Young was born in Wokingham, Berkshire, UK, with a non-identical twin, Rupert. He was educated at Horris Hill preparatory school and Wellington College.
He then attended the University of Exeter where he read Politics. At university, some of Young's old haunts included Timepiece, The Old Firehouse, and Harry's, where he used to work. In September 2001, he became a student at the Arts Educational School in Chiswick, London, starting a three-year course in musical theatre with a scholarship.
In February 2002, Young came to national prominence by singing in and winning the ITV singing contest/reality tv show Pop Idol.
Contrary to popular belief, Will was not a surprise winner when beating Gareth Gates in the final show; in fact, he gained the most votes nearly every week throughout the entire finals. A lot of 'casual' viewers of Pop Idol may have been surprised at Will's victory because Gareth had got a lot of publicity (partly) due to his stutter, perhaps creating the illusion that he was more likely to win than Will.
Young's first single was a double A-side featuring Westlife's song "Evergreen" and "Anything Is Possible", a new song written for the winner of the show by Cathy Dennis. This became the fastest-selling debut in UK chart history selling 403,027 copies on its day of release. It went on to sell over 1.4 million copies and in the official list of the all-time best-selling singles in the UK issued later that year, it appeared 12th. Will subsequently made headlines by revealing he was gay. He went on to win the Brits Best Breakthrough Act Award and a plethora of other awards, including most recently Best Artist in the Digital Music Awards October 2004. Early singles of note include "Light My Fire" (done José Feliciano style), "Leave Right Now", and "Friday's Child". The latter is the title of his second album, which was largely self-penned, went five-times platinum, also receiving awards and critical acclaim.
Young received his second Brit Award in February 2005 for his co-written single "Your Game". Following sell out theatre and arena tours in 2004, he toured again at outside festival venues in Summer 2005. On July 6, 2005, he performed at Edinburgh 50,000 - The Final Push, the final concert of Live 8, where he did a duet with James Brown on "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag". His third album, Keep On was released in November 2005, together with the first single from same, "Switch It On".
On 29 September 2008, Young's fourth album, Let It Go, was released, and peaked at #2 in the UK albums chart. It was preceded by the single "Changes" on 15 September, which peaked at #10. His next single "Grace" was released on 1 December 2008, and peaked at #33 on the UK Singles Chart. Will's third single taken from the album will be "Let It Go", was released on 2 March 2009 in the UK, and peaked at #58 on the UK Singles Chart. The fourth and final single was "Tell Me the Worst", and was released on July 5, 2009 only in the UK. It served as a club promo, and featured some Fred Falke remixes.
A greatest hits collection, The Hits, was released on the 16th of November 2009. contains twelve songs from Young's first four studio albums, and two new tracks. The first is new single "Hopes & Fears", and the second is a ballad called "If It Hadn't Been for Love". The album will be released as a standard edition and a deluxe edition, which will include a DVD of all the music videos.
Songfacts reports that Jealousy, the first single from Young’s fifth studio album Echoes is a dance pop track produced by Richard X (Sugababes, Annie). The song will be released on August 21, 2011.
Young has been nominated for Ten BRIT Awards [4 x Best British Male - 4 X Best British single - Best pop Act- Best Breakthrough] . In May 2006, he was voted the UK's favourite artist ever in a poll conducted by commercial radio. In May 2007, he was voted the UK's favourite artist of all time for the second consecutive year.
Young has also broadened his repertoire by launching an acting career, taking a role in the BBC film, Mrs. Henderson Presents, starring Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins, with Will playing the character of 'Bertie'. The film went on release in the UK on 25 November 2005, and received excellent reviews, not least for Young's performance as actor and singer in the movie. It includes a scene in which he appears naked.
Will Young supports the charity Women's Aid, about which he wrote: "I am proud to put my name beside this cause and hope that I may be able to help more people affected by the terrors of domestic violence as well as help to create a wider awareness within our society."
Will also supports Mencap and Positive Action Southwest (PASW) for which he performed at his first solo concert in July 2003 at Killerton Hall, Exeter.
