Rhydian Roberts

Early years

Born in Sennybridge, Rhydian attended the Pontsenni Cylch Meithrin in Brecon and then Ysgol y Bannau Welsh medium school. He played rugby union for the Gwernyfed rugby football club as a junior and later for his school, as well as cricket for Powys County Junior teams. Following a gap year teaching in a small school in South Africa, Rhydian won a bursary to the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire at the University of Central England.

Career

''The X Factor''

Rhydian has said: "I'm very proud of what I achieved on X Factor. I'm a showman and it gave me the chance to put on a show". Amongst other songs, he sang:

• A full theatrical account of "The Phantom of the Opera"
• "Get the Party Started"
• "Go West"

During the live stages of competition, eventually his "trademark white hair and flamboyant dress sense made him an audience favourite." His version of "The Impossible Dream" became the keynote track on his first album.

Recordings

• 2008's highest-selling album by a male newcomer (600,000 copies), was Rhydian's eponymous debut, Rhydian. It incorporated material by Jim Steinman
• His second, O Fortuna (2009), co-produced by composer Karl Jenkins, included duets with Kiri te Kanawa and Bryn Terfel. Rhydian was a guest on Morriston Orpheus Choir's CD To Where You Are (Sain, 2011).
• There were two further albums during 2011: Waves, with covers of classic 1980s pop and Caneuon Cymraeg (Welsh Songs), a mix of classic Welsh songs and original songs.
• Returning to his core repertoire of classics and pop anthems, Rhydian's fifth album, One Day Like This featured duets with Kerry Ellis and Bonnie Tyler. Within a week of release, it topped the Official Classical Album Chart, occupying the spot for ten weeks. It also reached 19 in the UK Albums Chart, and topped the Classic FM Chart.
• In 2015, he released Carry the Fire, an album inspired by the Rugby World Cup 2015. It included his version of "World In Union" - which was the official song of the Rugby World Cup - and songs related to all of the Home Nations.
• His seventh album, The Long Road, was released in 2018 and added to Spotify in 2020. It includes covers of "Castle on the Hill" by Ed Sheeran, and "The Sound of Silence" by Paul Simon.
• Rhydian's eighth album was released in February 2023, and became his second album to top the UK Classical Albums Chart (after One Day Like This). He has announced it will be his final studio album, before ending his recording career with a Greatest Hits album later in the year.

Concerts, galas and solo tours

• Rhydian toured the UK in 2008, 2013 and 2014–15. His third tour was named after his fifth record album, "One Day Like This".
• During 2018 he toured the UK in Les Musicals, co-starring with Jonathan Ansell.

Stage

• Rhydian made his debut in the 2010 European tour of The War of the Worlds – Live on Stage! (Parson Nathaniel),
• He then toured the UK in musical theatre. From 2010 to 2013 he appeared in We Will Rock You (Khashoggi, Chief of Police), Grease (40th anniversary tour, playing "Teen Angel") and Rocky Horror Show (Rocky).
• He played pantomime leads in Beauty and the Beast, praised for carrying the show "rather spectacularly" with "remarkable gravitas", and Cinderella.
• In 2015 he played Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar and in 2016 the Dentist in Little Shop of Horrors. During Christmas 2017, he appeared in Aladdin at the SSE Arena, Belfast.

Television

• During 2009, Rhydian, One Year On was aired by S4C.
• In 2011, Rhydian presented an eight-part television entertainment series for S4C, with his album Caneuon Cymraeg (Welsh Songs) being released to tie in with it.

Final albums

In February 2023, Rhydian Roberts announced his retirement from singing and released a final album: "I’ve enjoyed my career. It's been 15 years since The X Factor, I’ve released eight albums already, and I just wanted to sign off my singing career with a couple of releases. One classical album and then later on in the year I'm doing a Best Of which has all my favourite songs from the pop world, musical theatre, and classical. That’ll be it then – I'm hanging up my recording voice."

In February 2025, he released his tenth and last album, The Very Best of My Life, a goodbye Greatest Hits collection.

Roberts went on to work as an artist manager at Neil O'Brien Entertainment.

