Olly Murs was born in Wiltham, Essex, in May 1989. His early calling appeared to be football – he played semi-professionally for Wiltham Town in the Isthmian Division One North, but after breaking into the first team, was forced to retire from football in 2008 after suffering a knee injury.
In 2009, Murs auditioned for the sixth series of The X Factor and eventually finished as runner-up to Joe McElderry. He released his debut single, Please Don’t Let Me Go, in August 2010, which went straight to No 1. His self-titled debut album made it to No. 2 when released in November 2010 and went twice Platinum in the UK. His next four albums all hit the top spot, with 2011’s In Case You Didn’t Know and the following year’s Right Place Right Time both selling over one million copies in the UK alone. He’s also reached No 1 in the UK singles chart with Heart Skips a Beat (with Rizzle Kicks), Dance with Me Tonight and Troublemaker (featuring Flo Rida).
He’s enjoyed a parallel career as a TV presenter, fronting The X Factor and its spin-off show, The Xtra Factor, the ITV talent show Starstruck and one-off specials A Night in with Olly Murs and Happy Hour with Olly Murs.
His work for charity includes participating in the BT Charity Trek, regular appearances in Soccer Aid and Sports Relief events and the 2021 Climb For Caroline, to raise funds for Samaritans in the name of friend and colleague Caroline Flack.
Speaking to The Big Issue for his Letter to My Younger Self, Olly Murs recalls an early love of pop, opens up about the realities of fame and tells his younger self to see the world.
At 16, I was going through what most lads are going through at that age: puberty, becoming a man. I was very sociable and cheeky. I loved chatting to girls. I wanted to be a football player. I was training every day and had aspirations of going professional. I just wasn’t good enough in the end. Music came later when I started going to the pub, got drunk and did karaoke. I loved performing and when you’re 16, you’re starting to look at what you’re wearing, you want to be seen, you want to be recognised. You want people to know who you are.
I was obsessed with boybands. I loved Westlife, Blue; NSYNC were flying, Backstreet Boys were popping hits. I started really finding myself with music. And at the time, pop was at its peak. I remember watching an interview with Britney Spears on This Morning before I went to school. She was basically saying that she loved English men and that she was coming to the UK to find her new boyfriend. I was thinking: Well she’s the same age as me, I’ve got a chance. That’s kind of where I was at.
1986: Dressing up for a Victorian-themed family photoshoot with mum Vicky, dad Peter, twin brother Ben and sister Fay. Image: Press Gang News/Shutterstock
That whole era was really exciting. The songs were vibrant and cheeky and fun. Now the industry is so different. Maybe pop music will come back eventually. It’s kind of dead at the moment. I was a huge Spice Girls fan, which worried my dad for a few years, I think. We speak about it now and I say, “But I just really fancied all of them.” I had all their stickers. I had all their books. I had Victoria Beckham’s photo in my wallet. Next to David Beckham’s, because I loved David Beckham as well. He was my idol. I had my hair blond and short, I tried to be him. At that time, most kids growing up wanted to be famous, to be in a band or be a footballer.
My life at 25, it went WHUMP. I would say to my 16-year-old self, hey, being famous is cool, have your wits about you, make sure you have the right people around you, trust your instincts, trust yourself and you’ll be OK.
This would’ve been the kind of conversation I had with my mates at 16: Wouldn’t it be amazing to go into a nightclub being famous and all the girls wanting you? And you know, when it happened eventually, it wasn’t what I expected. I would say to my 16-year-old self, one day you are going to be famous and what you’re visualising now, I suppose in a way it is like that, but you really see how people can change.
When I did The X Factor I came back to Essex to do a gig. I’d been in this club probably three months before. There were a couple of girls I had been speaking to that I tried to, you know, you’d see them and think, oh, I’d love to go on a date with her. I’d ask them and they’d go, you’re not my cup of tea. That night, I walked in, one of them was front row. She was screaming, looking at me and giving me all this. About two songs in I said, “Do you know what’s really amazing about doing this gig tonight? I can see how shallow some people are now that I’m famous, whereas before you didn’t care.”
