Janet Devlin

Janet Devlin
Devlin in 2012
Background information
Birth name	Janet Maureen Aoife Ne Devlin
Born	(1994-11-12) 12 November 1994 Gortin, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Genres	Pop, folk
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, drums
Years active	2011–present
Labels	Thumb Print Music/Insomnia Music Records (2013–present)
Associated acts	The X Factor finalists 2011, Eliot Kennedy, Newton Faulkner, Joshua Radin, Ethan Ash, Jack Savoretti
Website	www.janetdevlin.com

Janet Maureen Aoife Ne Devlin (born 12 November 1994)^[1] is an Irish singer-songwriter, from Gortin in County Tyrone, who rose to prominence in the eighth series of The X Factor in 2011 where she finished in fifth place.

Her debut album was launched in October 2012 via Pledge Music with a limited "pledgers only" release on July 1, 2013 followed by a general release scheduled for March 3, 2014.^[2] Devlin is heavily influenced by alternative artists such as City and Colour, John Frusciante, Verdana and Devendra Banhart.^[3] She also notes the Red Hot Chili Peppers as a favourite band.

Biography

Early life

Janet is the youngest of four children to Aquinas and Pat Devlin. She is their only daughter and has three elder brothers: Jason, Gavin and Aaron. Prior to entering The X Factor, she lived with her parents and brothers in Gortin, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. She attended Drumragh Integrated College where she completed her GCSE's. A talented student, Janet scored the highest possible grade at A* in Philosophy and Religion, 3 A grades, 4 B grades and 2 C grades in Mathematics and Chemistry. ^[4]

Courtney Love has stated in interviews that she believes Janet and her family to be distant relatives of Kurt Cobain,^[5] though Devlin has stated that she is unaware of any connection.

2010: YouTube

Devlin had very little performing experience before auditioning for The X Factor, only singing in her school, pubs and local talent shows. She had previously uploaded a number of videos of her singing to her official channel on YouTube on a regular basis,^[6] reaching millions of views worldwide.

2011: The X Factor

In 2011, Devlin auditioned for the eighth series of The X Factor.^[7] Her audition was screened on 20 August 2011, where she performed Elton John's "Your Song".^[8] Her audition was successful as all four judges: Louis Walsh, Tulisa Contostavlos, Kelly Rowland and Gary Barlow put her through to the next round. She performed Coldplay's "Fix You" in week 1 of the live shows and was put through to the next round by mentor Kelly Rowland, as there was no public vote in the first week. Devlin topped the public vote more than any other act as she received most public votes for the first four weeks of voting (weeks 2, 3, 4 and 5)^[9][10] and reached week 8 before landing in the bottom 2 with Misha B. Despite polling more public votes than Misha B, she was voted off by judges Contostavlos and Walsh with Rowland refusing to vote. Devlin's final song in the sing off was Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars". During the live shows, Courtney Love tweeted Simon Cowell to offer to give Devlin one of Nirvana's tracks for the show.^[11] This, however, did not transpire.

Key

     – Received the most public votes

     – Denotes having been in the bottom 2

Show	Song choice				Theme	Result
Audition	"Your Song"[12]				Free choice	Through to Bootcamp
Bootcamp 1	"Breakeven"				Bootcamp challenge	Through to Bootcamp 2
Bootcamp 2	"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"				Free choice	Through to Judges' houses
Judges' houses	"Beautiful"				Free choice	Through to live shows
	"Cosmic Love"
Live show 1	"Fix You"				Britain vs America	Saved
Live show 2	"Can't Help Falling in Love"				Love and Heartbreak	Safe (1st)
Live show 3	"Sweet Child o' Mine"				Rock	Safe (1st)
Live show 4	"Every Breath You Take"				Halloween	Safe (1st)
Live show 5	"I Want You Back"				Floorfillers	Safe (1st)
Live show 6	"Somebody to Love"				Lady Gaga vs. Queen	Safe (2nd)
Live show 7	"Kiss Me"				Movies	Safe (3rd)
Live show 8	"MMMBop"				Guilty pleasures	Bottom two (4th)
	"Under the Bridge"				Heroes
Final showdown 8	"Chasing Cars"				Final Showdown	Eliminated

Soon after being eliminated from The X Factor, Devlin performed some gigs at various venues throughout the UK. One of these being the renowned G-A-Y venue on Saturday, 3 December 2011.^[13] By finishing fifth, she was one of nine acts to perform on the X Factor Live Tour 2012, which took place in cities throughout the UK and Ireland.^[14] She performed fan favourite songs, 'Fix You' and 'Sweet Child o' Mine'.^[15]

