''Friday's Child'' is the second studio album by English singer

Will Young William Robert Young (born 20 January 1979) is an English singer, songwriter and actor. He came to prominence after winning the 2002 inaugural series of the ITV talent contest '' Pop Idol'', making him the first winner of the worldwide '' Ido ...

. It was released on 1 December 2003 and reached number one on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. The album has gone 5×

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

in the UK, with worldwide sales of over 1.8 million. The second single taken from the album, "

Your Game "Your Game" is a song by British singer Will Young. It was written by Young, Taio Cruz and Blair MacKichan for his second studio album, '' Friday's Child'' (2003), while production was helmed by Stephen Lipson and MacKichan. The song was rele ...

", won Best British Single at the 2005 Brit Awards.

Critical reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

editor Jon O'Brien found that "Young has made the brave decision to move away from pop's most influential man

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...

for follow-up ''Friday's Child'' ..It's a much more personal affair that showcases both his songwriting talent and his undoubtedly unique soulful tones ..While certainly far more adventurous than his debut, it still sometimes lapses into MOR territory, particularly on the

Simply Red Simply Red are an English soul music, soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. Band leader, singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall was the only original member left by the time Simply Red initially disbanded in 2010. They have released thir ...

-esque "Free" and the rather aimless and ultimately quite drab acoustic ballad "Very Kind." But overall, ''Friday's Child'' will undoubtedly bury the reality pop tag once and for all. Britain's first ''

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 pa ...

'' has become an artist in his own right and the fact he's done it without the Cowell juggernaut behind him should make its success even sweeter."

Track listing

;Notes * signifies an additional producer * signifies an original producer

Personnel

Performers and musicians *

– vocals *Toby Baker – keyboards *

Anne Dudley Anne Jennifer Dudley (née Beckingham; born 7 May 1956) is an English composer, keyboardist, conductor and pop musician. She was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in the classical and pop genre ...

– keyboards *

Greg Wells William Gregory Wells (born 1968) is a Canadian record producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and mix engineer. He has worked with Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Quincy Jones, J*Davey, Burt Bacharach, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Missy Elliott, ...

– keyboards *Rick Willson – guitar *

Stephen Lipson Stephen J. Lipson is an English record producer, audio engineer, guitarist and songwriter. As a record producer, he has worked with many artists including Annie Lennox, Propaganda, Act, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Simple Minds, Will Young, Geri ...

– guitar *

John Themis John Themis is an Australian-born musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for his long-term work with Boy George and Culture Club, collaborating on many of their songs and albums since the 1990s. He also worked on ''Taboo'', a musi ...

– guitar *David Rainger – guitar *Tim Cansfield – guitar *

Eg White Francis Anthony "Eg" White (born 22 November 1966) is a British musician, songwriter and producer. He started his career in the cowpunk band Yip Yip Coyote in the 1980s and then formed Brother Beyond with his brother, David White, in the late ...

– guitar, instruments on "Going My Way" and "Out of My Mind" * Blair MacKichan – guitar, backing vocals *

Neil Conti Neil Conti (born 12 February 1959) is an English drummer and music producer best known as a member of the English pop band Prefab Sprout (1983–1993, 2000). As an in-demand session drummer, he has collaborated with acts such as David Bowie, Mic ...

– drums *Steve Barney – drums *

Guy Barker Guy Jeffrey Barker, (born 26 December 1957) is an English jazz trumpeter and composer. Early life Barker was born in Chiswick, London, the son of an actress and a stuntman. He started playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, and within a year ...

– trumpet *

Neil Yates Neil Yates (born 1970 in Stockport, Cheshire, England) is a British jazz and folk musician. Biography Yates studied music at Salford University before moving to London to study jazz at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He lived and ...

– brass arrangements *Phil Todd – flute * Mark Feltham – harmonica *Steve Lee – harmonica *

Tracy Ackerman Tracy Ackerman is a British singer and songwriter. She works with several other British songwriters including Andy Watkins and Paul Wilson of Absolute and Mark Taylor. Ackerman has written for artists including Geri Halliwell, Cher, Boyzone, Tina ...

– backing vocals *Lynne Marie – backing vocals *

Karen Poole Karen Poole is an English songwriter and singer based in London. She is best known for her extensive songwriting collaborations with musicians such as Kylie Minogue, Becky Hill, David Guetta, Lily Allen, Sugababes, Zara Larsson, Tiesto, Alesso, ...

– backing vocals * Metro Voices – gospel choir *

Toby Smith Toby Grafftey-Smith (29 October 1970 – 11 April 2017), known professionally as Toby Smith, was an English musician, most famous for being the keyboardist and co-songwriter for Jamiroquai from 1992 until his departure in 2002. Background and ...

– instruments on "Dance the Night Away" *Chris Dodd – instruments on "Dance the Night Away" Technical *Stephen Lipson – producer, programmer * Blair MacKichan – producer, programmer *

– producer, mixer, brass arrangement *Chris Dodd – producer *

Robin Thicke Robin Alan Thicke (born March 10, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 2013 single " Blurred Lines" (featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams), which peaked atop the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, received ...

– producer *Pro-Jay – producer, engineer *Eg White – producer, mixer *Dave Naughton – ProTools *Heff Moraes – engineer, mixer *Andy Saunders – mix engineer *Sam Miller – additional engineering *Steve Lee – programming *Jenny O'Grady – choir master *

Nick Ingman Nicholas Ingman (born 29 April 1948) is an English arranger, composer and conductor in the commercial music field. His collaborators include Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Björk, and the British X-factor. Born and educated in London, Ingman move ...

– orchestral arrangement *

– orchestral arrangement

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2003 albums Will Young albums Albums produced by Robin Thicke Albums produced by Stephen Lipson 19 Recordings albums