Sinéad Quinn
Encyclopedia
Sinéad Quinn (born 24 March 1980, Irvinestown
, County Fermanagh
, Northern Ireland
) and graduate of the University of Hull
was a contestant in the first series of the UK
BBC
TV series
Fame Academy
in 2002. She later went on to sign a recording contract
, released an album
, and had a #2 UK single
. She is married to Paul Stewart
, drummer with The Feeling
. They became engaged on 9 October 2007, and were married
in Ireland on 6 December 2008.
and Paul MacDonald sang in this vote but Quinn won the public's support. She gained 51% of the votes and won her place in the Fame Academy.
The fan base Quinn built up in the first programme stayed with her during the whole series, and allowed her to reach the final. During this time she sang a range of songs from Macy Gray's
"I Try" and Garth Brook's
"If Tomorrow Never Comes
" to "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
" and "Don't Speak".
In the final, she was up against David Sneddon
(who had entered the Academy at a later date due to Naomi Roper pulling out due to illness) and Lemar Obika. She finished second with 2.5 million of the 6.5 million votes cast.
. Her debut single, "I Can’t Break Down", was released 10 February 2003. It reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart
, being beaten to the top spot by t.A.T.u.
. The single sold around 70,000 copies, finishing in 65th place for the top selling UK singles of 2003. The video was directed by Dani Jacobs
and filmed in the empty Fame Academy house. Her follow-up single "What You Need Is" reached number 19 in the same chart
, and her self-written album, Ready To Run, peaked at number 48 in the UK Albums Chart
.
Quinn's only other releases to date was on the Fame Academy Album, alongside all the other Fame Academy contestants, and guest vocals on fellow contestant Malachi Cush
's debut album.
In the years since leaving the Fame Academy, she has had a regular list of public performances. With the backing of a guitar based group she went on a University tour in 2003. She has played to a full-house at Music Live 2003 at the National Exhibition Centre
and, in 2005, she supported Children in Need
with a performance and sang at the switch-on of Christmas lights in Coventry
.
She has also taken part in RTÉ
's TV show - The Lyrics Board
and on New Year's Eve, 2005, she performed on another RTÉ show - Everyone's A Winner, singing Sheryl Crow
's song - "Everyday Is a Winding Road
". Also in 2005 Quinn was invited by the Irish President, Mary McAleese
, "to a reception to celebrate (her) contribution to the entertainment industry in Ireland" at the Presidents official residence, Áras an Uachtaráin
.
Quinn played the role of Beth in the 2007 live tour of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
. Also in 2007 she performed at and judged each of the nine regional finals for Girl Guiding UK's talent competition 'Guiding Star' and also appeared at the Grand Final in Sheffield on 30 June 2007 as a performer and a judge.
Whilst she concentrated on smaller concert
s in 2008, mainly in locations in London, Quinn was also the support act for Lulu
at the Chichester Festivities in July 2008.
Since May 2009 Sinéad has been performing as part of Sinéad and The Dawnbreakers. The band have been playing all over the country at various venues and festivals. They played at the Little World Festival in Meribel, France both years it has been running. Her husband Paul is the temporary drummer for the band. They have a new MySpace for the band.
Irvinestown
Irvinestown is a village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The 2001 Census recorded a population of 1,801 people. The most notable building is the ruined 18th century church.-History:...
, County Fermanagh
County Fermanagh
Fermanagh District Council is the only one of the 26 district councils in Northern Ireland that contains all of the county it is named after. The district council also contains a small section of County Tyrone in the Dromore and Kilskeery road areas....
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
) and graduate of the University of Hull
University of Hull
The University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...
was a contestant in the first series of the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Fame Academy
Fame Academy
Fame Academy is a televised competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner received a chance to become a successful music artist. The prize consisted of a £1m recording contract with a major record company, plus the use of a luxury apartment in London and a sports car for one...
in 2002. She later went on to sign a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
, released an album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, and had a #2 UK single
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. She is married to Paul Stewart
Paul Stewart (musician)
Paul Ronald Stewart is the drummer in the British band The Feeling.He went to St Wilfrid's Catholic School, Crawley, where he met Kevin Jeremiah and Ciaran Jeremiah, now fellow members of The Feeling....
