2009–2014: The Wanted In 2009, at the age of 16, Sykes auditioned for the boy band the Wanted. The auditions were held by Jayne Collins. Sykes was chosen to be one of those five members for a group. He joined bandmates
Max George,
Siva Kaneswaran,
Tom Parker and
Jay McGuiness. The band achieved 10 UK top 10 singles as well as 3 UK top 10 albums. The group has sold more than 12 million records worldwide. After being on voice rest for almost a month, Sykes went in for surgery to remove a nodule in his throat on 18 April 2013. During episodes of
The Wanted Life, he talked about his throat hurting and burning. The day manager had him see a specialist, who concluded he had a nodule on his throat and suggested that it be removed. The band announced that they would continue their promotional commitments without Sykes for the time being in order to allow him to recover from the surgery. Sykes made his return in June 2013 when the Wanted opened the
Capital FM Summertime Ball, during a performance of "
I Found You". Following his return to the band, Sykes confirmed that he would be joining the rest of his bandmates for their upcoming summer gigs and events, while also stating that he still has some recovering to do. Speaking with
Heart Radio for an interview, Sykes told the audience: "I'm not quite fully recovered yet but it's quite a long process. I'm at the stage where I can sing and get back with the lads, so I'm very excited to be back and I'm working very hard for a change." As part of the recovery process, it has been reported that Sykes still has to undergo speech and vocal therapy in order to sing with his full vocal range without causing any more damage to it. After enjoying much mainstream international success, in 2014, the band decided to take a break and pursue their personal endeavours after a tour of the United Kingdom and the United States. At the same time, Sykes and American singer
Ariana Grande released their collaborative single, "
Almost Is Never Enough". In 2014, Sykes signed a record deal with Global Entertainment (a part of the Global Group, along with
Capital's owner
Global Radio). In June 2014, he joined singer
Jessie J onstage for Capital's
Summertime Ball to perform "
Calling All Hearts". Sykes reunited with his bandmates on 20 September 2021, seven years since their hiatus in support of bandmate
Tom Parker for his charity concert 'Tom Parker: Inside My Head' in aid of raising money for
Stand Up to Cancer and The National Brain Appeal at the
Royal Albert Hall. The Wanted's first record since 2014, "Rule the World" was released 13 September 2021 to accompany their greatest hits record
Most Wanted - The Greatest Hits, released on 12 November 2021.
2015–present: Unfinished Business On 21 June 2014, Sykes appeared solo as a special guest performer at the
Capital FM Summertime Ball alongside
Jessie J to perform "
Calling All Hearts" with
DJ Cassidy. This marked his first official solo performance since the band's hiatus and his fifth consecutive year as part of the Summertime Ball lineup. He is currently working on music for his debut solo album. Sykes plans to release his debut single in spring 2015, with his debut album being released towards the end of the year. On 28 January 2015
MTV revealed that Sykes had played them previews of his upcoming material co-written with producers Harmony and
LDN Noise including "Money", "Famous" and "Kiss Me Quick". In March 2015, Sykes debuted his first solo music video for "More Than You'll Ever Know" on
Vevo. Sykes went on his first solo tour "Intimate" on 8 April 2015, which included six sold-out shows in the United Kingdom. Sykes announced via the app Periscope that his debut single would be called "
Kiss Me Quick", co-written with
LDN Noise and Ali Tennant. The single was released on 5 July 2015. On 21 May 2015, Sykes released his music video for his debut single, "Kiss Me Quick" on Vevo. The song peaked at number 14 on the
UK Singles Chart and number 19 on the
Scottish Singles Chart. The song also reached the number 1 spot on the US
Dance Club Songs chart. In October 2015, Sykes announced his second single, called "
Over and Over Again". The music video for the song was released in the UK on 28 October 2015. It was released worldwide on 20 November 2015. It was also announced that Sykes would support
Little Mix on their
The Get Weird Tour in March 2016. Sykes announced that his third single, called "
Give It Up", would be released on 13 May 2016. The music video for "Give It Up" was released on 27 April 2016, and was later banned from television after featuring numerous scenes which came across as unsuitable for most audiences. On 11 June 2016, Sykes performed at Capital's
Summertime Ball for the seventh consecutive time (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 with The Wanted, 2014 as Jessie J's guest, 2015 and 2016 as a solo performer). On 11 July 2016, Sykes announced via Twitter that he would be joining
Alessia Cara on her
Know-It-All headlining tour in the United States. On 12 October 2016, Sykes announced via Twitter that his debut studio album,
Unfinished Business, would be out worldwide on 11 November 2016. During September 2021, the Wanted returned with all 5 members of the group, up until bandmate
Tom Parker died in 2022.
2025: Ultraviolet On 17 October 2025, Sykes released his second studio album,
Ultraviolet. The album later reached number 58 on the UK Albums Sales Chart. ==Personal life==