Michael Ball

Michael Ball is an English singer and actor, born Michael Ashley Ball on 27 June 1962 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. He came to notice in 1985 originating the role of Marius Pontmercy in the first London production of Les Miserables, and went on to play Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera in 1987 and Alex Dillingham in Aspects of Love in 1989, taking the latter to Broadway. His other stage roles include Giorgio in Passion, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, the title role in Sweeney Todd, and Inspector Javert in Les Miserables, which he played in the West End and again on the show's 2024 arena tour. He has won two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actor in a Musical, for Hairspray in 2008 and Sweeney Todd in 2013, and was appointed OBE in 2015. Love Changes Everything, taken from Aspects of Love, reached number two in the UK singles chart in 1989; his self-titled debut album topped the UK album chart in 1992, the year he represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest with One Step Out of Time, finishing second. Coming Home to You returned him to number one in 2019, and of three albums recorded with the tenor Alfie Boe two also reached number one. His charity duet with Captain Tom Moore and the NHS Voices of Care Choir on You'll Never Walk Alone, released by Decca in April 2020, reached number one and made Moore the oldest artist to top the UK singles chart. He has presented Love Songs with Michael Ball on BBC Radio 2 since June 2024. His album Glow, his twenty-third solo record and one built largely on original material, was released in April 2026 and is followed by a UK headline tour.

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