[1] 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.

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.

[25] 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".

[26] 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?"

"[27] He was put through to the Boys category where the age limit was raised to 28, making Dannii Minogue his mentor.

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.

[33] 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.

[37][38] Cardle remains good friends with fellow contestant Aiden Grimshaw[39] and mentor Dannii Minogue.

[41] Whilst working on the album Cardle collaborated with various writers including Eg White and James Walsh.

[42] The album's first single, "Run for Your Life," written by Gary Barlow, was premiered on The Chris Moyles Show on 5 September 2011.

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.

The third and final single to be released from "Letters" was Amazing which was released as an EP, containing a new track called "All Is Said", which Cardle wrote with James Walsh, a new recording of "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and a live version of the album track "Slowly" recorded at the album launch.

"[49] Later, in October 2013 he stated another reason for leaving was because of the lack of control he had with decisions such as "Run for Your Life" being released as his first single instead of "Starlight" which he'd written and preferred.

[50] On 9 September 2012, So What Recordings, part of the Silva Screen Music Group, announced that Cardle's second album, The Fire would be released on 29 October 2012 on their label.

On 11 September 2012, the lead single, "It's Only Love" was released online on Cardle's YouTube channel as an audio only video.

On 16 April 2013 Cardle confirmed he was in the process of making his third album in a video message to his fans on Facebook.

[54] In July 2013, Music Week announced he has teamed up with Absolute Marketing for the album, which is an independent release, having moved on from So What Recordings.

It is described as incorporating "everything from Rock, Funk, Soul, Gospel, Pop and Blues to create his most musically diverse piece of work yet.

"[55] The first single, a duet with Melanie C called "Loving You", premiered on The Ken Bruce Show on BBC Radio 2 on 2 July.

[59] On 28 September, Cardle performed a cover of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" at the Miss World 2013 in Bali, Indonesia.

On 11 May 2015, it was announced Cardle would take over the lead role of Huey Calhoun in a production of Memphis from 6 July 2015 until the end of its run in October.

Cardle returned to the West End on 31 July 2018, playing the role of Wally Strand in Strictly Ballroom until it closes on 27 October 2018.

[67] Cardle played the role of Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Barbican from 4 July until 24 August 2019.

[73] In 2024 it was announced Cardle would star as William Shakespeare in the UK and Ireland tour of the musical & Juliet.

[75] Being a fan of heavy metal music from a young age, he had tried to emulate the singing style of his rock heroes such as Kurt Cobain, but found it was damaging his vocal cords.

[76][77] After taking advice from the owners of Highbarn, a venue in Essex he'd often played at in the past, he had vocal coaching, which helped increase his range and soften his sound.

[79][80][81][82] Upon Cardle winning The X Factor he has been involved in what type of music he would like to record, which led to the release of his debut album Letters.

[86] Other artists Cardle cited as favourites when he began singing include Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, Pearl Jam and Peter Gabriel.

[citation needed] In 2012, Cardle published the song "Amazing", co-written by himself, with Martin Harrington, Tom Leonard, Ash Howes and Richard Stannard.