New York was used for the soundtrack of the 2011 hit film Friends with Benefits.

Quinn continues to perform 1950s Swing Classics around the country.

Ray now has a highly successful stage career in musical theatre appearing in Grease in 2008 as Doody and again in Grease in the West End in the leading role of Danny Zuko in 2009. He starred as Billy in Dirty Dancing at the Aldwych theatre in Londons West End from 2010 until July 2011. He then reprised his role in Grease as Danny Zuko in Liverpool in November 2011. From January 2012 until July 2012 he starred as Warner Huntingdon III in the national tour of Legally Blonde. He then took up his role as Billy in the national tour of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, his first straight acting role since he appeared as a child actor in Brookside.

For the past three years Ray has been the star of pantomime in Birmingham (with Joe Pasquale)in Sleeping Beauty, in Northampton (with his wife Emma Stephens) in Jack and the Beanstalk and in Darlington (again with his wife Emma Stephens and Jimmy Cricket) in Cinderella. 2012/2013 sees him performing in Aladdin in his home town of Poole at the Lighthouse theatre.

In 2009 Quinn took part in the ITV series Dancing on Ice where he was top of the leader board every week and scoring a perfect score in week 6. He achieved perfect scores again for both his routines in the Final which he went on to win and become Dancing on Ice Champion 2009. In 2009 Quinn took part in Grease - The School Musical in which he was a Mentor for pupils taking part in the Musical from Wallasey School, Merseyside, the cast of the West End production of Grease (in which Quinn at the time was playing the role of Danny) were also on hand to showcase the Production. He appeared on the first programme of the 2010 edition of Dancing on Ice as current Champion and also performed a skating routine with his former skating partner from the show. He toured with the show both in Spring 2009 and Spring 2010 firstly with Maria Filipov and then with Alexandra Schaumann.

In 2011 Quinn took part in Sing If You Can, appearing in episode 3 with his team called Skywalker with captain Darren Gough and Camilla Kerslake. They won the show, which raised money for Teenage Cancer Trust. His team also appeared in the final again winning and becoming the first champions of Sing If You Can. He also starred in Little Crackers in December 2011 and internet drama "Nightvision".

Ray has made numerous appearances on Daybreak, This Morning, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and Loose Women.

Film and television

 * Brookside, "Anthony Murray" (2000–2003)
 * Merseybeat (2003)
 * Doctors, "Owen Miller" (2006)
 * The Afternoon Play, "John Reilly" (2005)
 * Bulletproof, "Ben" (2006) short film, Cannes Film Festival (France)
 * Cactus Jack, "John" (2005) short film, BBC
 * Little Crackers, "Davey" (2011) Sky 1


 * Nightvision, "Warren", (2011) Internet Drama

Theatre
1998
 * Me and My Girl, dancer – Empire Theatre, Liverpool
 * Peter Pan, dancer, actor and singer (Lost Boy) – Neptune Theatre, Liverpool

2004
 * Buster, actor – Harlow Playhouse

2008
 * Grease, dancer, actor and singer (Doody) – Piccadilly Theatre, West End


 * Aladdin, Aladdin – Broadway Theatre, Peterborough

2009
 * Grease, dancer, actor and singer (Danny Zuko), Piccadilly Theatre, West End
 * ''Sleeping Beauty (Pantomime) (Prince Daniel)Birmingham Hippodrome

2010


 * Dirty Dancing, Billy Kosteki, Aldwych Theatre, West End
 * Top Hat at the Palladium,18 July 2010 – Personal appearance for Top Hat Stage School to raise awareness for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
 * Jack and the Beanstalk, dancer, actor and singer (Jack Trott) – Royal & Derngate, Northampton

2011
 * Dirty Dancing, Billy Kosteki, Aldwych Theatre, West End
 * Grease, Danny, Liverpool Empire
 * Cinderella (Pantomime)Prince Charming, Darlington Civic Theatre

2012
 * Legally Blonde, Warner Huntington III, National Tour
 * The Rise and Fall of Little Voice "Billy", Tour
 * Aladdin (Pantomime), The Lighthouse, Poole

2013
 * The Rise and Fall of Little Voice "Billy", Tour

Radio

 * The Lost Boys – Narrator of book for Big Toe Radio, September 2004
 * Millions – Narrator of the film for Big Toe Radio, November 2004
 * The Believers – Actor playing part of James, April 2010

Tours

 * X Factor 2006 (as of 2007) Tour
 * Ray Quinn Solo Tour 2007
 * Dancing on Ice Tour 2009
 * Dancing on Ice Tour 2010

Awards

 * 2002 – Best Dramatic Performance, The British Soap Awards
 * 2002 – Best Storyline, The British Soap Awards
 * 2002 – Best Young Actor, Inside Soap Awards
 * 2002 – Best Performance in a Network Soap, Royal TV Society
 * 2005 – Manchester Talent Competition – Â£5000 prize
 * 2007 – Scouseology Award, Best Personality
 * 2007 – Liverpool Local Hero Awards, Contribution to Music