Dalton Harris

Dalton Harris (born 29 December 1993) is a Jamaican singer. In 2010, he won Digicel Rising Star, and subsequently signed with VP Records. In 2018, he won the final series of The X Factor in the United Kingdom.^[1]

Dalton Harris
Born	(1993-12-29) 29 December 1993 (age 31) Clarendon Parish, Jamaica
Genres	R&B pop reggae dancehall
Occupation	Singer
Instrument	Vocals
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Syco

Early and personal life

Harris was born in Clarendon, Jamaica, before moving to Kingston to pursue his music career. Harris recalled living a difficult life growing up in Jamaica with a large family with 22 siblings, being poor, and living on his own since the age of 15. He also talked about being physically and mentally abused in his early life.^[2] Harris attended Kingston College, where he passed six CSEC subjects.^[3][4][5] In October 2020, Harris stated that he is pansexual.^[6]

Career

In 2010, Harris became the youngest winner of the Jamaican singing competition Digicel Rising Stars where he won a cash prize of $1.5 million JMD.^[5] After his win, he began releasing music in Jamaica.^[7] He then traveled across the States for five years to widen his scope.^[3] He released many tracks like "I'm Numb", "Watch Over Me" and "That Wonderful Sound" in 2015, "All I Need", "Whisper in the Wind", "Unfaithful Chronicles" and "Dem Kinda Woman" in 2016 and "Perilous Time" in 2017. In 2018, he released the joint album Unintentional Astronaut with Mike Needler.

In 2018, Harris entered season 15 of The X Factor in the United Kingdom. He auditioned for the series with "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" by Elton John. He received four yeses from the four judges Robbie Williams, Ayda Field, Louis Tomlinson and Simon Cowell. Competing in the category of "Boys", he was coached by Tomlinson. Owing the success and increasing popularity of the Jamaican act, the British X Factor was broadcast in Jamaica after the local Television Jamaica (TVJ) bought the rights of broadcasting the programme live in Jamaica.^[8] On the six-chair challenge, Harris was the last contestant to perform, singing "Purple Rain" by Prince. He performed "I'm Feeling Good" in the semi-final and "Clown" from Emeli Sandé.^[9] Harris was consistently the favorite to win the show.^[10] He reached the final of the contest on 1 December 2018 alongside Anthony Russell and Scarlett Lee. In the final, he sang "A Song for You" from Leon Russell, and dueted "Beneath Your Beautiful" with Emeli Sande. His winner's single was "The Power of Love", performed as a duet with James Arthur, who won the ninth series of The X Factor in 2012.

The X Factor performances and results
Show	Song choice	Theme	Result
Auditions	"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" – Elton John	—	Through to six-chair challenge
Six-chair challenge	"Purple Rain" – Prince		Through to judges' houses
Judges' houses	"Listen" – Beyoncé		Through to live shows
Live show 1	"Life on Mars?" – David Bowie	This is Me	Safe
Live show 2	"I Have Nothing" – Whitney Houston	Guilty Pleasures	Safe
Live show 3	"Creep" – Radiohead	Fright Night	Safe
Live show 4	"California Dreamin'" – The Mamas & the Papas	Movie Night	Safe
Quarter-Final	"Listen" – Beyoncé	Big Band	Safe
Semi-Final	"Feeling Good" – Muse	Get Me to the Final (Part I)	Safe
	"SOS" – ABBA	Mamma Mia
	"Clown" – Emeli Sandé	Get Me to the Final (Part II)	Safe
Final	"A Song for You" – Leon Russell	No theme	Winner
	"Beneath Your Beautiful" with Emeli Sandé	Celebrity duet
	"The Power of Love" with James Arthur	Winner's duet

On 15 December 2019, Harris released the song "Cry", and on its day of release, he performed the song on the Live Final of The X Factor: The Band.^[11]

In 2023, he was the subject of the documentary film Dalton's Dream.^[12]

Discography

Singles

Title	Year	Peak chart positions			Album
		UK [13]	IRE [14]	SCO [15]
"Finally"	2012	—	—	—	Non-album singles
"Pauper"	2014	—	—	—
"The Power of Love" (featuring James Arthur)	2018	4	35	1
"Cry"	2019	—	—	—
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2018	Talent Recap Fan Choice Awards	Favorite Talent Show Winner	The X Factor	Nominated

References

1. "Watch: Dalton Harris crowned the X Factor 2018 Winner". I Am A Jamaican. Archived from the original on 24 February 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
2. "Who is X Factor's Dalton Harris? The Jamaican act who won a singing show and landed a record deal". Radio Times. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
3. "Jamaica Observer Limited". Jamaica Observer. Archived from the original on 5 March 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
4. "Dalton Harris lived in poverty after winning Digicel Rising Stars competition". 8 September 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
5. "A Star shines again". Jamaica Observer. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
6. "X Factor winner Dalton Harris has publicly come out as pansexual and introduced his Italian boyfriend Tommie Cassani on Tik Tok taking the carebbean news by storm". Gay Times. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
7. "Who is X Factor's Dalton Harris? The Jamaican act who won a singing show and landed a record deal". Radio Times. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
8. "J'cans get to follow Dalton on X Factor ... TVJ get rights to air talent show". jamaica-star.com. 27 October 2018.
9. "Jamaica Observer Limited". Jamaica Observer. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
10. "X Factor fans pick a clear winner ahead of Sunday's final". Radio Times.
11. Duffy, Nick (15 December 2019). "X Factor: The Band final: when is it on ITV, the finalists and what prize the winner gets". i. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
12. Peter Bradshaw, "Dalton’s Dream review – the troubled life of an X Factor winner". The Guardian, 30 January 2024.
13. "Artists: Dalton Harris ft. James Arthur". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
14. "IRMA – Irish Charts". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
15. Peak chart positions for singles in Scotland:

    • For "The Power of Lowell": "2018 Top 100 Scottish Singles Archive (7 December 2018)". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 December 2018.

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Rak-Su	Winner of The X Factor 2018	Succeeded by Megan McKenna
Preceded by Dimelo	Winner's singles of The X Factor The Power of Love	Succeeded by It Must Have Been Love