In Case You Didn't Know... Olly Murs CAN sing!

Ever since his appearance on the X Factor, critics have often been scathing of this Essex lad. However, after a sell-out, nationwide, arena tour, it's time these critics hushed and accepted the fact that Olly Murs is a true star, and a very talented one.

After the success of his Number One album, titled 'In Case You Didn't Know', as well as the first two singles from the album rocketing to the top position in the chart, there is no denying that Murs does have a talent. Despite what I imagine is widely considered by some, the 'Heart Skips a Beat' singer has written most of the songs on both of his albums, proving that his talents stretch from being a singer to a song-writer, as well as being an all-round good guy too.

Anybody who appears on the ITV show The X Factor will always be confronted with scrutiny by the press and by music journalists who are too quick to snub the pop sounds that are created by the talent show. It only requires a glance on Twitter to see how it is the likes of JLS, Olly Murs and One Direction, all X Factor finalists, who attract such large fan bases and therefore dominate the charts when their singles are released. Although many people believe Simon Cowell is trying to manipulate the UK's musical tastes, he is in fact just finding artists that appeal to it.

This negative conception of X Factor artists is unfairly held by too many people who attempt to reject this mainstream field of music in order to be seen with a more 'respectable' taste in music. However, this mainstream music is exactly that for a reason - it is popular and enjoyed by the masses. Whether a genre is deemed as 'Pop' or 'Indie', this holds no effect on the actual talent that the artist holds and I think that this can often be mistaken.

As a fan of Olly Murs myself, it may seem biased that I have such high praises of him. However, so will the thousands of other people who saw Mr Murs at his recent tour. It takes a special something, or a special somebody, who can sell out The O2 Arena on two successive nights, as well as two more dates in the same city at Wembley Arena just a week later. With even more dates taking Olly to the largest cities across the UK, crowds packed out to see the spectacular live show that Murs provides. 

Even despite inches of snow disrupting journeys, and even preventing many fans from getting home in some cases, the arenas remained full, certifying that the concert was very much worth the hassle!

Cheeky chappy: Olly Murs rocking The O2 Arena, London

Opening with an uplifting and lively track, 'Anywhere Else', from his latest album, the lyrics perfectly suited the occasion. "Nothing compares to this moment and nothing ever will" ultimately summarises the exhilarating feeling at the start of any live music event, with the show that I saw at the O2 Arena on the 4th February being no exception.

Continuing with all of the greatest songs from his first two albums, as well as some cover versions, including Aloe Blacc's "I Need a Dollar" and a medley of James Brown's greatest hits, Mr Murs clearly defined his vocal ability, proving to audiences of thousands why he rightly deserves his place at the top of the UK charts.

Anywhere Else: "Tonight, our arms are open wide"

Complete with a top-class band, including tremendous back-up singers who helped Olly with a few of his dance moves throughout the show, I would thoroughly recommend paying a visit to see this Essex-boy on one of his upcoming summer shows. These include a homecoming, headlining concert in Hylands Park on 16th June, before returning to the park again on 19th August for the annual V Festival, where Murs will be making his debut appearance on the Main Stage.

If you're not altogether convinced about Olly Murs or he's still not your cup-of-tea, be sure to see him perform live and I can guarantee you will have a good time.

Success for Mr Murs

Olly Murs must be constantly grinning ear-to-ear at the moment!

Following on from the success of Olly's self-titled debut album and sell-out theatre tour, Olly is practising a new talent in presenting. Olly's mentor from the X Factor, Simon Cowell, recruited Olly to co-host the Xtra Factor on ITV2 with Caroline Flack. After only 3 episodes of the Xtra Factor so far, Olly has received great reviews for his natural presenting ability, as well as for having a great on-air relationship with Caroline.

But it doesn't stop here!...

Last week, Olly was celebrating his 2nd #1 single with 'Heart Skips A Beat', which also features upcoming band, Rizzle Kicks, who have been very popular at festivals this year with BBC Introducing. Olly's first #1 Single came just a year ago with his debut single, Please Don't Let Me Go'. This year, Olly had to fight off stiff competition from Will Young and Calvin Harris to reach the top spot, which he celebrated in style on the Official Chart show with Scott Mills on Radio 1. Olly's X Factor companion Joe McElderry also reached #2 in the album chart with his second album 'Classic'.

Even before Olly has released his yet untitled second album, which is due out on November 28th, tickets for Olly's second tour have nearly sold out! Olly will be taking Album 2 on an arena tour across the country, visiting The O2 Arena and Wembley Arena in London, The LG Arena in Birmingham, Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, MEN Arena in Manchester, as well as many more!

