Aston Iain Merrygold (born 13 February 1988) is an English singer, dancer, television personality and actor. He is known for being a member of the British

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

JLS JLS (an initialism of Jack the Lad Swing) are an English boyband, which consists of members Aston Merrygold, Oritsé Williams, Marvin Humes, and JB Gill, originally formed by Williams. They initially signed to Tracklacers production company ...

, who were the runners-up to

Alexandra Burke Alexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewen Burke (born 25 August 1988) is a British singer, songwriter and actress. She won the fifth series of the British television series ''The X Factor'' in 2008, and has been signed to Epic Records, RCA Records and Syc ...

in the fifth series of ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

''. After five years, JLS split on 22 December 2013. In 2013, Merrygold became a judge on the British dance talent show ''

Got to Dance ''Got to Dance'', originally titled ''Just Dance'', is a British dance competition that was broadcast on Sky 1 in the United Kingdom from 20 December 2009 to 28 December 2014. Auditions for the show were held in specially built "Dance Domes" and ...

''. Aston worked on his debut solo album ''Showstopper'' for a planned mid-2016 release, but it remains unreleased. The lead single of the album, " Get Stupid" was released on 24 July 2015. In August 2017, Merrygold was announced as a contestant for the fifteenth series of ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

.'' Merrygold was eliminated on 5 November 2017, coming in tenth place. Merrygold has also appeared in television series including ''

Fun Song Factory Fun Song Factory is a British preschool children's television series. It was originally created in 1994 by Will Brenton and Iain Lauchlan, who at the time, were part of the '' Playdays'' production team. The series was produced through their st ...

'' and ''

Almost Never In probability theory, an event is said to happen almost surely (sometimes abbreviated as a.s.) if it happens with probability 1 (or Lebesgue measure 1). In other words, the set of possible exceptions may be non-empty, but it has probability 0. ...

''.

Early life

Merrygold was born on 13 February 1988 to a Jamaican father and an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

mother, who split up when Merrygold was young. He is one of seven children: he has five brothers and one sister between his biological and step parents. He was born and raised in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

by his mother Siobhan and stepfather, Orjan; where he attended

Jack Hunt School Jack Hunt School, officially Jack Hunt School Language College, is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Netherton in the city of Peterborough in the United Kingdom. Students are aged 11 (Year 7) to 18 (Year 13). Refurbish ...

. Merrygold stated that he loved to dance and perform and certain TV appearances got him into singing. Through auditions, he met future band member

Marvin Humes Marvin Richard James Humes (born 18 March 1985) is an English singer, disc jockey, television presenter and radio host who used to present the Monday–Thursday late night show across the Capital Network. He previously hosted ''The Official Bi ...

and they stayed in contact. Whilst still attending

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

, he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

on behalf of England in the European Youth Games.

Career

2002–2013: Career beginnings and JLS

In 2002, he entered ''

Stars in Their Eyes ''Stars in Their Eyes'' is a British television talent series, based on Joop van den Ende's Dutch format ''Soundmixshow''. It featured a singing contest in which members of the public impersonate showbiz stars. The show premiered on 21 July 1 ...

'' where he appeared as

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

, singing " Rockin' Robin". He finished in second place. Shortly afterwards, Merrygold took on a job as an entertainer at Pop Star Studios in Fletton Peterborough, eventually leaving to follow his musical career. Merrygold performed in school productions and, after leaving school in 2004, was cast in the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

children's programme, ''

'' alongside presenter

Laura Hamilton Laura Jane Hamilton (born 24 April 1982) is an English television presenter, property expert and entrepreneur. She began her career on children's television, presenting shows such as '' Fun Song Factory'' and on Nickelodeon. She participated in ...

. Friend Marvin Humes had already successfully auditioned to become a member of UFO, (later

), formed by Oritse Williams when Humes encouraged Aston to audition. Merrygold and

JB Gill Jonathan Benjamin Gill (born 7 December 1986) is an English actor, farmer, presenter and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a member of boy band JLS, who came second on ''The X Factor'' in 2008. They went on to have five number-one singles ...

were recruited soon after, and they changed their name to JLS. In 2008, they auditioned for the fifth series of ''

'', where they went on to finish in second place to

. After the series finished, JLS signed with record label

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

The band have released four studio albums (''

'', ''

Outta This World ''Outta This World'' is the second studio album from United Kingdom, English boy band and ''The X Factor (UK TV series), The X Factor'' runners-up JLS. It was released in Ireland on 19 November 2010 and in the United Kingdom on 22 November 2010. ...

'', ''

Jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to selec ...

