X Factor hunk Aiden Grimshaw unrecognisable with full beard - 14 years since starring on TV show
A singer who soared to fame when he appeared on The X Factor back in 2010 now looks completely unrecognisable 14 years on since he wowed the celebrity judges on the popular competition show.
wowed judges when he took to the stage in 2010, covering Kanye West's iconic song Gold Digger without the help of a backing track.
competed and came in ninth place on the ITV reality show, the same year as One Direction, Rebecca Ferguson and Cher Lloyd. His voice had the audience in fits of applause, and Louis Walsh branded him "absolutely brilliant".
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After the X Factor, Aiden signed with record label RCA and released his debut single Is This Love which reached number 35 on the UK Singles Chart. He followed that up with his number 19 charting album Misty Eye.
Aiden has not released an album since but in 2018 announced he would be making music under the moniker Butterjack. Now, though, he has returned to his roots and original name and is making new music again.
Back in May earlier this year, Aiden released his latest single 'I Couldn’t Love You Anymore' and told his Instagram fans that it had been "10 years in the making".
He said: "I’ve had real fun opening it up and making it something that I’d listen to now I’m really proud of it!!!"
But Aiden today looks worlds away from the baby-faced contestant who sang his moody rendition of Mad World during the live X Factor shows back in 2010.
With his grown up vocals, Aiden also has a rugged new look and sports a full beard. Back in May, he also shared snaps of himself making music in the studio and he looked barely recognisable with his facial hair and a cap.
He told his 19,000 followers: "Bouncing back today. Woke up, had a little walk - whilst listening to my own music (dark stuff really) , made some breakfast, visited the local shop, got back, played with the cat, decided I wanted a disco shirt for vibes - saged the room , saged myself!! opened a project in prep for a session at 2pm… Wbu?"
In recent years, Aiden has admitted that he felt remorse over not making the most of the platform The X Factor gave him at the time.
He previously told the Metro: "My only regrets about the show are that maybe didn’t shoot as hard as I could have in some of the aspects afterwards because of trying to be cool. Now, I would just go for everything because why would you not do that? That’s so stupid. But I enjoyed it."
