Ashley is 20 years of age and comes from Croydon, Surrey. Ashley is one of five children and has two brothers, David and Rory and two sisters, Leah and Ella. Though not professionally, Ashley has sung all his life. He is good at gymnatics and has won a number of awards for his achievements. Ashley has previously done some modelling for Storm and Topman. During the competition, Ashley performed 'Ribbon In The Sky' by Stevie Wonder in the Bristol auditions before moving onto Boot Camp where he progressed and performed 'Be My Baby' by The Ronettes and on the second day chose to sing 'You're Beautiful' by James Blunt that Simon thought was very good. However in the Judges' Homes stage, Ashley had trouble singing George Michael's 'I Can’t Make You Love Me' because he simply did not like the song. But he pulled through and when he also sung 'All In Love Is Fair' by Stevie Wonder.
Q&As
What would winning The X Factor mean to you?
“Winning would mean a lot to me! In fact it would mean everything because it’s the start of the beginning and it would mean the world. If I won I would buy the family a new home – a really big house.”
Are you looking forward to moving to London?
“I’m looking forward to living with everyone because over the last couple of months I have made really good friends with the people in my category and I’m really looking forward to meeting the rest of the acts. I’m also looking forward to the vocal training, in fact the whole thing, I just can’t wait. To live on my own without my Mum as well will be a great experience as I’ve never lived away from home before. But I’ll miss my family and my Mum’s food.”
Do you come from a musical family?
“My family is quite a big boxing and football family. My cousin plays for Crystal Palace and my Uncle Clinton is a boxing champ . I won a gymnastics trophy in 2000. It’s the first award I actually won and it was a huge plate. I was over the moon because it was something that I really loved doing.”
Where did you go to school and what were your favourite subjects?
Ashley went to the Archbishop of Lam Frank in Croydon where his best subject was art. He went on to do a GNVQ in Art Design. But he says “education’s just not for me. I hated school. I think some people are academic and some people are more creative.”
What are your musical influences?
“My musical influences are varied. When I was young I used to listen to what my sister listened to back in the day like Grease, Dirty Dancing, old school R & B, a bit of everything. From my Mum’s music I learnt to appreciate Reggae, Queen, and retro music through to my taste Little Mo, Amy Winehouse, Beyonce and Stevie Wonder. Little Mo is underrated and my favourite artist vocally. And my favourite album is one of hers called ‘Based On A True Story’. I respect all the top artists, Barry White, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder. I think if I wanted to wow the Judges though, I’d try something a little different – maybe some Ska!”
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