Nathan Sykes was told he was “too young to sing” on The Wanted albums.
The 32-year-old singer was a founding member of the boy band – which also featured Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and the late Tom Parker – from its formation in 2009, but he has claimed he “lost his voice” during the studio sessions.
He told the Daily Star newspaper’s Wired column: “I worked with producers, not naming people in particular, but they said to me, ‘You’re too young to sing on these records.’
“So I immediately lost my voice and that’s kind of all I had.
“I’m left with nothing and became this shell of a teenager, I was just kind of going through the motions.”
Nathan has recalled being placed as the token “cute one” in the group, who topped the UK charts with singles All Time Low and Glad You Came in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
He said: “From the age of 16, it was like, ‘You’re going to be the cute one in the band, you’re going to be the one that sells posters’. I was like, ‘Have you seen this face?’
“This image was created of me when I was in the band and that was essentially done at boardroom level by people who work for labels.
“For the most part, I didn’t even know these people, and then they were like, ‘This is who you’re going to be.’ “
After The Wanted initially split in 2014 after three albums, Nathan launched a solo career with 2016 LP Unfinished Business.
Nine years later, he’s returning with his second studio album Ultraviolet, which will be released on Friday (17.10.25), just one day before his wedding with fiancee Charlotte Burke.
He quipped: “I have been reminded by my wonderful fiancee that the wedding is not to be confused as an album release party.
“She’s like, ‘It’s your day every other day of the year, naturally with your job. I want one day that is our day.’ “