William Singe

William Singe
Background information
Born (1992-07-02) 2 July 1992
Origin Forestville, New South Wales
Genres
Occupation(s)
Instruments
Years active 2012–present
Associated acts
Website williamsinge.com

William Anthony Singe (born 2 July 1992), better known by his stage name William Singe, is an Australian singer, songwriter and producer. He is most notable for his online videos that have amassed hundreds of millions of YouTube and Facebook views.

Singe started his career as a member of The Collective, an Australian boy band which was formed during the fourth season of The X Factor Australia in 2012, finishing in third place. The Collective subsequently signed with Sony Music Australia and released seven singles and a self-titled album. They disbanded after Singe left the group in 2015.

In 2014 and 2015, Singe recorded numerous R&B, pop, hip-hop and rap covers in his bedroom. In less than a year, he accumulated over two million Facebook fans, reached a #1 position on Spotify, twenty million Spotify streams, and earned more than fifty million video views and half a million subscribers on YouTube.

Early life

Singe was raised in Forestville, a suburb of northern Sydney. He is of Māori Australian descent.[1]

William began recording music as a child, drawing inspiration from his father, a singer and songwriter from New Zealand.[2][3]

He was a student at St Augustine's College in Brookvale and worked as a bank teller at the Commonwealth Bank in Dee Why.[3][4]

Career

In 2011, Singe auditioned for The X Factor in season three and made it to the end of the bootcamp stage.[5]

In 2012, he auditioned for the fourth season singing Justin Bieber's "One Less Lonely Girl" (with added rap lyrics that Singe wrote himself) and received positive comments from the judges. Mel B felt that Singe was singing the song just to her, Guy Sebastian called his added rap in the song "crazy", and Ronan Keating said it was a great audition song.[6] He progressed to the super bootcamp stage.[7]

2012-14: The Collective

Main article: The Collective (band)

After Singe failed to make it into the top six of the Under-25 Boys category during super bootcamp, the judges decided to put him together with Trent Bell, Julian De Vizio, Zach Russell and Jayden Sierra to form a boy band named The Collective.[8][9] On 20 November 2012, it was announced that The Collective finished in third place.[10]

On 22 November 2012, The Collective signed a recording contract with Sony Music Australia.[11][12] The group's self-titled mini album, The Collective, was released on 14 December 2012.[13] The album debuted at number 11 on the ARIA Albums Chart and was certified gold.[14][15]

In 2013, Singe was featured on fellow X Factor contestant Bella Ferraro's single "Forgot You" which peaked at number 75 on the ARIA Singles Chart.[16][17][18]

On 18 February 2015, Singe announced on Facebook that he had left the group to pursue his solo career.[19] The remaining members of The Collective disbanded that same month to also pursue solo careers.[20][21][22]

2015-present: Solo career

As a solo performer, Singe rose to the status of an online personality. He achieved this by recording cover tracks of contemporary singers, from Justin Bieber and Adele to Drake, Fetty Wap and The Weeknd. He recorded himself singing in his bedroom and uploaded the videos to Facebook and YouTube. After recording 6 covers in 2014, he recorded another 44 in 2015. Starting 2015 with around 20,000 followers on his Facebook page, Singe grew to more than two million followers by the end of the year.[23][24]

Singe announced on 14 October he signed to Paradigm, a U.S. agency representing Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Sia and Black Eyed Peas among others. The Fern Events commented: "Though he has such a great voice and an articulate way of switching up a song with his own style. It would be interesting if any established international song writers snap up his vocals. This kids just phenomenal, his perseverance is really paying off."[2]

In September and October, One Direction's Liam Payne and the singer T-Pain reached out via Twitter to connect with Singe, expressing interest to collaborate with him.[24][25][26]

Singe covered Drake's song Hotline Bling on 24 September, transforming it into "an emotional slow jam".[27] It became his most popular video to date. In less than a month, the video earned close to 25 million views on YouTube and Facebook,[28] reaching a #1 position on Spotify's US Viral 50 chart.[29][30]

Noting Singe's success, Capital Xtra concluded: "YouTube sensation William Singe is a star in his own right, having racked up millions of views across his phenomenal covers of Fetty Wap's '679,' The Weeknd's 'Earned It' and now Drizzy's 'Hotline Bling.' The 22-year-old Aussie singer-songwriter completely makes the song his own and it sounds incredible."[31]

