''Seven Years – Ten Weeks'' is the debut and only studio album released by former ''

Fame Academy ''Fame Academy'' was a British television talent competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner received a chance to become a successful music artist and part of the international franchise ''Star Academy'' known under va ...

'' winner

David Sneddon David Sneddon (born 15 September 1978) is a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician and music producer of contemporary pop music. He began his career performing on stage and television, singing lead roles in stage musicals in Glasgow. In 2002, h ...

. Released on 28 April 2003, the album was recorded on the back of the success of Sneddon's winner's single, the self-penned "

Stop Living the Lie "Stop Living the Lie" is the debut single of Scottish singer-songwriter David Sneddon, taken from his album '' Seven Years – Ten Weeks''. It was released through Mercury Records on 13 January 2003. During its first week of release, it charted a ...

", which peaked at #1 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and went on to become the eighteenth highest-selling single of the year. The album's second single, " Don't Let Go", was released a week prior to the album on 21 April. The album peaked at #5 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

, before falling to #18 the following week. Two further singles were released; " Best of Order", on 11 August 2003, and "

Baby Get Higher Baby Get Higher is a song written by Scottish musician, singer and songwriter David Sneddon. This song written by Sneddon with Graham Stack, Mark Read was his fourth single release and it was not featured on his debut album '' Seven Years - Te ...

", the lead single from a planned re-release of the album, which failed to materialise after the single's lacklustre chart performance, only peaking at #39.

Production

The album was composed entirely by Sneddon, with two tracks co-written with Scott MacAlister, and four co-written with John Kielty of The Martians. Sneddon claimed his inspirations for the album included the seven years after leaving university, performing on stage in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and his ten-week journey as a contestant on ''

''. The album was executively produced by

Hugh Padgham Hugh Charles Padgham (born 15 February 1955) is an English record producer and audio engineer. He has won four Grammy Awards, for Producer of the Year and Album of the Year for 1985, Record of the Year for 1990, and Engineer of the Year for 1 ...

, known for his work with

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

and

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

in the 1980s, and was recorded with members of

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

's backing band over a two-month period from February to March 2003. On 27 April 2003, the album was launched with a special campaign during which David performed seven gigs in ten hours across several towns and cities in Scotland.

Singles

* "

" was released as the album's lead single on 13 January 2003, also serving as Sneddon's winner's single from his time on ''

''. The single charted at #1 on the

. Notably, it was one of the first self-penned songs by the winner of a television talent show, with ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

'' contestants

Will Young William Robert Young (born 20 January 1979) is a British singer-songwriter and actor who came to prominence after winning the 2002 Pop Idol (series 1), inaugural series of the ITV (TV network), ITV talent contest ''Pop Idol'', making him the f ...

and

Gareth Gates Gareth Paul Gates (born 12 July 1984) is an English singer-songwriter and actor. He was the runner-up in the first series of the ITV talent show ''Pop Idol'' in 2002. As of 2008, Gates had sold over 3.5 million records in the UK. He is ...

both opting to release covers as their debut singles. * " Don't Let Go" was released as the album's second single on 21 April 2003. It became Sneddon's second top-ten hit, peaking at #3 on the UK Singles Chart. * " Best of Order" was released as the third and final single from the album on 11 August 2003, peaking at #19 in the UK. * "

", the lead single from a planned re-release of the album, was released on 27 October 2003, peaking at #39 in the UK. Due to the single's poor chart performance, the re-release of the album was cancelled.

Track listing

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seven Years - Ten Weeks 2003 debut albums David Sneddon albums Mercury Records albums