'', and ''

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

'') and appeared in a film, ''JLS: Eyes Wide Open''. In August 2012, Merrygold was confirmed as a judge on the fourth series of the

Sky1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

dance talent show ''

'' and would appear alongside

Diversity Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...

dancer

Ashley Banjo Ashley Modurotolu Banjo is an English street dancer, choreographer and actor. He is the leader of dance troupe Diversity who won the third series of ''Britain's Got Talent''. Banjo was a judge on the Sky1 talent show '' Got to Danc ...

and former

Pussycat Dolls Pussycat or Pussy Cat may refer to: * Cat, a domestic feline Music Bands * Pussycat (band), a Dutch country and pop group * The Pussycats, a 1960s Norwegian rock band * The Pussycats, a group signed to Kama Sutra Records Albums * ''Pussy Cats'', ...

member

Kimberly Wyatt Kimberly Kaye Wyatt (born February 4, 1982) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She is a former member of the pop/ R&B girl group and dance ensemble The Pussycat Dolls. She is also a member of the ...

. Merrygold said the experience had been "inspiring". In 2014, it was confirmed that he would not be returning to the show due to pursuing other projects. On 22 December 2013, JLS performed for the last time.

2014–present: Solo career

On 23 September 2014, Merrygold signed with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

to release his debut album ''Showstopper'', preceded by lead single "Get Stupid" on 24 July 2015. He premiered the "Get Stupid" video on 26 May 2015. Merrygold then announced that he would be releasing a six-track EP instead of the ''Showstopper'' album, titled ''Precious''. Merrygold posted a yellow picture on his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

accounts, asking fans to "play around" with the filters to reveal a "hidden message", which revealed the name of the EP and its release date, 28 April 2017. Only the single "Precious" was included on the EP. On going solo, Merrygold has explained that he can be "expressive as e likes rather than considering what his fellow JLS members would think of a song. On 5 May 2017, Merrygold released the single "Trudy". On 27 May 2017, Merrygold guest presented an episode of ''

The Playlist ''The Playlist'' is a British children's entertainment and music series presented by guest presenters, produced by Strawberry Blond TV for CBBC and first aired on 22 April 2017 and ended on 12 March 2022. The first series was narrated by Sco ...

''. In August 2017, Merrygold was announced as a contestant for the fifteenth series of ''

''. He was partnered with professional dancer

Janette Manrara Janette Manrara Škorjanec (born November 16, 1983) is a singer, Cuban-American television presenter, choreographer and professional dancer from Miami, Florida, US. Originally a singer, learning from her Cuban family, she formally studied dance ...

and reached the seventh week of the competition, losing the dance off to

Mollie King Mollie Elizabeth King (born 4 June 1987) is an English pop singer, radio presenter and a member of girl group The Saturdays. As part of the Saturdays, King has had 13 Top 10 and eight Top 5 singles, including the UK number-one hit "What About ...

and

AJ Pritchard Alex Joseph Pritchard (born 5 November 1994) is a British dancer and choreographer. In 2013, he auditioned for the seventh series of ''Britain's Got Talent'' along with professional partner Chloe Hewitt, where they reached the semi-finals. From ...

. In February 2018, Merrygold's 2015 single Get Stupid featured in a newly launched TV commercial released by

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

promoting the Galaxy S9 smartphone. Merrygold was picked in July 2018 as

Elvis Duran Elvis Duran (born Barry Brian Cope; August 5, 1964) is an American radio personality. He is the host of the daily morning radio program ''Elvis Duran and the Morning Show'' in New York on Z100 and in syndication on Premiere Networks. Before h ...

's Artist of the Month. He was featured on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

'' show hosted by

Hoda Kotb Hoda Kotb ( ; arz, هدى قطب, ''Hudā Quṭb''; ; born August 9, 1964) is an American broadcast journalist, television personality, and author. She is a main co-anchor of the NBC News morning show ''Today'' and co-host of its entertainment ...

and

Kathie Lee Gifford Kathryn Lee Gifford (née Epstein; born August 16, 1953) is an American television presenter, singer, songwriter, actress and author. From 1985 to 2000, she and Regis Philbin hosted the talk show ''Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee''. Gifford is a ...

, broadcast nationally in the United States on 19 July 2018 where he performed a live version of his single "Get Stupid". In 2019, he was cast in the

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

series ''

'' as Jordan. He stated that he used his knowledge of the music industry, particularly from his time with JLS, as inspiration for the role. From 2020 to 2021, Merrygold competed in the ITV singing series '' The Masked Singer UK'' as Robin; he finished in third place. He chose the alias of Robin because Robin from

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

's real name is

Dick Grayson Richard John "Dick" Grayson is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman and Teen Titans. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, he first appeared in ''Detective Comics' ...

and Merrygold's son's name is Grayson. In 2022, Merrygold returned in the third series final masked as Robin to perform a duet with

Charlotte Church Charlotte Maria Church (born Charlotte Maria Reed, 21 February 1986) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress, television presenter and political activist from Cardiff. Church rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before branching i ...

masked as Mushroom. In September 2021, Merrygold became a judge on the Irish talent show '' The Big Deal'' along with

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singe ...

