Early life

Lee Ryan was born in Chatham, Kent. His parents split up when he was six years old. Ryan mostly lived with his mother, sister Gemma and his grandmother. Ryan went to Bedonwell School before attending performing arts schools, including the Independent Performing Arts School Belcanto London Academy (BLA) where he first developed his talent, then independent fee-paying theatre schools Sylvia Young Theatre School and Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.

Career

2000-2005: Career with Blue

Ryan is a member of boy band Blue along with Simon Webbe, Duncan James and Antony Costa. The group has sold over 14 million records worldwide. In August 2005, Blue split up to pursue solo careers under the advice of Sir Elton John. Blue reformed on 28 April 2009. Ryan has had three number one hits while with Blue. He had previously co-directed the video for Blue's single "Breathe Easy" which he also wrote and which was shot in Prague. In 2001 the band was in New York during the September 11 attacks after which Ryan commented that "This New York thing is being blown out of proportion" and asked "What about whales? They are ignoring animals that are more important. Animals need saving and that's more important." The other members of the band tried to silence Ryan, but he went on. This caused a huge media backlash that resulted in Blue losing a record deal in the United States and campaigns to sack Ryan from the group.

2005-2008: Lee Ryan and stage

Ryan released his first single "Army of Lovers" on 18 July 2005. It debuted at No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart and hit No. 1 in Italy. On 1 August 2005, Ryan released his debut album, Lee Ryan, to mixed reviews. The album reached No. 6 in the UK Album Chart and No. 3 in Italy. In January 2006, Ryan released his third and final single in the UK "When I Think of You". The song reached No. 15 in the UK. "Real Love" was used for the end credits of the film Ice Age: The Meltdown which later led to Ryan voicing the part of an elk in the UK version of the film and Eddie in the Italian version. In late 2005, Dolce & Gabbana signed Ryan up to be the UK face of their new line of clothing.

After the relative success of his first solo album, Ryan started planning his second solo album. The single "Reinforce Love" was released on 10 December 2007. The single was being released for Great Ormond Street Hospital and CLIC Sargent, which were the two charities that Ryan was touring for in November and December 2007, with young voices. The album was then postponed, and finally cancelled. He appeared in the video for the latest single by a British girlband named Fe-Nix. In September 2007, he appeared as one of the contestants in Hell's Kitchen. However he rowed with Marco Pierre White about White's use of the term "pikey", and subsequently left the show. In August and September 2008, Ryan acted alongside Natalie Casey in The Pretender Agenda at The New Players Theatre in London.

2009-2010: Film and cancelled second album

In March 2010, Ryan confirmed that he had signed a new record deal with Geffen Records, due to last until 2013. Later that month, it was announced that Ryan's first album on his new record label, Confessions, was due to be released in October 2010. The first single from the album, "Secret Love", was released as a double A-Side with "I Am Who I Am" on 4 July 2010. The single only managed to peak at No. 33 on the UK Singles Chart. Following this, it was announced that Geffen were set to drop Ryan from the label, before work on his album had been completed. Ryan announced in January 2011 that there was no deal to release his album.

The track listing for Ryan's aborted album was as follows: "Secret Love", "I Am Who I Am", "Guardian Angel", "Perfect Strangers", "I Don't Wanna Let You Down", "I Love Your Smile", "It's Not Me", "Confessions", "Light of Your Soul", "Peaches", "Reinforce Love", "Suffice to Say", "To See the Stars", "Stop the Rain", "Why Me" and "Stand Up as People".

2011-present: Return with Blue

Ryan stated in January 2011 that he was working on an album with Blue to be released later in the year. Blue represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany with the song "I Can", placing 11th overall.

In 2013, Blue released "Hurt Lovers" the first single from their fourth album Roulette.

In November 2014, Blue announced they had signed a two-album record deal with Sony Music. The band released their fifth studio album Colours on 9 March 2015.

Personal life

Ryan roused controversy when in a publicity interview with the BBC where he stated that he thought whaling and elephant hunting were more important than the 11 September attacks in New York City. On 22 August 2003, Ryan was banned from driving for 18 months and fined £2,250 as a consequence of drunk driving. On 31 December 2007, he was arrested for an assault on a taxi driver in Oxted, Surrey. He was released on bail until February 2008. At Guildford Magistrates' Court on 24 June 2008 he was fined £300. He claimed in court "he felt targeted because he is 'famous' ".

In June 2008, Ryan announced he was engaged to hairdresser Samantha Millar, having met her on Myspace. Their son, Rayn, was born in November 2008. In August 2010, Ryan was charged with assault after allegedly hitting Millar. The charges were later dropped, and the couple separated.

Ryan appeared in Celebrity Big Brother 13 (2014), describing himself as single with kids. Following the show he entered a relationship with fellow Big Brother in-mate Jasmine Waltz. Waltz however ended the relationship after just a few months launching accusations at Ryan's ego being instrumental in the break-up as well as insinuating the band were suffering from depression due to their lack of success since reuniting in 2011. Ryan however denied any hatred and wished Waltz the best for her future career.

Discography

Studio albums

List of albums, with selected chart positions and certifications

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions							Certifications
		UK	BEL	GER	JAP	IRE	ITA	SWI
Lee Ryan	Released: 1 August 2005 Formats: CD, digital download Labels: Sony BMG	6	68	79	40	42	3	61	BPI: Silver FIMI: Gold
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications

Title	Year	Peak chart positions										Album
		UK	AUT	BEL	FRA	GER	HUN	IRE	ITA	SWI	UKN
"Army of Lovers"	2005	3	41	25	—	29	—	17	1	49	3	Lee Ryan
"Turn Your Car Around"		12	41	2	—	52	—	33	2	—	8
"When I Think of You"		15	—	—	—	—	—	29	—	—	13
"Real Love"	2006	—	—	5	10	56	28	—	—	74	—
"Reinforce Love"	2007	101	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	non-album song
"I Am Who I Am / Secret Love"	2010	33	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	9	non-album song
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
2006	Ice Age (Italian dub)	Eddie (voice)
2010	The Heavy	Reuben

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Holby City	Arian Kirkwall	"Too Much Too Young" (Season 3, Episode 2)
2006	Hell's Kitchen	Himself	Season 6; cookery reality television
2008	24 Hours with...	Himself	Television documentary; "Lee Ryan" (Season 1, Episode 3)
2014	Celebrity Big Brother	Himself	Season 13, Contestant
2016	Big Star's Little Star	Himself	series 4, Contestant

[ Source: Wikipedia ]