Tickets are becoming very limited so make sure you head to Ticketmaster soon to get your tickets for February and March.

The EsseX Factor

Having already been to Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff (just to name a few), this week the X Factor auditions finally reach London. The auditions for the 8th series of the hit TV show will be held at the O2 Arena in North Greenwich, where hundreds of contestants will be joined by brand new judges Gary Barlow, Tulisa Contostavlos and Kelly Rowland, as well as Louis Walsh - the only judge who has taken part in all eight series.

In previous years, Essex has played a huge role in the final rounds of the X Factor, and we hope that this year will be no exception! In 2009, Olly Murs reached the final of the series, coming second to Joe McElderry. Murs' debut album has gone two times platinum, with his debut single 'Please Don't Let Me Go' reaching #1 in the Official Chart. Now currently on tour with previous X Factor finalists JLS, Olly has been one of the biggest success stories from the past seven years of the X Factor, and one of the biggest celebrities to have come out of Essex in recent years.

And of course, 2010 saw Essex take the X Factor crown when Halstead's Matt Cardle beat One Direction and Rebecca Ferguson to become the seventh winner of the TV show. His debut single 'When We Collide' was the Christmas #1, and his forthcoming debut album, due to be released in October, is bound to be a big hit.

With stars like Olly Murs, Matt Cardle, and of course 2009 runner-up Stacey Solomon, putting Essex on the map throughout the past years of the show, we have big hopes that this can continue in the 2011 series of the X Factor, due to start in August.

If you are going to the auditions at the O2 this week (Wednesday 6th July/Thursday 7th July/Friday 8th July), keep your eyes and ears peeled for the talent that Essex has to offer!

New Date Announced For Park Gig!

For those of you who were unfortunately not able to get tickets for JLS & Olly Murs at Hylands Park, I have some good news for you! It has been announced that the two X Factor stars, as well as more guests to be announced, will play a second day at Chelmsford's largest park.

After the event set for Saturday 9th July sold out, the acts will now stay in Chelmsford and continue to play the following day. Tickets will be on sale soon for Sunday 10th July.

Tickets cost £32.50 and are available from most ticket outlet sites.

Essex wins at the NTAs!

The annual National Television Awards took place this week at the O2 Arena with the ceremony broadcast on ITV. Hosted by Colchester's Dermot O'Leary, he started off the celebrations for the evening.

The show opened with a performance from our very own Stacey Solomon, who captured our heart's last year on X Factor, as well as last Autumn on I'm A Celebrity. Solomon performed with her fellow campmate, Shaun Ryder. Stacey started the performance singing 'Feeling Good', formerly by Nina Simone - a song that she performed whilst competing in The X Factor alongside Joe McElderry and Olly Murs. Ryder then joined her on the stage to sing Happy Mondays hit 'Step On'.

Stacey was soon on the stage again whilst collecting the award for Entertainment Programme, that was deservedly won by 'I'm a Celebrity'. Stacey graced the stage again towards the end of the night whilst presenting the award for Most Popular Serial Drama to Eastenders.

However, Stacey wasn't our only X Factor star performing at the ceremony. Matt Cardle took to the stage to perform his Christmas Number One hit single, When We Collide. Singing and playing the guitar, Cardle wow-ed the audience with the incredible voice that won him last year's X Factor. He also took to the stage alongside Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole to collect the award for Talent Show, that X Factor beat Strictly & Dancing On Ice to.

The Inbetweeners picked up the award for Digital Choice - a new award that is awarded to the best TV show on digital channels. Alongside fellow co-stars Simon Bird (Will) and Blake Harrison (Neil), Essex boy Joe Thomas (Simon) collected the award with his girlfriend and co-star Hannah Tointon, also of an Essex background and sister to Strictly Come Dancing winner, Kara Tointon. Joe Thomas attended King Edward Grammar School for boys (KEGS) in Chelmsford before attending Cambridge University.

Congratulations to all the winners from the night, especially to I'm A Celebrity, X Factor & The Inbetweeners.
Roll on The Brits on the 15th February for some more Essex award-winners!

X Factor Stars Perform at Hylands!

With V Festival prepared to pack in thousands of music fans to Hylands Park in Chelmsford in the summer, another event has just been announced that is expected to be just as popular. JLS are bringing their UK tour to Chelmsford, and bringing Essex boy, Olly Murs, with them!

Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning (31st January) at 9am from all popular ticket outlet sites. Tickets are expected to sell-out quickly with the concert being hailed as one of the events of the summer! Essex fans of Olly Murs and JLS will be overwhelmed with the news that two of the most successful X Factor artists will be performing locally.

