Daniel John Bedingfield (born 3 December 1979) is a New Zealand-British singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. His debut studio album, Gotta Get thru This (2002), spawned three UK number ones, "Gotta Get thru This", "If You're Not the One" and "Never Gonna Leave Your Side", and sold 1.6 million copies in that country. His second album, Second First Impression, was released in 2004. Bedingfield was a judge on The X Factor New Zealand in 2013. He has written songs for other artists and has acted in the West End theatre in London, UK.
2004–2011: Second First Impression and other projects
In 2004, Bedingfield won a BRIT Award for Best British Male Artist. He then moved to the Universal Music subsidiary label Polydor Records to release his second album, Second First Impression, which reached number 8 in the UK. The album sold poorly compared to his first offering, though it did include two UK Top 20 singles, "Nothing Hurts Like Love" (which reached number three) and "Wrap My Words Around You" (which peaked at number 12). The third and final single, "The Way", became his first to miss the top 40, reaching number 41. The album was also released in Singapore (featuring 'If You're Not The One' as a bonus track).
Bedingfield performing in 2007
In an interview with the New Zealand Herald in April 2007, Bedingfield said that, after a four-year hiatus, he had three albums recorded and awaiting release.[7]
Since his last release in 2004, Bedingfield continued to work with other artists. He co-wrote the song "Works for Me!" for American Idol finalist David Archuleta. He has also worked with Pixie Lott, and contributed guest vocals on a track by a former member of The Roots. In December 2009, he co-wrote material with Tessanne Chin as well as recorded three songs with Busy Signal at DJ Karim's Stainless Records studios in Kingston, Jamaica. Bedingfield provided backing vocals for the Kirsten Morrell track "He Walked In" from the album Ultraviolet,[8] which was released in May 2010. In December 2010, Bedingfield spent a month in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he wrote and recorded a song with a local freak folk band, The Raw Men Empire. He concluded his visit with a Tel Aviv gig, hosting Uzi Feinerman, The Raw Men Empire and a variety of other Israeli musicians. In July 2011, he recorded on a dancehall riddim called the Overproof Riddim. Like many of the songs on this riddim, it has been getting good rotation in Jamaica.[9]
2012–2016: Stop the Traffik, The X Factor and acting
In February 2012, Bedingfield released the single "Rocks Off" with an accompanying video on MTV which can be viewed here. "Rocks Off" was released alongside B-side "It's Not Me, It's You". On 24 April, Bedingfield released the EP Stop the Traffik – Secret Fear, his first EP release since becoming independent. The EP featured both the previously released "Rocks Off" and "It's Not Me, Its You" as well as five other new tracks. The EP was followed by the release of "Secret Fear" as a single, the video features adult scenes and has gone on to win several awards.
On 21 December 2012, Bedingfield took up a role as a judge for the first New Zealand series of The X Factor joining Stan Walker, Melanie Blatt and Ruby Frost. The series premiered on TV3 on 21 April 2013. Bedingfield mentored the Girls category. His sister Natasha appeared as an assistant during the Judges Retreats round.[10][11] Bedingfield was the winning mentor of series one when his act Jackie Thomas won the competition.[12]
Bedingfield co-wrote "I Wanna Feel" by SecondCity, which debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart on 1 June 2014 and stayed in the top 20 for the next six weeks.[16] The song was Bedingfield's fourth number one in the UK. He spent time working in the studio with K-pop group Spica,[17] including co-producing their first English language single "I Did It". He was also the group's vocal director.[18] In 2015, he co-wrote the song "Testify" which was included on The X Factor UK2014 winner Ben Haenow's self-titled debut studio album.
From February 2016 until April 2016, Bedingfield appeared in the West End musical The War of the Worlds as The Artilleryman.[19][20][21][22]
2024–present: Touring
In January 2024, Bedingfield announced a UK tour for April 2024.[23][24][25]
Personal life
While on holiday visiting his parents in New Zealand in 2004, Bedingfield nearly died in a serious car accident, which left him with severe head and neck injuries because of the car rolling on him.[26][27]
Bedingfield is autistic.[28][29] In 2024, he came out as queer.[30]
His mother, Molly Bedingfield, is founder and CEO of Global Angels, for which Daniel is doing fundraising work.[31] Bedingfield also helped to launch the Stop the Traffik coalition against modern day slavery.
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