Matthew Sheridan Cardle (born 15 April 1983) is an English singer. He was born in Southampton and grew up in Halstead, Essex. Cardle has been involved in music since his early teens and has been a member of two different bands; Darwyn and Seven Summers. Cardle rose to fame after winning the seventh series of The X Factor in 2010, and received a £1 million recording contract with Syco Music and later signed a deal with Columbia Records.
Following Cardle's victory on The X Factor, the winner's single and his debut single, "When We Collide", was released. The track was made available to purchase on 12 December 2010, shortly after the show had ended. On 19 December 2010, the track debuted at number one on the UK singles chart, as well as on the Irish Singles Chart. The track also became the second biggest-selling single of 2010 with 815,000 copies sold within two weeks. In June 2012, it had sold one million copies, the fourth single by an X Factor contestant to have done so.
"Run for Your Life" was the follow-up single released by Cardle which charted at number six on the UK singles chart. Cardle went on to release his debut album, Letters, in 2011, which debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and the Irish Albums Chart. The album saw two more singles released, "Starlight" and "Amazing". Cardle then parted ways with record labels Syco Music and Columbia Records, and signed a recording contract with So What Recordings in early 2012. He released his second studio album, The Fire, which charted at number eight on the UK Albums Chart. In October 2013, Cardle released his third album, Porcelain, in association with Absolute Marketing as an independent release; the album reached number 11 on the UK Albums Chart, and included the duet with Melanie C, "Loving You", which reached number 14 on the UK singles chart. His fourth studio album, Time to Be Alive was released in 2018. Cardle's fifth studio album, The Great Escape was released in July 2026, and was preceded by the single "Drinking Dreams", released November 2025.
Cardle is a guitarist, and plays frequently on tour and other performances. He also plays other instruments including drums and piano. He has toured the United Kingdom, South Africa, Asia and Ireland on his Letters Tour in 2012, Unplugged Tour in 2013, Porcelain Tour in 2014 and Intimate and Live Tour in 2016. As of 2025, Cardle has sold in excess of three million records.
Early life and career beginnings
Matthew Sheridan Cardle was born on 15 April 1983 in Southampton, Hampshire, to David and Jennifer Cardle (née Horner). He has an older brother called Dominic with whom he has a close relationship. His family lived in Bristol before moving to Essex. He started playing guitar and writing songs at aged 11 and knew from that point that music was what he wanted to do with his life. At this time he also started singing lessons but stopped going after missing a class. He attended a summer band camp through his teens and played in bands. He attended the independent Stoke College in Suffolk, then studied a music course at the Institute in Colchester. He then went on to do a media course at Braintree College. Cardle is a keen skateboarder and spent a lot of his college years at skate parks instead of studying and therefore felt that education wasn't the right path for him. When he was a young adult, he interviewed for a music course at Bournemouth University but he didn't make it. He said he was "probably rubbish at the time."
In 2005, Cardle joined alternative rock/pop band Darwyn and the band recorded an 11-track album, When You Wake, the band also released a follow-up EP, Little Sunlight in 2006. The band described themselves as an acoustic rock band. The band's first album contained tracks "Violet" and title track "When You Wake". They were awarded an Arts Council England grant which they used to record the EP Little Sunlight. The band played at many festivals including Stortford Music Festival and Brownstock Festival and regularly played at the venue and recording studio Highbarn in Essex. Cardle and Darwyn band member Ali McMillan also played as a two-piece under the name Darwyn, playing acoustic cover versions of popular songs in venues in and around the Suffolk area and videos of them playing together have gained many views on YouTube.
In 2009, Cardle became the lead singer and guitarist of rock band called Seven Summers. The band performed live on Sue Marchant's BBC radio program, in December 2009. They released their self-titled album in January 2010. The album featured alternative rock, pop, urban and folk influences. The album included the songs "Youngblood", "Way to Be" and "Dirt" and the follow-up single "Picture of You". Although the band did not have a recording contract and they distributed their music independently, they reached No.30 on the Official UK Album Downloads Chart and No.11 on the Official UK Independent Album Charts for week ending 25 December 2010, and No.1 on the Official UK Independent Album Breakers Charts for week ending 25 December 2010. Following Cardle's success on The X Factor, the band saw an upsurge in popularity, with their music videos gaining large numbers of views on YouTube.
In 2010, Cardle auditioned for the seventh series of The X Factor in front of Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Louis Walsh, singing Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good". At the Bootcamp stage of the show, he sang "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", a performance which prompted Simon Cowell to say "Why haven't we noticed him before?" and Louis Walsh to say "He's the biggest surprise of today for me!" He was put through to the Boys category where the age limit was raised to 28, making Dannii Minogue his mentor. Cardle was favourite to win from before the live shows until the end of the series, with some of the shortest odds the show had ever seen.
On the first live show he sang "When Love Takes Over" which received high praise from all four judges. In week five he performed "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" again, which earned him the first standing ovation from all four judges of the series. It remains his most viewed performance on YouTube with over 34 million views to date. In the semi-final he had to withdraw from a secret X Factor gig in London due to throat problems which saw him almost have to miss the show that weekend. In the final he performed a duet with Rihanna.
Cardle was announced the winner on 12 December 2010, after receiving 44.61% of the vote. He received the most votes every week from week two, being beaten only by Mary Byrne in week one. The week after the series final, Cardle's cover version of "Many of Horror" originally recorded by Scottish rock trio Biffy Clyro and retitled as "When We Collide", topped the UK Singles Chart to become the 2010 Christmas number 1 and remained there for three consecutive weeks. The song was nominated in the Best British Single category at the 2011 BRIT Awards. In June 2012 the song reached the one million sale mark, making it the 123rd single to sell a million copies in the UK and the fourth by an X Factor contestant. In Ireland it is the fourth best selling single of all time, and the best selling single of the century so far, as of 31 December 2015.
Cardle remains good friends with fellow contestant Aiden Grimshaw and mentor Dannii Minogue. On 15 March 2011, it was reported that Cardle signed a record deal with Syco Music in a joint venture with Columbia Records, becoming the first The X Factor winner not to be exclusively signed to Simon Cowell's label.
Beyond singing on The X Factor, Cardle says he tries to watch the show in his spare time.
2011–2013: Letters and The Fire
On 18 August 2011, Cardle revealed that his debut album, Letters, would be released in the UK on 17 October 2011. Cardle said he was nervous about releasing his album as previous male X Factor winners have not been very successful, and female winners Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke enjoyed massive success. Whilst working on the album Cardle collaborated with various writers including Eg White and James Walsh. The album's first single, "Run for Your Life," written by Gary Barlow, was premiered on The Chris Moyles Show on 5 September 2011. Cardle appeared on the BBC Breakfast show on 1 September to give a preview of the video. The video was then premiered in full on 5 September on his YouTube channel. The single was released on 9 October 2011, Cardle performed the song on The X Factor on the same day. He also performed another track from the album, "All For Nothing", on ITV2 show The Xtra Factor. "Run for Your Life" peaked at number six on the UK Top 40 Chart. Prior to the album release Cardle went on a five date tour ending on 3 October at Koko in London. Letters was released on 17 October and debuted at number two on the UK Albums chart and spent 16 consecutive weeks in the top 40.