The event will take place on the 9th July, just over a month before V Festival. Good luck to anybody trying to get tickets - see you at Hylands Park!

X Factor Final Weekend!

Matt Cardle has been crowned the winner of the X Factor 2010!

After reaching the final on Saturday, despite being ill for a fortnight, Matt sung his heart out to reach Sunday's show. His steamy performance with Rihanna amazed the nation as all of Essex watched on to see Matt's dream of performing with Rihanna come true!

Alongside One Direction and Rebecca Ferguson, Matt joined the Take That boys with a performance of Never Forget. As the phone lines were frozen, everybody in Essex sat on the edge of their seats willing Matt to reach the final two. One Direction were surpringly knocked out with Matt and Rebecca going on to sing their winner's singles.

Matt then went on to absolutely smash 'When We Collide', previously performed by Scottish rockers, 'Biffy Clyro'. There was then no surprise that our Essex boy Matt Cardle was announced as the winner of the hit show!

It has now been revealed that Matt had the highest number of votes EVERY week throughout the series, with one exception of Week One where Matt came second behind Ireland's Mary Byrne. In the final of the series, Matt had 44.61% of the vote and was the deserved winner of the X Factor!

Congrats Matt!

Jungle Stacey!

Another former X Factor contestant is on the blog this week, but this time it's third-place Stacey Solomon, also from 2009. Stacey is currently on our screens in hit ITV show 'I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here', and it looks as if she could sweep the title of Queen of the Jungle!

Stacey has been in the jungle since the start of the competition on the 14th November, and has taken part in many trials. Last night saw Stacey battle out with Olympic athlete, Linford Christie, to see which camp would win a night of luxury. Stacey, and 'Camp Sheila', were victorious, with Stacey and fellow campmate Jenni Eclair spending an evening of luxury in a seperate area of the jungle. The pair were given beds and a minibar, filled with alcohol and sweets!

Stacey has continued showing her funny, loving and heart-warming character to the nation and we can all see again why we all fell in love with her this time last year!

Come on Stacey! Do it for us Essex Girls!

Semi-Finals for local boy Matt!

The country's most popular TV show is nearing it's end - the Semi-Final of X Factor is this weekend and the county all need to get behind Matt Cardle!

Matt has done amazingly well throughout the whole competition, being one of the three contestants in the semi-finals who have never faced the 'dreaded sing-off', out of the 5 who are now in the semis.

Matt faces competition from One Direction, Cher Lloyd, Rebecca Ferguson & Mary Byrne. However, Matt is bookies favourite to win with 8/11 odds.

Matt is the last remaining boy from Dannii's category.

Please come back to this blog during the week for more Matt Cardle & X Factor news!

Chelmsford Christmas Lights!

On Sunday 28th November, thousands of fans queued down Chelmsford High Street to watch X Factor Finalist and Essex-Boy, Olly Murs, turn on the Christmas lights!

The event ran all day with many local up-and-coming acts performing in the bitterly-cold weather!
From 4:00, the Under-16s singing competition started, with UK Eurovision entry, Josh Dubovie, as one of the judges. Ellie Smit, from Moulsham High School, (and a great friend of mine), sung 'Let It Snow' and was fantastic!

Following on from this, Josh took to the stage to sing to the audience with songs such as 'Just Haven't Met You Yet', made famous by Michael Buble, and 'Cooler Than Me', a recent Top 10 hit by Mike Posner.

The acts prior to this only had to mention 'Olly' to be followed by screams erupting from the very eager audience of 'Ollyettes'! When Mr Murs finally came to grace the stage, with 'Please Don't Let Me Go' playing to the crowd, the tech-team had a slight failure as Olly had to chat to the audience whilst his microphone and track were fixed!

Olly charmed the crowd with three songs: his number one, hit debut single 'Please Don't Let Me Go', the B-Side to this single, 'This One's for the Girls', and his brand new single, 'Thinking Of Me'. All girls in the crowd who had come to their local high street for the exclusive gig were hugely pleased to hear the B-Side to Olly's debut single, where Olly sings about Essex girls and finished the song by saying 'you can't beat you Essex girls!'

Olly said he was 'delighted' and 'honoured' to be back in his hometown to be turning on the lights. He said that 'he hoped to be home again soon' and wished the crowd a huge thank you for all the support they gave, and contine to give, to him over the past year.

He also wished for the county to back current X Factor contestant, and fellow Essex boy, Matt Cardle. 'Please support Matt like you supported me', said the Essex heartthrob, just before he left the stage to the sound of screaming fans!

Thank you Olly for a great evening. Maybe we'll have Matt next year?