Danny Foster (born 3 May 1979) is an English pop/soul singer and television personality, who appeared in the inaugural series of the British television talent-show '' Popstars'', going on to become a founder member of the pop group

Hear'say Hear'Say were a British pop group. They were created through the ITV reality TV show '' Popstars'' in February 2001, the first UK series of the international '' Popstars'' franchise. The group, who were signed to Polydor Records, originally ...

Early life and career

Born to a black Barbadian father and white mother, Foster attended the

Central Foundation Boys' School ''(By hope, by work, by faith)'' , established = 1865 , closed = , type = Voluntary aided school , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = , ...

. Before his appearance in the '' Popstars'' television series, he had worked as a cleaner and trained as a youth worker. Foster first came to public attention in 2001, after his appearance as an aspiring pop singer in the first series of the television talent series ''Popstars'', which aired on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...

. Impressing the judges of the series (which included

Nigel Lythgoe Nigel Lythgoe OBE (; born 9 July 1949), also known as Nasty Nigel, is an English television and film director and producer, television dance competition judge, former dancer in the Young Generation and choreographer. He was the producer of the ...

and

Nicki Chapman Nicola Chapman, known professionally as Nicki Chapman (born 14 January 1967) is an English television & radio presenter, talent show judge and public relations agent who previously worked in the British pop music industry. Chapman was a judg ...

), Foster was selected as a founder member of the pop group

, alongside

Myleene Klass Myleene Angela Klass (born 6 April 1978) is a British musician, singer, presenter, model and businesswoman. She was a member of the pop group Hear'Say, and later released two solo classical crossover albums in 2003 and 2007. More recently, Klass ...

Kym Marsh Kimberley Gail Ratcliff (''née'' Marsh, previously Ryder and Lomas; born 13 June 1976) is an English actress, television presenter and singer. In 2001, she won a place in the band Hear'Say as a result of appearing on the reality television ser ...

Suzanne Shaw Suzanne Christine Crowshaw (born 29 September 1981), known as Suzanne Shaw, is an English actress, singer and television personality, who rose to fame after winning the talent contest ''Popstars'' and subsequently being a member of the band Hear' ...

and

Noel Sullivan Noel Sullivan (born 28 July 1980 as Noel John Hayes) is a Welsh singer and actor. He was a member of the British pop group Hear'Say. Like the other members of the group, he won his part through the talent show ''Popstars''. Early life Sulli ...

. After the formation of the group, Hear'say went on to enjoy international success, selling nearly three million records worldwide. The group's debut single " Pure and Simple" became the fastest selling number one single of 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 ...

at the time. The group released another UK number one single and a number one album, as well as performing a sell out arena tour across the UK and Ireland. However, the group's second album was not a success, and Hear'say split eighteen months after their formation. In 2005, Foster competed in the third series of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

sports-based reality show '' The Games''. Foster joined the series halfway through as a replacement for injured actor

Jonathon Morris Jonathon Morris (born 20 July 1960) is an English actor and former television presenter. Career Morris is best known for his role as Adrian Boswell in Carla Lane's comedy ''Bread'', in which he starred for the series' entire five-year run be ...

, and competed against celebrities including

Craig Charles Craig Joseph Charles (born 11 July 1964) is an English actor, comedian, television and radio presenter. He is best known for his roles as Dave Lister in the science fiction sitcom ''Red Dwarf'' and Lloyd Mullaney in the soap opera ''Coronation ...

and

Chesney Hawkes Chesney Lee Hawkes (born 22 September 1971) is an English pop singer and occasional actor. He started his career at the age of 19 when he appeared in the film '' Buddy's Song'', which featured his best-known single " The One and Only", which to ...

. In 2006, Foster appeared as a celebrity contestant in Five's ''

Trust Me – I'm A Beauty Therapist ''Trust Me – I'm a Beauty Therapist'' is a reality television show broadcast on Five in which eight British celebrities trained to become beauticians in a South Wales beauty salon. They had to perform such tasks as, cutting hair, giving massage ...

'', appearing alongside celebrities including

Suzi Quatro Susan Kay Quatro (born June 3, 1950) is an American singer, bass guitarist, songwriter, and actress. In the 1970s, she scored a string of hit singles that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland, reaching No. 1 in th ...

Stan Boardman Stanley Boardman (born 7 December 1937) is an English comedian. Early life and career Boardman was evacuated with his family to Wrexham during the Second World War, and after the family returned to their Merseyside home mistakenly thinking t ...

and Michelle Marsh.

Recent career

, Foster performs as part of his own group, "Danny Foster & The Big Soul Corporation". The act consists of live performances of mainly soul &

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

songs, with Foster performing as lead singer. He auditioned for ''

The Voice UK ''The Voice UK'' is a British singing competition television series. Created by John de Mol, it premiered on BBC One during the spring television cycle on 24 March 2012. Based on the original '' The Voice of Holland'', and part of ''The Voice ...

'' in 2013 with his own soul version of the

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are a British girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Melanie Brown, also known as Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie Chisholm, or Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and ...

hit "

Wannabe "Wannabe" is the debut single by English girl group the Spice Girls. Written and composed by the group members in collaboration with Matt Rowe and Richard "Biff" Stannard during the group's first professional songwriting session, it was produ ...

", but was not chosen by any of the judges.

References and notes

External links

*
Danny Foster official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Danny 1979 births Living people People from Hackney Central People educated at Central Foundation Boys' School 21st-century Black British male singers The Voice UK contestants English people of Barbadian descent