Ray Quinn
Quinn in August 2007
Born	Raymond Arthur Quinn (1988-08-25)25 August 1988 (age 37) Gateacre, Liverpool, England
Occupations	Actor singer dancer
Years active	1998–present
Spouse	Emma Stephens ​ ​ (m. 2012; div. 2015)​
Children	2
Musical career
Genres	Pop swing
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Sony Music Syco
Musical artist

Raymond Arthur Quinn (born 25 August 1988) is an English actor, singer, and dancer. He is best known for his role as Anthony Murray inBrookside from 2000 to 2003. He achieved more public recognition when he auditioned for thethird series ofThe X Factor in 2006, finishing in second place behindLeona Lewis.

Quinn won thefourth series ofDancing on Ice in 2009 and the'All Stars' series in 2014. On 22 February 2015, he was the winner of the first (and only) series ofGet Your Act Together.

Raymond Arthur Quinn was born on 25 August 1988 inChildwall, Merseyside. Later he attended the Merseyside Dance and Drama College, where he had singing lessons from the age of nine. He cites his vocal coach, Suzanne Taylor, as a major influence in his career.^[1]

From 2000 to 2003, Quinn portrayed the victimised and tormented child Anthony Murray in theChannel 4 soap operaBrookside. He performed and was credited as Raymond Quinn. Murray's featured storylines on the programme includedbullying andmurder.

After his appearance onBrookside ended he guest starred in an episode ofMerseybeat in which he played criminal Leon Marsh. He also appeared in the episode "The Singing Cactus" for theBBC series,The Afternoon Play as John Reilly, who grieves after his mother's death and fleesinto his own world with his "singingcactus".

Quinn rose to further prominence when he auditioned for thethird series ofThe X Factor, singing a medley of "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" and "Devil in Disguise". Prior to appearing on the show, he was a performing arts student at the Merseyside Dance and Drama College, where he previously received some vocal training. He received three yeses from the judges, and progressed through to bootcamp. Quinn was placed in the 16-24s category, withSimon Cowell as his mentor. However, whilst singing in front of Cowell andSinitta, he partially stumbled and forgot the lyrics to "Easy" byCommodores. Initially, he was told he wasn't progressing through to judges' houses, but a change within the series format allowed him to successfully continue with the competition. He later sang "Smile" for his judges' houses performance, and afterwards was granted a place as one of the four acts through to the live shows.

During the live shows, many of Quinn's song choices and performances were old-fashioned andswing-based.Louis Walsh andSharon Osbourne, in the earlier stages of the competition, queried him over his ability as a pure singer rather than a 'song-and-dance' man. However, in the later stages, he widened the range of his performances more into singingpop songs, and to which the judges were satisfied with Quinn's ability to do so. In week five, he was placed in the bottom two against Nikitta Angus, but survived elimination. He managed to progress through the competition up to week 10, where he was the series runner-up, losing to eventual winnerLeona Lewis.

In December 2006, two days after finishing onThe X Factor, Quinn signed a record deal with Cowell's labelSYCO to release a debutswing album.^[2] Recording process for the album began through January 2007 at theCapitol Records Tower inLos Angeles, where he was accompanied by a 48-piece orchestra.^[3]

His debut album,Doing It My Way was released on 12 March 2007. Coincidentally, anotherX Factor finalistBen Mills released his album on the same day. The album became a critical and commercial success. It entered theUK Album Chart at number one, and sold 127,000 copies in its first week of release, before being certified platinum.^[4]The album also featured covers of old swing andvocal jazz classics, some of which were recorded byFrank Sinatra himself. Quinn made British music history as he was the youngest male solo artist and the first person to have a number one album without releasing a single.

During the summer of that year, he was a judge on theITV dance competition showBaby Ballroom, alongsideBonnie Langford andPierre Dulaine. The programme centered on finding the best juniorballroom dancers.^[5]

Quinn embarked on his own solo tour from September to November 2007, where he performed within 30 cities across the UK.^[6] However, on 6 November 2007, it was announced that he had been subsequently dropped by Sony BMG.^[7]

Quinn participated as a contestant on the fourth series ofDancing on Ice. He paired with professional skaterMaria Filippov. Throughout the series, the couple earned high scores and praise from the ice panel each week. On 22 March 2009, he and Filippov won the competition overDonal MacIntyre andJessica Taylor.