Official Website: http://www.willyoung.co.uk/global/home
Stronger
Will Young Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Has a funny way of trying to make
You a certain type
And making it hard
Yeah life
Is feet firmly on the ground
With a fear of flying
It's always too far
It only makes me stronger
When you say I can't do it
I'll work that bit harder
When you say it's not within my grip
The barriers, I'll break them down
I'll prove myself, I'll stick around
I'll get through it all somehow
Nothing's unreachable
Life
Is full of all these empty words
In perfect rhyme
When they don't make no sense
Resigned
To all of these doubts and nerves
You want first place
But you take second best
It only makes me stronger
When you say I won't succeed
I'll work that bit harder
When you say you see no strength in me
The barriers, I'll break them down
I'll prove myself, I'll stick around
I'll get through it all somehow
Nothing's unreachable
Oh, it's just a state of mind
If you set yourself up to fall
You'll never get there at all
All you've got to do is rise
It takes more to break me than a wave or two
Whatever's sent to test me
Gonna make me through
It only makes me stronger
When you say I can't do it
I'll work that bit harder
When you say it's not within my grip
The barriers, I'll break them down
I'll prove myself, I'll stick around
I'll get through it all somehow
Nothing's unreachable
Don't hide
Don't cover up what fuels you
Deep inside
It carries you on
Go find
That dream you dreamt about
Each and every night
Before it is gone
'Cause you don't understand how I feel
You don't understand this is real
It's life
Yes it's life
It's gone
The song "Stronger" by Will Young is an empowering anthem about facing challenges and overcoming obstacles. The lyrics speak to the struggles of life, the doubts and fears that often hold us back, and the determination to overcome them. The song is divided into two verses, both of which explore different aspects of life's challenges.
The first verse talks about how life can be difficult and tries to mold us into a certain type. It highlights the struggle of dealing with a fear of flying, feeling like everything is too far away, and obstacles that seem too hard to overcome. The second verse explores the insecurity and self-doubt that can hold us back, making it difficult to achieve our dreams. It talks about settling for second best and constantly feeling like we're not good enough. The chorus provides the empowering message that these obstacles only make us stronger, working harder to prove ourselves and break down the barriers that hold us back.
Overall, the message of the song is that no matter what challenges we face, we have the power within us to overcome them. We just need to believe in ourselves and work hard to achieve our dreams.
Line by Line Meaning
Life
Has a funny way of trying to make
You a certain type
And making it hard
Yeah life
Is feet firmly on the ground
With a fear of flying
It's always too far
Life is challenging, constantly pushing you towards molding to its expectations, but it's never easy to fulfill them because it instills groundless worries.
It only makes me stronger
When you say I can't do it
I'll work that bit harder
When you say it's not within my grip
The barriers, I'll break them down
I'll prove myself, I'll stick around
I'll get through it all somehow
Nothing's unreachable
When people say I can't do something or it's beyond my capability, it motivates me to work even harder, break down obstacles, and prove that anything is achievable.
Life
Is full of all these empty words
In perfect rhyme
When they don't make no sense
Resigned
To all of these doubts and nerves
You want first place
But you take second best
The words people use can be meaningless, especially if they rhyme, and often create doubts and nerves. You might strive for first place, but settle for second place.
It only makes me stronger
When you say I won't succeed
I'll work that bit harder
When you say you see no strength in me
The barriers, I'll break them down
I'll prove myself, I'll stick around
I'll get through it all somehow
Nothing's unreachable
Similar to earlier, when people predict my failure or say that I have no strong attributes, it just motivates me to work harder and prove them wrong. I remain persistent and overcome any challenge because anything is possible.
Oh, it's just a state of mind
If you set yourself up to fall
You'll never get there at all
All you've got to do is rise
It takes more to break me than a wave or two
Whatever's sent to test me
Gonna make me through
Failing is something that lives in our minds, and if we keep thinking we'll fail, we'll never succeed. All we have to do is rise up and try because it’s not easy to break me. Whatever life throws at me, I’m going to handle it.
Don't hide
Don't cover up what fuels you
Deep inside
It carries you on
Go find
That dream you dreamt about
Each and every night
Before it is gone
Don't keep your dreams to yourself, and don't try to keep the things that drive you inside because they are what keeps you moving forward. Pursue the dreams you always envisioned because time is limited.
'Cause you don't understand how I feel
You don't understand this is real
It's life
Yes it's life
It's gone
People who doubt me, who don’t get it, who don’t believe in me, I carry on because this is life, I face it head on and nothing lasts forever.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Capitol CMG Publishing, Peermusic Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: MELANIE CHISHOLM, LARS AASS, OLE HENRIK ANTONSEN, MICHELLE LENA POOLE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind