The Conway Sisters

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The Conway Sisters were a semi-professional singing group from County Sligo, Ireland who have achieved a measure of fame through their appearances on The X Factor television programme.

[edit] Beginnings

Laura, Marie, Sharon and Sinead Conway were born and raised in Sligo, Ireland. The four girls grew up with a passion and love of music and performing. In 2002, the four sisters formed The Conway Sisters. Throughout that year they wrote, produced, and recorded music, and played locally. In 2003, they released their debut single, "What Do You Do?", which debuted in the Top 20 and launched a tour of Ireland. A second Top 20 single "Now That It's Over" followed, and in 2005 their third single "Miss You", was released, which also entered the Top 20. Their self-financed debut album, "Waiting for You" was released in May 2005.

[edit] The X Factor and afterwards

In May 2005 the sisters auditioned for the UK television programme, The X Factor in hopes that they would crack the UK market. Along with eleven other acts, they made it through to the final stages of the competition where viewers began to vote for their favourite acts following mentorship from a variety of vocal coaches and music tutors.

In Week 5 of The X Factor knockout stages, The Conways first found themselves in the bottom two acts facing the judges' expulsion vote together with crowd favourite Maria Lawson. Lawson was voted off on the vote of Louis Walsh, prompting booing from the studio audience and fellow judge Sharon Osbourne to claim that "he voted with his passport". The decision provoked controversy in the UK media, especially when it was revealed that Walsh had known the Conways personally prior to the competition.

Following their nomination for expulsion and the generally negative comments of their mentor, Simon Cowell, the Conways worked for the next episode of the show without Cowell's guidance, an action which the judge said earned the group more respect from him. Despite this, Cowell persisted with negative comments when he considered them appropriate and the Conways were voted off the show in Week 7 following their third week of being in the bottom two acts. Upon their dismissal from the competition, the group claimed that Louis Walsh had been their true mentor. Upon their expulsion from the competition the vocal coach who works closely with Simon Cowell claimed they were four of the most talented singers he had ever worked with.

Following the final of The X Factor, they performed with the other Top 7 finalists from the live shows on The X Factor 'Live Tour' at venues throughout the UK.

In August 2006 on the ITV show The X Factor - One Year On, Laura Conway announced that the Conways had split up for good. On their official website they said: "We will be finishing up as the Conway Sisters for now, we've come to a place where we want to pursue individual career paths and now we feel ready to do that! For the record there have been no fall outs or fights, it's all been very amicable and as sisters we're closer now than ever!"

Following the split, their official website and forum have closed. However, Laura Conway has announced that she intends to pursue a solo music career and has her own website and forum.