Jedward John and Edward Grimes (born 16 October 1991), collectively known as Jedward (a portmanteau of their first names), are an Irish singing and television presenting duo. They are identical twins who first appeared as John & Edward in the sixth ...

Lyra Lyra (; Latin for lyre, from Greek ''λύρα'') is a small constellation. It is one of the 48 listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and is one of the modern 88 constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Lyra wa ...

, and

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Personal life

Merrygold is a supporter of Arsenal F.C. Merrygold has numerous tattoos, including three stars behind his right ear, two stars on his pelvis, a music note between his shoulder blades and a sleeve which consists of a tattoo of

, whom he cites as an inspiration. In 2011, Aston's close childhood friend Lisa died in an accident. As a tribute to his late friend, he got her face tattooed on his forearm. In September 2017, Merrygold announced via

that his partner, Sarah Louise Richards, was expecting a baby. He said that her pregnancy had encouraged him to take part in ''Strictly Come Dancing''. The couple announced their engagement in December 2017. On 30 January 2018, Richards gave birth to a boy named Grayson Jax. On 15 December 2019, the couple announced they were expecting another baby. The pair welcomed Macaulay Shay on 5 June 2020.

Other ventures

Product and endorsements

In September 2010, an "Aston doll" was launched, alongside the other 3 members of JLS.

Durex Durex is a brand of condoms and personal lubricants owned by the British company Reckitt Benckiser. It was initially developed in London under the purview of the London Rubber Company and British Latex Products Ltd, where it was manufactured bet ...

teamed up with JLS to produce a condom range called "Just Love Safe", with each member of the group having their own box. In 2010, Merrygold alongside Gill, Humes and Williams endorsed Nintendo

Wii Party ''Wii Party'' is a party video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. The game heavily borrows game play elements from the ''Mario Party'' series, another Nintendo franchise. It is also the first game in the ''Wi ...

, appearing in 7 different TV adverts. JLS were also part of the

Walkers crisps Walkers is a British snack food manufacturer mainly operating in the UK and Ireland. The company is best known for manufacturing potato crisps and other (non-potato-based) snack foods. In 2013, it held 56% of the British crisp market. Walker ...

"Make sandwich more exciting" advertising campaign. This resulted in the band doing a surprise performance at Sandwich Technology School, which appeared on the television advertisement. Merrygold also appeared on advertisements for

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

in the UK promoting their 'Share a Coke' range.

Philanthropy

JLS founded "The JLS Foundation", a foundation that sets out to raise money for 6 different charities:

Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organization. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

, Rays of Sunshine, Brook, Childline, Beat Bullying and the MS Society. Despite the band's split, the foundation still remains active. Merrygold is an ambassador for the charity BeatBullying, a cause he "feels strongly about" after enduring racial bullying growing up. Merrygold has appeared on Children in Need nights since 2010. All sales from the JLS number one single " Love You More" went to Children In Need. In 2011, Merrygold did a VT for the charity in which he met 7-year-old Emily, who suffers from

osteogenesis imperfecta Osteogenesis imperfecta (; OI), colloquially known as brittle bone disease, is a group of genetic disorders that all result in bones that break easily. The range of symptoms—on the skeleton as well as on the body's other organs—may be mi ...

. In 2012, JLS performed at the "Children in Need Rocks Manchester" concert, performing "

Take a Chance on Me "Take a Chance on Me" is a song by Swedish pop group ABBA, released in January 1978 as the second single from their fifth studio album, '' ABBA: The Album'' (1977). Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad share the lead vocals on the verses an ...

". In 2013, Merrygold appeared on Children in Need for the last time as a member of JLS where the group sang a medley of JLS songs at the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

soap opera ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'' set. JLS also helped raise money for

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...

, appearing in comedy sketches with both

Miranda Hart Miranda Katherine Hart Dyke (born 14 December 1972) is an English actress and writer. Following drama training at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, Hart began writing material for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and making appearances in va ...

and James Corden. In 2012, JLS visited Uganda for

Sport Relief ''Sport Relief'' was a biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002. It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Director of Educat ...

, and appeared in VTs throughout the show. In the same year, JLS also released the official Sport Relief charity single "

Proud Proud may refer to: Music * ''Proud'' (Heather Small album), the debut album by Heather Small ** "Proud" (Heather Small song), a song by Heather Small that was the official song for the London 2012 Olympic bid * ''Proud'' (compilation album), ...

", which peaked at number 6 in the chart, as well as hosting a special charity concert "JLS Sing for Sport Relief" and doing the Sport Relief Mile.

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Notes

References

External links

* * masked singer 3rd purple {{DEFAULTSORT:Merrygold, Aston 1988 births 21st-century Black British male singers Black British male actors English male television actors English people of Irish descent English people of Jamaican descent JLS members Living people Musicians from Cambridgeshire People educated at Jack Hunt School People from Peterborough