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2009: Olly Murs performing on The X Factor. He finished as runner-up to Joe McElderry. Image: Ken McKay/Talkback Thames/Shutterstock
I would say to my 16-year-old self when you get to the point in 2010 when your life changes and you get that record deal, don’t stay in your hotel room every night. Get out and see the world. When I was travelling and touring, I spent a lot of time sitting in my hotel room bored. You can’t go out and just get drunk with your mates because the next day could be Olly Murs gets smashed with his mates in a nightclub. I went away to some amazing places. I toured across America with One Direction and I wish I saw more. I was in a shell. I felt lonely. I should have gone out and seen the world.
Being famous, don’t get me wrong, there’s perks. But in the early days I found dating really hard because it was about figuring out who actually wants to get to know me over the girls that were just wanting to be seen with me. Suddenly, there’s all these gorgeous Victoria’s Secret-vibe models around you and you’re like, nah man, this doesn’t feel right. This wasn’t happening to me when I was a recruitment consultant. I was lucky I came into it a bit older. I knew who I was. I was more clued up than some of the young lads or women that come into it at 17 or 18 where you haven’t really lived yet.
When it comes to love I’d say to my younger self, just trust the process. Trust the journey you go on Olly. I’d been in a few relationships before I went on The X Factor and they were learning experiences. It made me realise what I wanted in a relationship. I lost my virginity quite late on, 19-20. I didn’t rush into anything. I kept my cool. They say when you know, you know. I always thought that was so cliched. But as soon as I met Amelia, I knew. When I looked at Amelia I thought, I could see you raising a child with me, I could see being old with you [Olly and Amelia married last July and welcomed their first child in April, after this interview took place].
Anyone in this profession has suffered from some mental health issues. Everyone I’ve met – everyone – has suffered with depression or anxiety or worry. Talking to other people is the most important thing. At some point in my life, I had to go and see a therapist. For someone who’s looked at as a bit of a geezer I’m not afraid to admit that. Sometimes you just need another voice from the outside that isn’t family, that aren’t your friends, to get to the nitty gritty of who you are and understand why you’re feeling like this.
I would love to chat to Caroline again. [Olly and Caroline Flack co-presented a series of The X Factor. She died by suicide in 2020]. She was a huge part of my life and career. Special person, special friend. We had an interesting relationship, but it was great. And it’s mad because people say they visit you in your dreams. Caz does that quite frequently actually. It’s lovely when people that pass away do that. My mate said to me once years ago that his mum visited him in his dream. I found it a bit odd when he said it. He said: “It felt really real, and I don’t know what to make of it, whether it’s just a subconscious thing, whatever.” Since Caroline passed, I’ve had those moments. It’s the most surreal moment but it’s lovely when them days happen. I’d love to see Caz again and chat to her. That’d be lovely.
If I could, I would love to relive the day of my X Factor audition again. I would love to relive that whole experience again, top to bottom. I reminisce quite a lot about it actually. It was such an iconic time, so special. TV isn’t as big as it was back then and I was on the biggest TV show in this country, watched by millions every week. If I could bottle that emotion, that feeling when I came off stage after the audition… that moment changed everything. And then Michael Jackson died that same day. High to a low.
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My 16-year-old head would explode if they knew I was supporting Take That on tour. They came back in 2006 with Patience. I had that album, Beautiful World, and then Circus, and I played them to death. I’ve told Gary [Barlow] a million times, and the boys every time I’ve seen them, how much those albums meant to me. They helped me through some periods in my life. So to be on tour with them, my 16-year-old self would be like WHAT?! No freaking way! That would just blow my mind.
Olly Murs is currently supporting Take That at their This Life on Tour stadium and arena shows.
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