Olly Murs, the British singer and TV host, has revealed how he misses the height of his fame and hopes that his career won’t come to an end. The singer, who made his name as a contestant on Britain’s “X Factor” talent show in 2009, has spoken out about the early years of his fame and how, despite all the good it brought, he has also suffered bouts of panic attacks and depression.
Murs, now 40 years old, is by no means not famous. You may not have heard of him as an American, but in the United Kingdom, his time on the X Factor is as memorable to Millennials and older generations as ever, and he has even enjoyed many top hits on the charts in the years since. In 2015, Murs also joined the X Factor as a judge in 2015, some six years after he came second on the show, and later joined The Voice as a singing coach between 2018 and 2023.
Speaking on the “On The Road” podcast, Olly said that he can’t help but want to go back in time and relive his experience on the X Factor.
“People always say I’d love to go back to school again and relive them school years. For me, it would be X Factor again,” he said. “I just loved the thrill of it. It was on the cusp of changing my life.”
Murs added that he has been told many times that he would be annoyed when people stop asking him for his autograph, because at that point, he’d know his career is over.
“So I embrace it,” he said. “But that experience, that thrill, it was a rollercoaster of emotions and I’ll never get that close to that experience ever again.”
The story is similar to that of David Archulete, the singer who won “Star Search 2” in 2003 aged 12, and who later auditioned for American Idol at age 16. He rose to fame again on season 7 of American Idol, and later released his debut single “crush’ in 2008. Between 2009 and 2010, Archulete saw some moderate success with follow-up albums, but by 2011, he had parted ways with his record label, Jive Records. After a hiatus of a few years, Archulette eventually returned to music in 2014 and has since been active on social media as an LGBT influencer.
It just goes to show…fame can come quickly, and it can go quickly too.
