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Matthew Sheridan Cardle (born 15 April 1983) is an English Pop music singer and actor. He was born in Southampton and grew up in Halstead, Essex. Cardle has been involved in music since his early teens and has been a member of two different bands; Darwyn and Seven Summers. Cardle rose to fame after winning the seventh series of The X Factor in 2010, and received a £1 million recording contract with Syco Music and later signed a deal with Columbia Records.
Following Cardle's victory on The X Factor, the winner's single and his debut single, "When We Collide", was released. The track was made available to purchase on 12 December 2010, shortly after the show had ended. On 19 December 2010, the track debuted at number one on the UK singles chart, as well as on the Irish Singles Chart. The track also became the second biggest-selling single of 2010 with 815,000 copies sold within two weeks. In June 2012, it had sold one million copies, the fourth single by an X Factor contestant to have done so.
"Run for Your Life" was the follow-up single released by Cardle which charted at number six on the UK singles chart. Cardle went on to release his debut album, Letters, in 2011, which debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and the Irish Albums Chart. The album saw two more singles released, "Starlight" and "Amazing". Cardle then parted ways with record labels Syco Music and Columbia Records, and signed a recording contract with So What Recordings in early 2012. He released his second studio album, The Fire, which charted at number eight on the UK Albums Chart. In October 2013, Cardle released his third album, Porcelain, in association with Absolute Marketing as an independent release. It reached number 11 on the UK Albums Chart. The lead single was a duet with Melanie C, "Loving You", which was released on 18 August and reached number 14 on the UK singles chart.
Cardle is a guitarist, and plays frequently on tour and other performances. He also plays other instruments including drums and piano. He has toured the United Kingdom, South Africa, Asia and Ireland on his Letters Tour in 2012, Unplugged Tour in 2013, Porcelain Tour in 2014 and Intimate and Live Tour in 2016. Cardle has combined album and single sales of over two million.
In 2005, Cardle joined alternative rock/pop band Darwyn and the band recorded an 11-track album, When You Wake, the band also released a follow-up EP, Little Sunlight in 2006. The band described themselves as an acoustic rock band. The band's first album contained tracks "Violet" and title track "When You Wake". They were awarded an Arts Council England grant which they used to record the EP Little Sunlight. The band played at many festivals including Stortford Music Festival and Brownstock Festival and regularly played at the venue and recording studio Highbarn in Essex. Cardle and Darwyn band member Ali McMillan also played as a two-piece under the name Darwyn, playing acoustic cover versions of popular songs in venues in and around the Suffolk area and videos of them playing together have gained many views on YouTube.
In 2009, Cardle became the lead singer and guitarist of rock music band called Seven Summers. The band performed live on Sue Marchant's BBC radio program, in December 2009. They released their self-titled album in January 2010. The album featured alternative rock, pop, urban and folk influences. The album included the songs "Youngblood", "Way to Be" and "Dirt" and the follow-up single "Picture of You". Although the band did not have a recording contract and they distributed their music independently, they reached No.30 on the Official UK Album Downloads Chart and No.11 on the Official UK Independent Album Charts for week ending 25 December 2010, and No.1 on the Official UK Independent Album Breakers Charts for week ending 25 December 2010. Following Cardle's success on The X Factor, the band saw an upsurge in popularity, with their music videos gaining large numbers of views on YouTube.
On the first live show he sang "When Love Takes Over" which received high praise from all four judges. In week five he performed "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" again, which earned him the first standing ovation from all four judges of the series. It remains his most viewed performance on YouTube with over 34 million views to date. In the semi-final he had to withdraw from a secret X Factor gig in London due to throat problems which saw him almost have to miss the show that weekend. In the final he performed a duet with Rihanna.
Cardle was announced the winner on 12 December 2010, after receiving 44.61% of the vote. He received the most votes every week from week two, being beaten only by Mary Byrne in week one. The week after the series final, Cardle's cover version of "Many of Horror" originally recorded by Scottish rock trio Biffy Clyro and retitled as "When We Collide", topped the UK Singles Chart to become the 2010 Christmas number 1 and remained there for three consecutive weeks. The song was nominated in the Best British Single category at the 2011 BRIT Awards. In June 2012 the song reached the one million sale mark, making it the 123rd single to sell a million copies in the UK and the fourth by an X Factor contestant. In Ireland it is the fourth best selling single of all time, and the best selling single of the century so far, as of 31 December 2015.
