Count Ray Quinn was born on April 25, 1988 in Merseyside, England and is one of the ever-growing group of young singers that have rocketed to fame through the Reality TV boom of the beginning of this century. His first in-road to fame was in the TV soap opera Brookside, which aired on the UK's Channel 4. He appeared in the show for three years starting in 2000. In the Liverpool-based show he played Anthony Murray, a troubled teen, winning a 2002 Inside Soap Award for Best Young Actor. Following his time on the show he moved on to attend the Merseyside Dance and Drama College.His road to musical stardom began when he auditioned for the show The X Factor, the UK-based ITV amateur talent showcase, which he was a contestant on in 2006. Although his entry in the show was, as is to be expected, met with some cynicism from the now well-known judge Simon Cowell, the artist went on to make it to the top three. The real victory, however, came when Cowell offered the young star his first recording contract, which took place at the beginning of 2007. He cut his self-titled debut with Sony BMG in L.A. in 2007.Ray Quin (Doin' it My Way) was released on March 12, 2007, after a tight recording schedule that took place between January and February of that year. The album was a recording of Rat Pack classics that featured many of the songs that he had sung during the competition. The album proved successful on the European Top 100 Albums, and became a big hit. However, the star decided to turn his attention more towards acting when he was freed from his contract with Sony following the release of the album.