From 11 May to 28 November that year, he playedDanny Zuko in the West End production ofGrease at Picadilly Theatre. He starred alongside his future wife Emma Stephens, who played Sandy. Quinn previously played the role of Doody during the first production of the musical in 2008. In 2011, he reprised the role of Danny for two weeks at theLiverpool Empire. Other stage acting credits that Quinn has mainly featured in include: Jack Trott inJack in the Beanstalk, the Prince inSleeping Beauty andCinderella, Warner Huntington III inLegally Blonde, and Billy Kosteki inDirty Dancing.

In December 2012, Quinn was cast as the title character in theAladdin musical, alongside comedian and presenterDon Maclean and actorTim Flavin. He played the role at the Poole Lighthouse Theatre until 6 January 2013. He also portrayedPeter Pan inPeter Pan at the Liverpool Empire from December 2013 to January 2014, which also starred Stephens asWendy Darling.

Quinn later returned to participate onDancing on Ice, for thefinal and All-Star series of the show. He was paired withMaria Filippov again. On 9 March 2014, he and Filippov were crowned the champions of the series, and ultimate winners of the programme. He beat outHayley Tamaddon andBeth Tweddle for the title.

He reprised his role as Aladdin again at the Liverpool Empire, from 13 December 2014 to 4 January 2015, alongsideClaire Sweeney as the Genie andPete Price as the Emperor.

In January 2015, he was a contestant on the celebrity talent show,Get Your Act Together.^[8] His mentor was actress and impressionistDebra Stephenson, whom he learned and mastered the craft ofimpressions from. Quinn was announced as the winner of the series, withJames Bolam andClaire Richards in second and third place respectively.

In September 2014, Quinn announced that he was planning to return to music, and had already started working on material for a second studio album.

He released his first single in eight years, "They Say Love" on 23 February 2015. Later that month, it was revealed that the title for the upcoming studio album would be calledDare to Dream, which was scheduled for an April 2015 release and promoted on a tour of the same name but was ultimately not released.

In May 2015, Quinn was part of the cast ofJudy: The Judy Garland Songbook, alongsideLorna Luft andLouise Dearman. The show featured never before seen clips and interviews of Garland herself, as well as live performances of her original songs.^[9]

On 26 November 2018, Quinn joinedChannel 4 soap operaHollyoaks as character Jonny Baxter. His character is an employee at The Bean and part of aright wingextremist group. He left the show in November 2019 when the story arc surrounding the far right came to an end.

Quinn's second album, Undeniable, was released on 28 August 2020.^[10]

During theCoronavirus pandemic, Quinn revealed that he had been working as a delivery driver for courier companyHermes.^[11] In April 2021, Quinn announced he had begun a new careerlaying carpets at his family firm, alongside brothers Robin and Darren.^[12]

He is currently headlining each night at the Limelight Club on P&O cruise ships with his own show.^[13]

Quinn married actress Emma Stephens inBarbados on 31 March 2012. The couple also announced at the time that Stephens was expecting their first child.^[14][15] Their son was born in August 2012. In February 2015, the couple announced their separation.^[15] In September 2022, he and his partner, Emily Ashleigh, announced the birth of their daughter; Ashleigh has a son from a previous relationship.^[16]

In March 2021, Quinn spoke publicly about losing his father, also called Ray, tocancer in November 2020.^[17]

Ray Quinn played the title role of ‘Aladdin’ at Albert Halls, Bolton for Polka Dot Pantomimes in 2019.

• 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

• Quinn, Ray (2015).This Time Round. London: Percy Publishing.ISBN 978-0992929879.

• X Factor 2006 Tour 2007
• Ray Quinn Solo Tour 2007
• Dancing on Ice Tour 2009
• Dancing on Ice Tour 2010
• Dancing on Ice Tour 2014
• Dare to Dream Tour 2015
• No Mans Land Tour 2016
• Dancing On Ice Tour 2018

• 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, Search for a Star – £5000 prize
• 2007 – Scouseology Award, Best Personality
• 2007 – Liverpool Local Hero Awards, Contribution to Music

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRay Quinn.

• Ray Quinn atIMDb

• 1988 births
• Living people
• English male television actors
• English male child actors
• English male stage actors
• English male dancers
• English male musical theatre actors
• English male singers
• English crooners
• English people of Irish descent
• The X Factor (British TV series) contestants
• Sony BMG artists
• Reality show winners
• Male actors from Liverpool
• Musicians from Liverpool
• People from Knowsley, Merseyside

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from January 2020
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• Commons link from Wikidata