Jedward are twins John and Edward Grimes, and were born 16 October 1991 in Dublin, but grew up in County Kildare. They first came to prominence in the 2009 series of the British ITV show X Factor. They eventually finished sixth. Among their performances on X Factor were covers of Rock DJ (with Robbie Williams), Ghostbusters (Ray Parker Jr)and No matter what (Boyzone).
Despite not winning, judge Louis Walsh signed them up. They performed on the 2010 UK X Factor Tour and their appearances spawned the song Under pressure (ice ice baby). This song gave them their first Number One in Ireland and also made Number Two in the UK charts. Subsequently, two of their singles releases have made Number One Ireland (Lipstick and Bad behaviour). Their albums Planet Jedward and Victory made Number One in Ireland and charted in the UK.
Outside of their chart careers, Jedward were the stars of the British cable channel ITV2 show Jedward: Let Loose in which they moved out of home in preparation for the launch of their début album. In 2011 they participated in the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother, finishing third to Irish Traveller Paddy Doherty. In 2012 Children’s BBC channel CBBC signed them up to front a programme Jedward’s Big Adventure, a ‘jepic’ programme in which they acted as tour guides at major attractions across the UK.
In Ireland they have been seen on various programmes including OMG It’s Jedward, which charted the Irish release of their album Planet Jedward, and OMG – Jedward’s Dream Factory on Irish channel TRTÉ, where they granted the wishes of Irish children over the course of 10 days around Christmas 2011.
In 2011 they were selected by the Irish public to represent them at the Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf with the song Lipstick. In a close final, they beat Nikki Kavanagh through a combination of jury and televoting. In Düsseldorf, they finished eighth in the second semi-final, proceeding to the Saturday night final, also finishing eighth.
