Andy Abraham

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Andy Abraham (The Singing Bin Man)
Abraham signing autographs at "The X Factor"
Background information
Born	17 July 1964 (1964-07-17) (age 43) London, England
Origin	London, England
Genre(s)	Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Years active	2006–present
Label(s)	Sony BMG (2006–present)
Website	Official website

Andrew Abraham (born 17 July 1964, London) is an English vocalist. He was the runner up of the second UK series of The X Factor and also represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.

Before applying for The X Factor, Abraham was a refuse collector. Previous to this he also used to work as a bus driver for Arriva London North based at Palmers Green bus garage. Abraham has two children by his wife Denise, a daughter called Tara and a son called Jacob. He is of Grenadian descent.

Abraham was beaten to the top spot on The X Factor by Shayne Ward by 1.2% of the national public vote for the show. Abraham was mentored throughout the competition by Sharon Osbourne although fellow judges Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh also praised the singer throughout the competition. Other performers who came to prominence in the same series of The X Factor were finalists Journey South and quarter-finalist Chico Slimani.

On 26 March 2006, Abraham's debut album entered the UK album chart at number two selling 176,000 copies in its first week being beaten to the top spot by Journey South.

In 2006, Abraham's debut album was the twelfth highest selling album of the year with total sales of around 300,000.^{[update needed]}

Abraham's second album Soul Man was not as popular yet it still managed to make the Top 20 in the UK Charts. The album included the Christmas song "December Brings Me Back To You", a duet with television presenter Michael Underwood.

He is currently working on a new album which will consist of entirely original material, with all tracks written, or co-written by himself. The album is due for release sometime in 2008.

[edit] Eurovision 2008

Main article: United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

On 2008-03-01, Abraham won Eurovision - Your Decision 2008, the UK selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, held on 24 May 2008, with his song "Even If". He was selected as a wild card in Eurovision - Your Decision by Terry Wogan and won the contest in a sing-off with favourite Michelle Gayle through a public vote.

In the final, Abraham finished last of the 25 entires, sharing 14 points alongside Germany and Poland, 6 from San Marino and 8 from Ireland. Under EBU rules introduced in 2003, there are no shared placings in Eurovision and the placing of countries with shared scores is determined by which got the higher mark. Andy Abraham's highest mark was 8, whereas Poland scored a 10, placing them 24th and Germany scored a 12, placing them 23rd. ^[1]. In addition to becoming only the second UK act ever to come last in Eurovision, Andy also became the first since 1989 not to hit the top 40 singles chart, peaking at number 67. Of all the UK entries that have made the singles chart (only 3 did not), it is the second least successful ever.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website

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