2012–present: Debut studio album

It was reported that Devlin had received at least three offers of a recording contract, but as of yet there has been no confirmation of a deal signed.^[16] Within hours of leaving the show Devlin had been offered a recording contract by RKA Records, a record company partly owned by Dragons' Den star and entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne.^[17]

Following the X Factor Live Tour, Janet began work on her debut album at Steelworks Recording Studios, Sheffield. She was first in the recording studio on 28 May 2012, where she wrote and recorded three songs ('Crown of Thorns',^[18] 'Thinking Back Yesterday'^[19] and 'Who Am I Today?'^[20]) with Grammy Award and Ivor Novella Award-winning producer Eliot Kennedy^[21] and his team. The song "Crown of Thorns", which was one of the first she wrote, with Jim Jayawardena and Philippa Hanna (of Kennedy's Steelworks team), quickly became an addition to her live sets at gigs.^[22]

Janet has written all of her songs, usually with one co-writer, for inclusion on her debut album. She has written with accomplished songwriters Joe Janiak,^[23] Helen Boulding^[24] and Ethan Ash.^[25] She has also written potential tracks for her debut release with internationally acclaimed songwriters including the Faulkner brothers, Toby and Newton Faulkner,^[26] Joshua Radin^[27] and Jack Savoretti^[28]

Janet has stated in interviews that she has written around 25 songs so far and will continue to write more songs to have the best possible finished album.^[29] On 26 October 2012, she debuted two brand new, live edition, songs on her YouTube channel. They were 'Wonderful' which was co-written with Newton Faulkner and the aforementioned 'Crown of Thorns', which are taken from her upcoming debut album.^[30]

This debut album was launched on Pledge Music where it is avaialable to pre-order along with several other exclusives.^[31] In December 2012 it was stated that the album would be released in early 2013, having reached 45% of the pledge target within the first two weeks.^[32] Having reached 100% on New Year's Eve 2012, Janet began the recording of her album. It was later revealed that the album would be released to pledgers on 1 July 2013, with a general release to come later in early 2014.

For the general release of Hide & Seek, Janet will work with critically acclaimed, 3 time Brit, 18 time Grammy and 2 time Ivor Novella award winning Producer and Songwriter, James Sanger at his 'Vibey Studio' in France. Sanger has previously worked with, amongst many others, the likes of Keane, Dido and U2.

The photoshoot for the album was with photographer Rosie Hardy.^[33] She has previously photographed and modelled for the cover art of Maroon 5's third studio album "Hands All Over".^[34]

During her UK and Ireland tour, Janet Devlin announced that her song "Wonderful" will be the debut single from her album Hide and Seek and was released on 25 November 2013. The video for "Wonderful" which was shot on location in the Lake District by Gary Dumbill was uploaded to her YouTube channel on 1st November. The song received its first national airplay on Graham Norton's BBC Radio 2 show on the 26th October 2013. This was followed by it being played on Paul O'Grady's BBC Radio 2 show on the 27th. Janet performed 'Wonderful' live on ITV's This Morning with her band on the 22nd November.

A live version of her song "Things We Lost in the Fire" was premiered on her YouTube channel on 6 December 2013.^[35]

In early January 2014, Janet debuted a new live version of her song "Delicate", (written with Jack Savoretti and a new addition to the general release album) performing with Tom Dibb (guitar and vocals), in a BalconyTV session.^[36]

UK and Ireland Headline Tour

She announced the dates for her 2013 UK Tour in partnership with Academy Events, on 29 October with the tickets being on general sale on 2 November. The 10 date UK leg of the tour will visit O2 Academy venues^[37] in cities including London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Sheffield. Additional dates at Cardiff and Bristol were announced after the initial dates.^[38]

She announced the dates for the Irish leg of the tour in partnership with SD Entertainment on 5 November with tickets available from the 7th. The Irish leg will consist of 4 dates with Belfast, Dublin, Cork and Galway all being visited.^[38]

It was announced on 17 July that Wayward Daughter would be one of the support acts on the tour and will be appearing at all of the dates. Ethan Ash will appear as a special guest on 6 dates of the tour. On 29 July 2013, Devlin said that her first Headline Tour is to be named 'The Imaginarium Tour'.