, drummer with The Feeling
The Feeling
The Feeling are a BRIT award-nominated English pop band from West Sussex and London. The band categorise their music as "pop".Following a limited release of their first single "Fill My Little World" in late 2005, the band entered the UK Singles Chart at #7 with their first full release "Sewn" in...
. They became engaged on 9 October 2007, and were married
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
in Ireland on 6 December 2008.
Fame Academy
Quinn did not enter the Fame Academy in the same way as the other contestants. The first eleven contestants were picked by the show's judges, but the final contestant was picked through a public vote in the first programme of the series. Quinn, David SneddonDavid Sneddon
David Sneddon is a Scottish musician and singer-songwriter.He has performed on British television, radio and theatre. Sneddon won the first BBC UK series of Fame Academy in 2002...
and Paul MacDonald sang in this vote but Quinn won the public's support. She gained 51% of the votes and won her place in the Fame Academy.
The fan base Quinn built up in the first programme stayed with her during the whole series, and allowed her to reach the final. During this time she sang a range of songs from Macy Gray's
Macy Gray
Macy Gray is a Grammy Award-winning American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress, famed for her distinctive raspy voice, and a singing style heavily influenced by Billie Holiday and Betty Davis.Gray has released five studio albums, with her fifth studio album, The Sellout,...
"I Try" and Garth Brook's
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...
"If Tomorrow Never Comes
If Tomorrow Never Comes
"If Tomorrow Never Comes" served as the first single from Irish singer/songwriter Ronan Keating's second studio album, Destination. The song was produced by Steve Mac. The song peaked at #1 on the UK Singles Chart, as well as making the Top 10 in Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Germany,...
" to "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
" Satisfaction" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released in 1965. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham. Richards's throwaway three-note guitar riff — intended to be replaced by horns — opens and drives the song...
" and "Don't Speak".
In the final, she was up against David Sneddon
David Sneddon
David Sneddon is a Scottish musician and singer-songwriter.He has performed on British television, radio and theatre. Sneddon won the first BBC UK series of Fame Academy in 2002...
(who had entered the Academy at a later date due to Naomi Roper pulling out due to illness) and Lemar Obika. She finished second with 2.5 million of the 6.5 million votes cast.
Music career
Within a week of leaving the Fame Academy, Quinn signed a £1 million, five album record deal with Mercury RecordsMercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
. Her debut single, "I Can’t Break Down", was released 10 February 2003. It reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, being beaten to the top spot by t.A.T.u.
T.A.T.u.
t.A.T.u. was a duo formed in Moscow, Russia in 1999 by Ivan Shapovalov. The group consisted of Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova.Their debut single "Ya Soshla S Uma" was released in December 2000. The single had a huge success in Russia and Eastern Europe...
. The single sold around 70,000 copies, finishing in 65th place for the top selling UK singles of 2003. The video was directed by Dani Jacobs
Dani Jacobs
-Background:Jacobs was born in London. He went to University of Manchester to study Physics but left to pursue his interests in Film.He worked at the The Haçienda nightclub as a resident filmmaker and VJ, creating visuals and lighting effects to project in the club space...
and filmed in the empty Fame Academy house. Her follow-up single "What You Need Is" reached number 19 in the same chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
, and her self-written album, Ready To Run, peaked at number 48 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
.
Quinn's only other releases to date was on the Fame Academy Album, alongside all the other Fame Academy contestants, and guest vocals on fellow contestant Malachi Cush
Malachi Cush
Malachi Cush, also recording as Malachi, , is a singer/songwriter from Donaghmore, a small village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Coming from a large musical family, he started singing and playing Irish traditional music at an early age. He appeared on the first series of Fame Academy and has...
's debut album.
