David Sneddon

David Sneddon (born 15 September 1978) is a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician and music producer of contemporary pop music.

He began his career performing on stage and television, singing lead roles in stage musicals in Glasgow.

He also drew inspirations for his music from Scottish 1980s artists such as Del Amitri, Deacon Blue and Simple Minds.

Sneddon enjoyed performing in musicals from a young age.

At Primary school, a teacher suggested a Youth drama group called PACE and it proved one of the best experiences.

He attended PACE for twelve years from the age of eight.

After attending the University of Paisley for just six months, Sneddon dropped out to pursue a career in music.

He performed in musicals and sang with bands in Scotland for several years, while he continued working on his songwriting and sending off demos.

He was offered a role in a musical in London, and a part in a young boy band called Arena.

He presented Inside Out, a children's show on Scottish TV.

While acting in Romeo and Juliet, he met John Kielty (Sneddon was Romeo and Kielty played Lord Capulet).

After performing some acoustic nights together at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow in 2001, they decided to start a band and called themselves The Martians.

The Martians busked and did shows during the Edinburgh Festival.

In 2002, he won the first series of BBC One music competition Fame Academy. He released his first single "Stop Living the Lie" in 2003 which was a UK number one hit single selling over 250,000 copies, making it Britain's twelfth-highest selling single of 2003.

Sneddon was performing with The Martians in 2002 when he decided to enter the BBC's first series of Fame Academy.

After David won the show he brought Kielty down to London to co-write his debut album and go on tour with him.

Sneddon became known when he won the BBC's first series of a reality TV music competition called Fame Academy in December 2002.

Sneddon's debut album Seven Years – Ten Weeks was released in April 2003 and reached number 5 in the UK Albums Chart.

He achieved three more UK Singles Chart singles – "Don't Let Go", "Best of Order", and "Baby Get Higher".

In October 2003, he moved to working primarily as a songwriter.

Sneddon also played in the indie-rock band The Sham with Kielty in 2004 and 2005.

His song "Baby Get Higher" was a hit on the dance floor for Almighty Records and a chart hit for VanVelzen in 2006, and also for Emin Agalarov.

Since then The Martians won the Highland Quest for a new musical in 2006 – The Sundowe was produced by Cameron Mackintosh and toured the Scottish Highlands in early 2007.

In 2009 Sneddon signed to Sony/ATV Music Publishing as a songwriter and described his music as "melody-driven indie pop".

Sneddon's songs include Nate James ("The Message").

VanVelzen ("Baby Get Higher") Hurts ("Illuminated", "Blood, Tears & Gold, and "Silver Lining"), Matt Cardle ("Slowly", "Letters"), Lana Del Rey ("National Anthem"), Newton Faulkner ("Pick Up Your Broken Heart", "Soon"), Charlie Brown ("Dependency"), Greyson Chance ("Sunshine City Lights"), David Archuleta ("Don't Run Away"), Shane Filan ("Everytime", "Today's Not Yesterday") and Jessica Mauboy ("This Ain't Love").

Sneddon works with James Bauer-Mein as The Nexus, a songwriting and music production partnership.

They have written for – synthpop duo Hurts 2010 global multi platinum debut album Happiness – the songs "Illuminated" and "Blood, Tears & Gold" which were singles for Hurts in 2011.

For 2010 The X Factor (UK) winner Matt Cardle's album Letters and "Keep the Sun Away" for Morten Harket's album Out of My Hands 2012.

The song "National Anthem" was written by Lana Del Rey and The Nexus for her number one selling UK Albums Chart 2012 album Born to Die.

Newton Faulkner's Write It on Your Skin contained three Nexus songs – "Pick Up Your Broken Heart", "Soon" and "Feel" – made No.1 in 2012 UK Albums Chart.

In April 2013 The Nexus became part of 365 Artists.

They have built strong reputations as songwriters and they have worked and released with artists such as Hurts, Lana Del Rey, Newton Faulkner, Morten Harket, Will Young, Nicole Scherzinger, Olly Murs, Pixie Lott and Kristina Train.

Shane Filan, formerly lead singer with Westlife released EP "Everything to Me" August 2013 which included, "Everytime" and "Today's Not Yesterday", produced by The Nexus.

David Sneddon was born and grew up in Glenburn, a suburb of Paisley, Scotland, with mother Anne, father David Sr. and younger sister Pauline.

He studied music at school, won several talent competitions and played lead roles in musicals both at school and at PACE Youth Theatre.

When his parents bought him a piano he discovered he had a talent for writing songs and taught himself to play.

Sneddon was inspired by his father's record collection of The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Van Morrison and in particular by Elton John.

"The person who has inspired me the most is Elton John," he said.

"I love the Beatles, but as I was growing up, I always wanted to play the piano like him. I've never had any lessons, so he has been my only teacher."