Discography

Main article: Rhydian Roberts discography

References

References

1. [https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/tv/x-factor-star-rhydian-roberts-26245035 "X Factor star Rhydian Roberts announces retirement as he reflects on turning 40"] Sam Cook, Wales Online, 18 Feb 2023. Accessed 9 September 2023
2. "Cricket: 'My brush with Rhydian'".
3. (2 February 2008). "Change of tune that led to fame for Rhydian Roberts". The Times.
4. "bcu.ac.uk 2".
5. "Rhydian Roberts". classicfm.co.uk.
6. TheXFactorUK. (3 November 2007). "X Factor 4, ep 13, Rhydian (itv.com/xfactor)".
7. TheXFactorUK. (17 November 2007). "X Factor 4, ep 15, Rhydian (itv.com/xfactor)".
8. [http://www.classicfm.co.uk/music/artists/p-s/rhydian-roberts/ Rhydian biography from Classic FM website]. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
9. "ICWales".
10. [https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/rhydian/172164693 Apple iTunes website] Accessed 21 April 2014.
11. Upon release, the album charted at number 3, selling over 150,000 in its first two weeks and over 300,000 after four weeks to win Platinum Album status as awarded by the [[British Phonographic Industry. BPI]].
12. "Exclusive: X Factor loser Rhydian set for new album.. while Leon Jackson is dumped by label". Daily Record.
13. Rhydian performs lead vocals in "Stars" (''Les Misérables''), "Bui Doi" (''Miss Saigon''), and "You'll Never Walk Alone" (''Carousel'').
14. [http://www.ok.co.uk/lifestyle/view/38774/Interview-Rhydian-Roberts-and-Hayley-Westenra/ Interview in OK Magazine] {{Webarchive. link. (13 December 2011 . Ok.co.uk, Retrieved 7 January 2011])
15. [http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/showbiz/2011/07/24/x-factor-s-rhydian-to-go-from-opera-star-to-pop-star-91466-29108762/ "X-factor's Rhydian to go from Opera star to pop star,"] Rachel Mainwaring, ''Wales on Sunday'', 24 July 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
16. [http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/rhydianroberts Pledge Music website: projects page], Pledgemusic.com, Accessed 24 March 2014.
17. [http://www.classicfm.com/radio/shows/official-classic-fm-chart/27-april-2014/ The Classic FM Chart]. Classic.fm, Retrieved 28 April 2014.
18. "Carry The Fire".
19. "Rhydian - Official Store - Rhydian - Classical Album - Hymns, Songs & Arias (Signed) Limited Edition CD".
20. Cook, Sam. (18 February 2023). "X Factor star Rhydian Roberts announces retirement".
21. [http://www.rhydian-roberts.co.uk/tickets-mainmenu-161 Tickets section of Rhydian Roberts official fansite] {{Webarchive. link. (2 April 2015 . Retrieved 16 March 2015.)
22. [https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/les-musicals Tour itinerary and dates]. Ents24.com, Retrieved 5 December 2017.
23. link. (23 April 2014 Accessed 21 April 2014. Composer [[Jeff Wayne]] described him as "an incredibly talented singer whose range and depth of voice will suit this role perfectly.")
24. [http://www.brianmay.com/queen/queennews/queennewsaug10a.html Queen News] {{Webarchive. link. (29 March 2015 . Retrieved 25 August 2010. Rhydian performed in Cardiff, Southampton and Birmingham.)
25. Other guest "Teen Angels" on this tour included [[Robin Cousins]] and [[Mary Byrne (singer). Mary Byrne]]. See [http://www.greasethemusical.co.uk/index.php ''Grease'' website] {{Webarchive. link. (20 July 2011 . Retrieved 31 July 2011. See also [http://westend.broadwayworld.com/article/Rhydian-Roberts-to-Star-in-GREASE-UK-Tour-20110718 "Rhydian Roberts to Star in GREASE UK Tour,"] from broadwayworld.com. Retrieved 31 July 2011. Rhydian played at Blackpool, Sunderland, Liverpool F.C., Norwich, and Edinburgh.)
26. "Press release Tuesday, October 16th, 2012". TimeWarp The Official UK Rocky Horror Fan Club.
27. [http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/40597/beauty-and-the-beast-img Paul Vale, "Beauty and the Beast"], ''The Stage'', 12 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014
28. [http://rhydianroberts.com/17th-november-rhydian-is-prince-charming/ Official website, news blog] {{Webarchive. link. (19 November 2015 . Retrieved 18 November 2015)
29. Directed by [[Bill Kenwright]] and [[Bob Thomson]]. He played in Bromley, Cardiff, Dublin, Blackpool, Northampton, and Liverpool. See [http://www.rhydian-roberts.co.uk/tours-a-musicals-mainmenu-230/jesus-christ-superstar Official website] {{Webarchive. link. (24 September 2015 . Retrieved 2 September 2015.)
30. [http://britishtheatre.com/little-shop-of-horrors-uk-tour/ Tour schedule and venue in Douglas Mayo, "Little Shop of Horrors 2016"], Britishtheatre.com website, 7 March 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2016
31. "2 Aug: Rhydian to star as Abanazer in Aladdin".
32. [http://www.s4c.cymru/adloniant/e_rhydian.shtml S4C Adloniant, "Rhydian"] {{webarchive. link. (22 November 2015 . Retrieved 21 November 2015)
33. Guests included [[Hayley Westenra]] and [[Claire Jones (harpist). Claire Jones]]
34. "Rhydian". S4C.
35. "Rhydian - The Very Best Of My Life".