Cardle remains good friends with fellow contestant Aiden Grimshaw and mentor Dannii Minogue. On 15 March 2011, it was reported that Cardle signed a record deal with Syco Music in a joint venture with Columbia Records, becoming the first The X Factor winner not to be exclusively signed to Simon Cowell's label.
Beyond singing on The X Factor, Cardle says he tries to watch the show in his spare time.
| "Nights in White Satin" – The Moody Blues | |
| "She's Always a Woman" – Billy Joel | Song to get you to the final |
| "Unfaithful" – (with Rihanna) | Celebrity duet |
| "When We Collide" – Biffy Clyro | Winners single |
A second single, "Starlight", was released on 4 December 2011. It had been originally intended as the first single before "Run for Your Life" was sent to him and was generally better received by fans and journalists. Despite this, it only charted at number 185 but sparked a boost in album sales which saw "Letters" return to the top 25 on the album charts shortly after "Starlight"s release. The third and final single to be released from "Letters" was Amazing which was released as an EP, containing a new track called "All Is Said", which Cardle wrote with James Walsh, a new recording of "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and a live version of the album track "Slowly" recorded at the album launch. In February 2012 he embarked on a sell out tour, the Letters Tour. The tour ended on 29 March 2012 at Hammersmith Apollo. In September 2012 he said this was his favourite gig so far in his career.
On 20 May 2012, Cardle announced on Twitter that he had parted ways with Columbia Records. In October 2012, Cardle explained he left Sony through his own choice because he wasn't a priority. "I would just have been left to get on with it while One Direction ruled the planet. Which is brilliant for them – I'm so proud of them – but I needed to be a bit selfish. I asked Sony to let me go and they said okay." Later, in October 2013 he stated another reason for leaving was because of the lack of control he had with decisions such as "Run for Your Life" being released as his first single instead of "Starlight" which he'd written and preferred.
On 9 September 2012, So What Recordings, part of the Silva Screen Music Group, announced that Cardle's second album, The Fire would be released on 29 October 2012 on their label. On 11 September 2012, the lead single, "It's Only Love" was released online on Cardle's YouTube channel as an audio only video. The video for the song was premiered on 3 October. Even though the song was promoted as being the lead single, it was not released as a standalone product and was only made available to buy at the same time as the album, and therefore it did not enter the singles chart. The Fire debuted at number eight in the UK Albums Chart, giving Cardle his second top 10 album. He said the album is more like what he did before The X Factor than Letters, and feels more honest. "I'm getting closer to myself, and getting back to what I do and what I've always done." A second single, "Anyone Else" was released on 31 December 2012. On 10 December 2012 an Unplugged Tour was announced on Cardle's website. Tickets went on general sale on 12 December with some dates selling out on the first day. The tour ran through April and May 2013 over the UK and Ireland.
On 28 September, Cardle performed a cover of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" at the Miss World 2013 in Bali, Indonesia. The Porcelain Tour in support of the album was announced on 30 October 2013, beginning in April 2014.
On 20 June 2014, Cardle performed a free gig at the Portadown's Got Talent awards, hosted in the People's Park of Portadown, Northern Ireland. The event is part of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland and is supported and backed by the EU.
In August 2014, Cardle confirmed he was working on his fourth album. In 2016, he embarked on a summer tour, entitled the Intimate and Live Tour, to promote the new material and to test it live before recording. A limited edition live album recorded from the tour was released shortly after. Cardle explained the longer than usual gap in between albums was because he was "running on empty" around the release of his last album and that he needed to recharge. "What has been brilliant for me this time around is the more relaxed nature of the writing and recording process. I've had gaps where I've been able to live, recharge and become inspired again." He describes it as a lot more electronic than his previous albums.
Cardle's fourth album, Time to Be Alive, was released through Sony on 27 April 2018. The lead single, "Desire", was premiered on BBC Radio 2 on 13 March 2018.
Cardle returned to the West End on 31 July 2018, playing the role of Wally Strand in Strictly Ballroom until it closes on 27 October 2018. Cardle played the role of Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Barbican from 4 July until 24 August 2019. Later in the year he reunited with his former band Seven Summers for a gig in Chelmsford, and they have begun to work to new music together.
In 2024 it was announced Cardle would star as William Shakespeare in the UK and Ireland tour of the musical & Juliet.
While recording his debut album, Letters, Cardle took many different artists as an influence; reviews compared tracks to those by artists such as Snow Patrol and Coldplay, as well as Chris Martin.
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