Joe McElderry dumped by Syco

In 2009 Joe McElderry won ITV’s talent contest, the X Factor battling it out to become the Christmas number 1, but was beaten by the band Rage Against the Machine after a Facebook campaign helped drives sales in protest against the show. Now, just 16 months later, Joe Mcelderry has been dumped by Simon Cowell’s record label, Syco.

A close friend stated: “Joe is devastated. His mum has been comforting him. He believed he could have a great music career. Although he is still on Syco's books, his deal runs out in about a month and it won't be renewed”

The 19 year old singer originally auditioned for the show in 2007 but wasn’t shown. In 2009 he was mentored by Cheryl Cole and gained huge popularity towards the end, winning with almost two-thirds (61.3%) of the votes in the final, compared with just over a third (38.7%) for Olly Murs, according to voting statistics released on The X Factor website.

His first single, a cover version of Miley Cyrus’s The Climb went to number one after Christmas, but Joe was the first singer on the show not to gain a Christmas number one. His next single, didn’t chart as well debuting at number 6 in the UK chart in October 2010 and his third single flopped entirely – only selling a mere 7,000 copies, limping into the charts at 68. However, McElderry did gain other success after he was signed up as a model for fashion retailer, Next.

Simon Cowell stated that his label dropped McElderry as things “hadn’t worked out”.

The singer came out as gay last year, after somebody tried to hack his Twitter account, he said: “I’ve had time to think about things. I wasn’t attracted to anyone anyway, male or female. It never really entered my head I was gay. But I just know. It’s how I feel.”Stonewall have listed McElderry as a gay role model.

Recently, Joe McElderry has been forced to perform at a free concert with the sixth runners up on the show, Jedward, who have gone on to earn a reported £3 million in this year alone.

Matthew Greenacre