Concert tours

In January 2016, Singe will embark on The Introduction Tour across Australia, Asia, the United States and Europe.[32][33][34][35][36]

References

  1. ↑ Singe, Will (30 December 2012). "@WillSinge Status". Twitter. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Sydney's William Singe Signed with US Agent Paradigm". The Fern Events. 22 October 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. 1 2 Bennett, Rod (16 November 2012). "Manly's Margi Coen speaks of coaching The Collective's Will Singe to X Factor stardom". Manly Daily (News Community Media). Archived from the original on 18 November 2012.
  4. ↑ Bennett, Rod (31 October 2012). "Forestville's Will Singe and The Collective safe for another week on the X-Factor". Manly Daily (News Community Media). Archived from the original on 17 November 2012.
  5. ↑ Byrnes, Holly (13 September 2012). "Next stop, the live shows for X Factor's Top 12". The Daily Telegraph (News Limited). Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  6. ↑ Lewdon, Courtney (22 August 2012). "The X Factor Australia Season Four – The Third Auditions". Throng. Throng Media. Archived from the original on 17 November 2012.
  7. ↑ "The Collective". The X Factor Australia. Yahoo!7. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012.
  8. ↑ Lewdon, Courtney (12 September 2012). "The X Factor Australia Season Four – The 2012 Top Twelve Decided!". Throng. Throng Media. Archived from the original on 17 November 2012.
  9. ↑ Knox, David (14 September 2012). "X-tra smiles for a hit show". TV Tonight. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  10. ↑ "Samantha Jade wins The X Factor Australia". The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media). 20 November 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  11. ↑ McCabe, Kathy (22 November 2012). "X Factor winner Samantha Jade's single What You've Done to Me iTunes number one". The Australian (News Limited). Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  12. ↑ "Fans turn out for The Collective". The Sunday Times (News Limited). 27 July 2013. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013.
  13. ↑ "The Collective – CD". Sanity. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  14. ↑ "Discography The Collective". Australian Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  15. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2013 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  16. ↑ "iTunes – Music – Forgot You (feat. Will Singe) – Single by Bella Ferraro". iTunes Store (Australia). Apple. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  17. ↑ Ryan, Gavin (26 October 2013). "ARIA Singles: It Is Still About Katy Perry". Noise11. Noise Network. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  18. ↑ "X Factor Australia Alum Bella Ferraro Releasing New Single Forgot You!". Aria Charts. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  19. ↑ "William Singe – Its been an incredible ride and I love my brothers...". Facebook. 18 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  20. ↑ Banter with Ollie Geale Welcomes Julian De Vizio. YouTube. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  21. ↑ Jack & Jayden Sierra Radio Interview on 2RDJ. YouTube. 28 April 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  22. ↑ Trent Bell Radio Interview with Jase from The Stars of Tomorrow. YouTube. 27 September 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  23. ↑ "William Singe". Facebook. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  24. 1 2 Jonathon Moran (7 December 2015). "The Collective band member Will Singe goes solo: 'Now I can do what I've always wanted'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  25. ↑ "T-Pain keen to collab with William Singe". Mai. 29 September 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  26. ↑ "Liam Payne wants to work with producer Will Singe". Sugarscape. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  27. ↑ "This Cover Of Drake's 'Hotline Bling' Will Give You Chills". Capital Xtra. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  28. ↑ Shenequa Golding (13 October 2015). "YouTube Star William Singe's "Hotline Bling" Cover Might Give Everyone Else's A Run For Their Money". Vibe. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  29. ↑ "United States Viral 50". Spotify. 1 November 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  30. ↑ "Snapshot of #1 on United States Viral 50". Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  31. ↑ "10 Covers Of Drake's 'Hotline Bling' That Are As Good As The Original". Capital Xtra. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  32. ↑ "WILLIAM SINGE - SOLD OUT Tickets". Moshtix. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  33. ↑ "William Singe – The Introduction Tour". Neumos. 17 February 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  34. ↑ "William Singe: Tour Dates 2015". Bandsintown. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  35. ↑ "The Introduction Tour". williamsinge.com. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  36. ↑ "Touring: William Singe". auspOp. 7 December 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.

External links

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