Ashley Parker Angel Bio

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Ashley Parker Angel (born August 1, 1981) is an United States-born singer and actor.

Ashley Parker Angel: Entertainment career

Ashley Parker Angel - O-Town and Making the Band

In 2000 Ashley Parker Angel achieved fame on the hit ABC series Making the Band, which tracked the formation of a pop music group. The MTV production (whose title contained a pun on "making": Who would make the band that was being formed?) was the first reality show to be picked up by a major television network. Weekly, viewers saw Angel, after first being plucked from tens of thousands of other auditionees, survive each stage of the selection process to become one of the "final five" members of the new vocal group O-Town.

Making the Band was the brainchild of boy band manager Lou Pearlman, who had been responsible for the formation of groups such as The Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync (the show's concept and title have since been adopted by Puff Daddy).

Ratings were strong, and as a result O-Town quickly achieved success; by the end of the first season, the group had inked a record deal with music legend Clive Davis and become the debut act for Davis' new label J Records. The album O-Town, boosted by the weekly TV publicity, debuted at #5 on Billboard and went on to multi-platinum status. "Liquid Dreams," the album's first release, crowned the SoundScan singles chart at #1, selling over 42,000 units in one week. The group won the 2001 Teen Choice Award for Breakthrough Artist.

Because of O-Town, J Records made musical history as the first label in SoundScan history (1991 and on) to have its first single release debut at #1 on the sales charts. Also, O-Town is the first artist in SoundScan history to have its first single come in at #1, an achievement recorded in the 2002 Guinness Book of World Records.

In late spring 2001, the second single, "All or Nothing," and became the biggest hit of O-Town's career. The song reached #1 on the U.S. top 40 chart and was nominated for numerous awards, including Song of the Year during the 2001 Radio Music Awards.

The group toured internationally, and went on to be the first reality show cast to remain unchanged for a second and third season. Near the end of the third season, viewers watched O-Town striving to take their careers to the next level, writing their own music, earning the respect of industry peers, and marketing themselves as more than a "boy band." Unfortunately, by the time of the release of their second album, O2, the teen-pop genre had begun to fade, and they did not find the acceptance they sought. Despite moderate success, O2 got nowhere near the market impact of their first album. In November 2003 J Records dropped the band from the label.

Ashley Parker Angel - Solo Music Career and There & Back (2004-2006)

In 2004, Ashley Parker Angel had secured a record deal with Blackground/Universal Records, and later that year MTV began filming There & Back, a reality series tracking his pursuit of solo stardom. The show documented Angel's struggle to transcend his mostly teen idol image, showcasing him as a serious songwriter and musician who co-wrote every track of his album. The series was backlit by the relationship between him and his then-pregnant fiancée (the engagement has since been broken off) and the obstacles of early fatherhood, and also captured the drama and birth of his son Lyric.

In April 2006, Angel was selected to be a contestant on NBC's Celebrity Cooking Showdown, produced by entertainment mogul/rapper Diddy; Angel placed second, even though he is seen severely lacerating his finger during one of the timed cooking challenges. Shortly thereafter, he competed in the Kelly Slater Celebrity Surf Invitational,in which he had another severe injury, this time a foot laceration.

In May 2006, his solo album Soundtrack to Your Life was released, debuting at #5 on Billboard and receiving many positive reviews. Billboard's review called it "great melodic rock ! falling somewhere between the earnest balladeering of the Goo Goo Dolls and the driving rock of the All American Rejects." The first single release, "Let U Go," was a hit; its video spent weeks at #1 on MTV's TRL and the single had the third-highest-selling debut of 2006. In spring of that year, Angel toured throughout North America with Ashlee Simpson (the two had been linked romantically in the past).

Ashley Parker Angel - On Broadway

In January 2007, Ashley Parker Angel joined the eight-time Tony Award-winning musical Hairspray, playing the lead character's love interest, teen heartthrob Link Larkin. The New York Post assessed Angel's performance as "an absolute charmer." Angel's presence on Broadway also led the New York Times to do a feature on the singer/songwriter turned actor. The Hairspray producers asked Angel to extend his contract four times. In early 2008, Angel sustained a back injury onstage, forcing him to leave the show for a few months, but he returned to finish the last few weeks of his latest contract, giving the actor a successful run in the show for more than a year.

During his stay in New York, Angel performed at several other Broadway-related events, including Broadway in Bryant Park and Broadway on Broadway.

Ashley Parker Angel - Acting

He is known in the early years as the voice of the main character Alex in the video game Lunar: The Silver Star and Lunar: Silver Star Story.

In June 2009, signed on for the role of Sam Lombardo in a new movie that will be a remake of Wild Things by Sony.

On June 20 Angel played pop singer Danny Starr in the "Danny Starr / Quinceañera" episode of the children's cartoon Handy Manny on the Disney Channel.

Ashley Parker Angel - Personal life

Angel was Engaged to Model Tiffany Lynn after a 5 year relationship in 2008 the couple broke up. They remain good friends due to the birth on their son Lyric Lennon Parker-Angel.