2000–2005: Early Career From 2000 to 2003, Quinn portrayed the victimised and tormented child Anthony Murray in the
Channel 4 soap opera
Brookside. He performed and was credited as Raymond Quinn. Murray's featured storylines on the programme included
bullying and
murder. After his appearance on
Brookside ended he guest starred in an episode of
Merseybeat in which he played criminal Leon Marsh. He also appeared in the episode "The Singing Cactus" for the
BBC series,
The Afternoon Play as John Reilly, who grieves after his mother's death and flees
into his own world with his "singing
cactus".
2006: The X Factor Quinn rose to further prominence when he auditioned for the
third series of
The X Factor, singing a medley of "
Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" and "
Devil in Disguise". Prior to appearing on the show, he was a performing arts student at the Merseyside Dance and Drama College, where he previously received some vocal training. He received three yeses from the judges, and progressed through to bootcamp. Quinn was placed in the 16-24s category, with
Simon Cowell as his mentor. However, whilst singing in front of Cowell and
Sinitta, he partially stumbled and forgot the lyrics to "
Easy" by
Commodores. Initially, he was told he wasn't progressing through to judges' houses, but a change within the series format allowed him to successfully continue with the competition. He later sang "
Smile" for his judges' houses performance, and afterwards was granted a place as one of the four acts through to the live shows. During the live shows, many of Quinn's song choices and performances were old-fashioned and
swing-based.
Louis Walsh and
Sharon Osbourne, in the earlier stages of the competition, queried him over his ability as a pure singer rather than a 'song-and-dance' man. However, in the later stages, he widened the range of his performances more into singing
pop songs, and to which the judges were satisfied with Quinn's ability to do so. In week five, he was placed in the bottom two against Nikitta Angus, but survived elimination. He managed to progress through the competition up to week 10, where he was the series runner-up, losing to eventual winner
Leona Lewis.
2007: Doing It My Way, breakthrough and label drop In December 2006, two days after finishing on
The X Factor, Quinn signed a record deal with Cowell's label
SYCO to release a debut
swing album. Recording process for the album began through January 2007 at the
Capitol Records Tower in
Los Angeles, where he was accompanied by a 48-piece orchestra. His debut album,
Doing It My Way was released on 12 March 2007. Coincidentally, another
X Factor finalist
Ben Mills released his album on the same day. The album became a critical and commercial success. It entered the
UK Album Chart at number one, and sold 127,000 copies in its first week of release, before being certified platinum. The album also featured covers of old swing and
vocal jazz classics, some of which were recorded by
Frank Sinatra himself. Quinn made British music history as he was the youngest male solo artist and the first person to have a number one album without releasing a single. During the summer of that year, he was a judge on the
ITV dance competition show
Baby Ballroom, alongside
Bonnie Langford and
Pierre Dulaine. The programme centered on finding the best junior
ballroom dancers. Quinn embarked on his own solo tour from September to November 2007, where he performed within 30 cities across the UK. However, on 6 November 2007, it was announced that he had been subsequently dropped by Sony BMG.
2009–2015: Television and Stage Quinn participated as a contestant on the fourth series of
Dancing on Ice. He paired with professional skater
Maria Filippov. Throughout the series, the couple earned high scores and praise from the ice panel each week. On 22 March 2009, he and Filippov won the competition over
Donal MacIntyre and
Jessica Taylor. From 11 May to 28 November that year, he played
Danny Zuko in the West End production of
Grease at Picadilly Theatre. He starred alongside his future wife Emma Stephens, who played Sandy. Quinn previously played the role of Doody during the first production of the musical in 2008. In 2011, he reprised the role of Danny for two weeks at the
Liverpool Empire. Other stage acting credits that Quinn has mainly featured in include: Jack Trott in
Jack in the Beanstalk, the Prince in
Sleeping Beauty and
Cinderella, Warner Huntington III in
Legally Blonde, and Billy Kosteki in
Dirty Dancing. In December 2012, Quinn was cast as the title character in the
Aladdin musical, alongside comedian and presenter
Don Maclean and actor
Tim Flavin. He played the role at the Poole Lighthouse Theatre until 6 January 2013. He also portrayed
Peter Pan in
Peter Pan at the Liverpool Empire from December 2013 to January 2014, which also starred Stephens as
Wendy Darling. Quinn later returned to participate on
Dancing on Ice, for the
final and All-Star series of the show. He was paired with
Maria Filippov again. On 9 March 2014, he and Filippov were crowned the champions of the series, and ultimate winners of the programme. He beat out
Hayley Tamaddon and
Beth Tweddle for the title. He reprised his role as Aladdin again at the Liverpool Empire, from 13 December 2014 to 4 January 2015, alongside
Claire Sweeney as the Genie and
Pete Price as the Emperor. In January 2015, he was a contestant on the celebrity talent show,
Get Your Act Together. His mentor was actress and impressionist
Debra Stephenson, whom he learned and mastered the craft of
impressions from. Quinn was announced as the winner of the series, with
James Bolam and
Claire Richards in second and third place respectively.
2015–2018: Dare to Dream and Judy: The Judy Garland Songbook In September 2014, Quinn announced that he was planning to return to music, and had already started working on material for a second studio album. He released his first single in eight years, "They Say Love" on 23 February 2015. Later that month, it was revealed that the title for the upcoming studio album would be called
Dare to Dream, which was scheduled for an April 2015 release and promoted on a tour of the same name but was ultimately not released. In May 2015, Quinn was part of the cast of
Judy: The Judy Garland Songbook, alongside
Lorna Luft and
Louise Dearman. The show featured never before seen clips and interviews of Garland herself, as well as live performances of her original songs.
2018–2019: Hollyoaks On 26 November 2018, Quinn joined
Channel 4 soap opera
Hollyoaks as character Jonny Baxter. His character is an employee at The Bean and part of a
right wing extremist group. He left the show in November 2019 when the story arc surrounding the far right came to an end.
2020-2021: Undeniable and Coronavirus pandemic Quinn's second album, Undeniable, was released on 28 August 2020. During the
Coronavirus pandemic, Quinn revealed that he had been working as a delivery driver for courier company
Hermes. In April 2021, Quinn announced he had begun a new career
laying carpets at his family firm, alongside brothers Robin and Darren.
2024: Limelight Club - P&O Cruises He is currently headlining each night at the Limelight Club on P&O cruise ships with his own show. ==Personal life==