Live performances and songwriting
Both before and after Fame Academy, Quinn was a keen songwriter and performer. The show allowed her to develop her song writing talents and provided her with her first ever singing lessons. The Fame Academy Tour, which followed the series, gave Quinn her first major public performances outside a TV studio.In the years since leaving the Fame Academy, she has had a regular list of public performances. With the backing of a guitar based group she went on a University tour in 2003. She has played to a full-house at Music Live 2003 at the National Exhibition Centre
National Exhibition Centre
The National Exhibition Centre is an exhibition centre in Birmingham, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham International Airport and Birmingham International railway station. It has 20 interconnected halls, set in grounds of 628 acres making it the...
and, in 2005, she supported Children in Need
Children in Need
Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...
with a performance and sang at the switch-on of Christmas lights in Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
.
She has also taken part in RTÉ
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
's TV show - The Lyrics Board
The Lyrics Board
The Lyrics Board is an Irish game show. Originally hosted by Aonghus McAnally, the show is currently hosted by Eurovision winner, Linda Martin. In each episode there are two teams. Each team consists of a piano player/team captain who is joined by two celebrities/singers, at either side. A team...
and on New Year's Eve, 2005, she performed on another RTÉ show - Everyone's A Winner, singing Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
's song - "Everyday Is a Winding Road
Everyday Is a Winding Road
"Everyday Is a Winding Road" is the second single from American rock star Sheryl Crow's 1996 self-titled album. The song met well with radio and peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Neil Finn, lead singer of Crowded House, provides backing vocals. It also peaked at #12 on the UK Singles Chart....
". Also in 2005 Quinn was invited by the Irish President, Mary McAleese
Mary McAleese
Mary Patricia McAleese served as the eighth President of Ireland from 1997 to 2011. She was the second female president and was first elected in 1997 succeeding Mary Robinson, making McAleese the world's first woman to succeed another as president. She was re-elected unopposed for a second term in...
, "to a reception to celebrate (her) contribution to the entertainment industry in Ireland" at the Presidents official residence, Áras an Uachtaráin
Áras an Uachtaráin
Áras an Uachtaráin , formerly the Viceregal Lodge, is the official residence of the President of Ireland. It is located in the Phoenix Park on the northside of Dublin.-Origins:...
.
Quinn played the role of Beth in the 2007 live tour of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds is a 1978 concept album by Jeff Wayne, retelling the story of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Its format is progressive rock and string orchestra, using narration and leitmotifs to carry the story via rhyming melodic lyrics that express...
. Also in 2007 she performed at and judged each of the nine regional finals for Girl Guiding UK's talent competition 'Guiding Star' and also appeared at the Grand Final in Sheffield on 30 June 2007 as a performer and a judge.
Whilst she concentrated on smaller concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s in 2008, mainly in locations in London, Quinn was also the support act for Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
at the Chichester Festivities in July 2008.
Since May 2009 Sinéad has been performing as part of Sinéad and The Dawnbreakers. The band have been playing all over the country at various venues and festivals. They played at the Little World Festival in Meribel, France both years it has been running. Her husband Paul is the temporary drummer for the band. They have a new MySpace for the band.
Albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
Ireland Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
|||||||||
| 2003 | Ready to Run Ready to Run (album) Ready To Run is the debut and only album by former Fame Academy contestant Sinéad Quinn. It was poorly received and charted at #48 on the UK albums chart, which led to her being dropped by her record label.-Track listing:...
|
|||||||||
| "—" denotes albums that were released but did not chart. | ||||||||||
Singles
| Year | Title | Album | Chart positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
Ireland Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
|||||||||
| 2003 | "I Can't Break Down I Can't Break Down "I Can't Break Down" is a song written by Sinéad Quinn, Pete Glenister and Deni Lew and produced by Glenister and Lew for Quinn's debut album, Ready to Run. It was released as her debut single from the album in March 2003 and reached a peak position of number two in the UK Singles Chart, losing out... " |
Ready to Run | 2 | 13 | ||||||
| "What You Need Is... What You Need Is... "What You Need Is..." is the second and final single from Sinéad Quinn's debut album "Ready To Run". It did not do as well as her first single "I Can't Break Down", and reached #19 in the UK singles chart.-Track listing:CD1#"What You Need Is..."... " |
19 | — | ||||||||
| "—" denotes singles that were released but did not chart. | ||||||||||