Austin Drage

Austin Drage (born 29 June, 1986 in London) is a British singer/songwriter and actor.

Early life

He was born at Whipps Cross Hospital, Leytonstone and still lives in the area to this day. He has one brother. He first sang at age 8 and he records his proudest moment as "singing at his grandmother's funeral". He has a dog named Louis and three budgies. He attended Highams Park and Heathcote schools.

Career
Austin is a singer, songwriter, DJ and dancer and to date he has appeared at venues either as part of former band, 5Boyz, or solo. Austin lists 'All Right Now' by Free as his favourite song and notes that his musical influences include the likes of The Killers, Bon Jovi, Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Guns N' Roses and Lionel Richie.

He appeared in the Channel 4 production Boys will be Girls which attempted to create a girl band from a group of males. The theme of the show was that by dressing and performing as women, they could attempt to fool the public.

X Factor
On the 1 September 2007 episode of The X Factor, Austin was briefly shown passing the initial round in to Boot Camp. On The Xtra Factor he was seen again, although he did not make it through to the last 24 acts. He was not identified in dialogue in either show.

In 2008, he again auditioned for X Factor and received positive comments from the judges - being given the 'yes' vote by all four. This was later confronted with controversy after a tabloid newspaper revealed that Austin knew Cheryl Cole (the newest judge on The X Factor panel). He reportedly knew Cheryl through one of his ex band mates from 5Boyz when he had a relationship with the X Factor Judge. The tabloid also deemed that it was an "unfair advantage" on his part over other contestants and wannabe's as he had a prior relationship with a judge, and it was innevitable that she say the much anticipated yes to get him into the next round of auditions.

This strange situation was later commented on by the producers of The X Factor stating that they always knew that Austin knew Cheryl, however they did not know each other as closely as the tabloids had revealed. The two bands (Girls Aloud (Cheryl Cole) & 5Boyz (Austin Drage)) did appear on the same line up on one show several years before The X Factor began, which was the one and only time that the judge and contestant had met.

Songs
* Happy Now
* Breakdown
* Out Of My Head

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See Also

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