Max George

Maximillian Albert "Max" George (born 6 September 1988) is an English singer, best known as the lead singer of the boy band The Wanted.

George started his career as a footballer, playing for Preston North End.

After an injury ended his football career, he decided to pursue a music career.

George made his singing debut with the band Avenue.

George was born on 6 September 1988 in Swinton, Greater Manchester and studied at Bolton School.

He was raised in Manchester.

Before music, he was a footballer with Preston North End and was on the verge of signing a two-year deal with them.

He has been a Manchester City F.C. supporter since a young age.

In 2005 George joined the four-piece boy band Avenue made up of himself, Jonathan Lloyd, Scott Clarke, Ross Candy and Jamie Tinkler.

After applying to The X Factor in 2006, the band auditioned for the third series of the competition singing an a cappella version of the Will Young song, "Leave Right Now".

They were mentored by Louis Walsh after completing the bootcamp and judges' house portion.

Making it to the final 12, the band then signed a management contract with the series.

After it was discovered they were already under contract with another management firm, they were disqualified from the show.

Following the disqualification, they were signed to the Crown Music Management recording label and were awarded an album deal with Island Records.

With Andy Brown joining as a member of Avenue replacing Jamie Tinkler, the band went on to have some success beyond their X Factor appearances.

In 2008, Avenue released their debut single, "Last Goodbye", which reached number 50 on the UK Singles Chart.

Their plans to go on tour were cancelled.

They had a follow-up release with "Can You Feel It?."

In 2008, while still a member of Avenue, George appeared naked on cover of British gay magazine AXM "Naked Issue" in support of cancer research.

After the group disbanded in 2009, George joined the newly formed band, The Wanted.

The group disbanded in 2009.

In 2009, a mass audition was held by Jayne Collins to form a boy band, after successfully launching Parade and The Saturdays.

George auditioned and was selected as one of five members, along with Nathan Sykes, Siva Kaneswaran, Tom Parker and Jay McGuiness out of the thousands of others who auditioned.

The band was formed and together they worked on their debut album before finding a perfect name for their band, The Wanted.

Their debut single "All Time Low" was released on 25 July 2010, debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart.

Their second single, "Heart Vacancy" was released on 17 October 2010.

The song hit number two on the UK Singles Chart, and at number 18 in Ireland.

Their third single, "Lose My Mind" was released on 26 December 2010.

The song peaked number 19 on the UK Singles Chart, and peaked at number 30 in Ireland.

In 2011, the single was released in Germany and in 2012, in the United States.

In 2013, George starred in the E! channel reality series The Wanted Life.

In 2013, in support of a crossover appeal to the American music market, the group starred in their own reality series on E!.

The series, The Wanted Life only aired for one season.

In 2014, following The Wanted's success in the United States, he landed his first acting role in the sixth season of the American television series Glee in the role of Clint, the leader of "Vocal Adrenaline".

The band announced their decision to break in January 2014.

Max, as a member of the band has sold over 12 million records worldwide.

The Wanted returned in 2021

In January 2014, George revealed in an interview that he was signed as a solo artist by Scooter Braun.

On 3 July 2018 he released his first solo single "Barcelona".

The song has more than 4.5 million streams on Spotify.