Events

On 11 May 2012, Devlin received an Honorary Award at a civil reception in Omagh, County Tyrone for her achievements on the X Factor series 8.^[39]

Janet performed at Croke Park, in front of a capacity 82,300 crowd, as part of the half-time show for the All Ireland Gaelic Football final on 23 September. She performed a cover of 'Fix You' and one of her self-penned original songs 'Walk Away'.^[26]

She performed at the X Factor NSPCC Childline Ball on 18 October, again singing her original song 'Walk Away' and 'Fix You' by Coldplay, helping to raise over half a million pounds for the charity.^[40]

On 3 November 2012 she performed at Casement Park, as part of the pre-match entertainment, for the Michaela Foundation's charity Gaelic Football match in memory of Michaela McAreavey.^[41]

Janet performed for his Holiness, the Dalai Lama on 18 April 2013 as part of Irish charity, Children in Crossfire's 'Culture of Compassion' event in Derry.^[42]

On 12 May 2013 Janet performed a Pledger only concert at Greystones, Sheffield with a backing band consisting of Roo Walker (guitar, vocals), Jim Jayawardena (keyboard), Doug Harper (drums), Laura Kidd (bass, vocals) and Michael Giverin (mandolin). The second Pledger only concert took place at London's Troubadour on 13 May 2013.^[43]

On 25 June 2013, Janet worked with Newton Faulkner again. This time she was providing vocals for his new album project, #studiozoo. She provided backing vocals for 2 tracks as well as lending her voice for more of a featured backing vocal on a track called 'Plastic Hearts'.^[44]

On 26 June 2013, Janet officially finished recording her Debut Album. The album, 'Hide and Seek' was released to pledgers on 1 July 2013.^[45] Janet released an exclusive bonus acoustic EP, 'Nothing Lost', to pledgers on 14 August 2013.^[46]

Discography

Studio albums

Album Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		UK	IRE
Hide & Seek	Limited pledgers release: 1 July 2013 Label: Pledge Music[2] General Release: 3 March 2014 Label: Thumb Print Music Format: CD, digital download	–	–

Extended plays

Title	Details
Nothing Lost	Released: 14 August 2013 Label: Pledge Music Format: Limited Digital Download (Pledgers Only)

Nothing Lost – Track listing
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Delicate"	Janet Devlin, Jack Savoretti	Eliot Kennedy, Jim Jayawardena	3:44
2.	"All We Need"	Devlin, Joe Janiak	Kennedy, Jayawardena	3:32
3.	"Nothing Lost Something Found"	Devlin, Savoretti	Kennedy, Jayawardena	3:59
4.	"Your Song"	Elton John, Bernie Taupin	Kennedy, Jayawardena	2:48

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart position					Album
		UK	UK Indie	UK Indie Breakers	IRL	SCO
2013	"Wonderful"	-	13	3	-	-	Hide & Seek

As featured artist

Year	Single	Peak chart position
		UK	IRL	SCO
2011	"Wishing on a Star" (as part of The X Factor finalists 2011 featuring JLS and One Direction)	1	1	1

Music videos

Title	Year	Director(s)
"Wishing on a Star" (The X Factor Finalists 2011 featuring JLS and One Direction)	2011
"Wonderful"	2013	Gary Dumbill[47]

References

External links

• Official Website
• Official YouTube Channel

v t e Notable contestants of The X Factor (UK) Series 1 Steve Brookstein G4 Tabby Callaghan Rowetta Satchell Roberta Howett Lloyd Wade Series 2 Shayne Ward Andy Abraham Journey South Brenda Edwards Chico Slimani The Conway Sisters Maria Lawson Series 3 Leona Lewis Ray Quinn Ben Mills The MacDonald Brothers Kerry McGregor Avenue The Dolly Rockers Series 4 Leon Jackson Rhydian Roberts Same Difference Niki Evans Hope Matthew Protheroe Daniel de Bourg Series 5 Alexandra Burke JLS Eoghan Quigg Diana Vickers Ruth Lorenzo Laura White Series 6 Joe McElderry Olly Murs Stacey Solomon Jedward Stacey McClean Daniel Pearce Series 7 Matt Cardle Rebecca Ferguson One Direction Cher Lloyd Mary Byrne Katie Waissel Aiden Grimshaw Belle Amie John Adeleye The Reason 4 Twem Series 8 Little Mix Marcus Collins Amelia Lily Misha B Janet Devlin Frankie Cocozza Series 9 James Arthur Jahméne Douglas Union J Rylan Clark Ella Henderson Lucy Spraggan Carolynne Poole Nathan Fagan-Gayle Stephanie McMichael Series 10 Sam Bailey Nicholas McDonald

Persondata
Name	Devlin, Janet
Alternative names
Short description	Irish singer-songwriter
Date of birth	12 November 1994
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death