Nathan James Sykes (born 18 April 1993)[2] is an English singer, best known as a member of the boy band The Wanted. In 2013, Sykes appeared with his bandmates in the E! channel reality television series The Wanted Life.[3] After the band's hiatus in 2014, Sykes embarked on a solo career. His debut single, "Kiss Me Quick" was released in July 2015. It reached number-one on the US Dance Club Songs chart.[4]
Early life
Sykes was born on 18 April 1993 in Gloucester to Harry and Karen Sykes, who is a music teacher.[5] He has a younger sister, Jessica Sykes, who is also a singer.[6]
He started singing and performing at the age of six and attended Sylvia Young Theatre School from the age of 11. After completing his GCSEs and graduating from Sylvia Young, he returned to Gloucester to attend sixth form at the selective Ribston Hall High School; however he did not complete his A-levels due to band commitments.[7]
In 2009, at the age of 16, Sykes auditioned for the boy band The Wanted. The auditions were held by Jayne Collins. Sykes was chosen to be one of those five members for a group. He joined bandmates Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Tom Parker and Jay McGuiness. The band achieved 10 UK top 10 singles as well as 3 UK top 10 albums. The group has sold more than 12 million records worldwide.
After being on voice rest for almost a month, Sykes went in for surgery to remove a nodule in his throat on 18 April 2013.[12] During episodes of The Wanted Life, he talked about his throat hurting and burning.[13] The day manager had him see a specialist, who concluded he had a nodule on his throat and suggested that it be removed. The band announced that they would continue their promotional commitments without Sykes for the time being in order to allow him to recover from the surgery.
Sykes made his return in June 2013 when the Wanted opened the Capital FMSummertime Ball, during a performance of "I Found You".[14] Following his return to the band, Sykes confirmed that he would be joining the rest of his bandmates for their upcoming summer gigs and events, while also stating that he still has some recovering to do. Speaking with Heart Radio for an interview, Sykes told the audience: "I'm not quite fully recovered yet but it's quite a long process. I'm at the stage where I can sing and get back with the lads, so I'm very excited to be back and I'm working very hard for a change."[15] As part of the recovery process, it has been reported that Sykes still has to undergo speech and vocal therapy in order to sing with his full vocal range without causing any more damage to it.[16]
After enjoying much mainstream international success, in 2014, the band decided to take a break and pursue their personal endeavours after a tour of the United Kingdom and the United States.[17]
Sykes reunited with his bandmates on 20 September 2021, seven years since their hiatus in support of bandmate Tom Parker for his charity concert 'Tom Parker: Inside My Head' in aid of raising money for Stand Up To Cancer and The National Brain Appeal at the Royal Albert Hall.
The Wanted's first record since 2014; Rule The World will be released 13 September 2021 to accompany their greatest hits record 'Most Wanted - The Greatest Hits' out 12 November 2021.
2015–present: Unfinished Business
On 21 June 2014, Sykes appeared solo as a special guest performer at the Capital FMSummertime Ball alongside Jessie J to perform "Calling All Hearts" with DJ Cassidy. This marked his first official solo performance since the band's hiatus and his fifth consecutive year as part of the Summertime Ball lineup. He is currently working on music for his debut solo album. Sykes plans to release his debut single in spring 2015, with his debut album being released towards the end of the year.
On 28 January 2015 MTV revealed that Sykes had played them previews of his upcoming material co-written with producers Harmony and LDN Noise[21] including "Money", "Famous" and "Kiss Me Quick".
In March 2015, Sykes debuted his first solo music video for "More Than You'll Ever Know" on Vevo.[22] Sykes went on his first solo tour "Intimate" on 8 April 2015, which included six sold-out shows in the United Kingdom. Sykes announced via the app Periscope that his debut single would be called "Kiss Me Quick", co-written with LDN Noise and Ali Tennant.[23][24] The single was released on 5 July 2015.[citation needed] On 21 May 2015, Sykes released his music video for his debut single, "Kiss Me Quick" on Vevo.[25] The song peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart and number 19 on the Scottish Singles Chart. The song also reached the number 1 spot on the US Dance Club Songs chart.
In October 2015, Sykes announced his second single, called "Over and Over Again". The music video for the song was released in the UK on 28 October 2015. It was released worldwide on 20 November 2015. It was also announced that Sykes would support Little Mix on their The Get Weird Tour in March 2016. Sykes announced that his third single, called "Give It Up", would be released on 13 May 2016.[citation needed] The music video for "Give It Up" was released on 27 April 2016, and was later banned from television after featuring numerous scenes which came across as unsuitable for most audiences.
On 11 June 2016, Sykes performed at Capital's Summertime Ball for the seventh consecutive time (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 with The Wanted, 2014 as Jessie J's guest, 2015 and 2016 as a solo performer).[26][27][28]
On 11 July 2016, Sykes announced via Twitter that he would be joining Alessia Cara on her Know-It-All headlining tour in the United States.[citation needed] On 12 October 2016, Sykes announced via Twitter that his debut studio album, Unfinished Business, would be out worldwide on 11 November 2016.[citation needed]
During September 2021, The Wanted returned with all 5 members of the band,[29] up until bandmate Tom Parker died in 2022.[30]
^Tipler, Clare (9 November 2015). "Nathan Sykes breaks from old boy band and creates own music". rubiconline.com. The Rubicon. Retrieved 3 September 2022. Sykes wanted to "keep the album as a pop album while bringing in elements like soul and jazz and R&B as well," he said in a Rolling Stone interview.
