Who is Aston Merrygold? JLS and The Masked Singer star

ASTON Merrygold shot to fame as a member of boyband JLS.

Since then he has taken part in Strictly and The Masked Singer, and has also become a dad.

How old is Aston Merrygold?

Aston Merrygold, 33, was born in 1988 to a Jamaican dad and a British mum and grew up in Peterborough.

The star initially had aspirations towards professional football and played for England in the European Youth Games, however, he developed a nerve problem in his left foot, and turned to performing instead.

Aston made an appearance on Stars In Their Eyes in 2002, singing Michael Jackson’s ‘Rockin’ Robin’, then appeared as a cast member on ITV children’s show Fun Song Factory in 2004 before Marvin Humes convinced him to join JLS.

How did he get famous?

Aston rose to fame after joining JLS in 2006 with bandmates Oritsé Williams, JB Gill and Marvin Humes.

Before auditioning for The X Factor they had already won an award for Best Unsigned Act at the Urban Music Awards for a mash-up of ‘Stand By Me’ by Ben E. King and ‘Beautiful Girls’ by Sean Kingston.

The boy band was originally called UFO, but they changed their name for The X Factor when they realised there was already a group with the same name.

JLS auditioned for The X Factor in 2008. They were called the best band to come out of the show and Simon Cowell predicted they would win the competition after a stunning performance of ‘Umbrella’ by Rihanna.

The boy band eventually lost out to Alexandra Burke in the final of the competition.

But despite not winning the competition, JLS went on to have a string of hit singles including ‘Beat Again’ and ‘Everybody In Love’.

They released five studio albums in total and won MOBO and Brit Awards.

JLS split up in 2013, completing their time together with a goodbye tour and a greatest hits album.

After the boys went their separate ways, Aston continued to work on music and has released a total of seven singles since 2015.

However, in 2020 the band got back together much to fans delight.

What TV shows has Aston been in?

Away from his solo music career, Aston decided to swapped the stage for the ballroom when he competed in the 2017 series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Despite impressing the judges, he was voted off in week seven after landing in the bottom two against Mollie King.

While Darcey Bussell and Bruno Tonioli voted to save Aston, Craig and head judge Shirley Ballas opted to send him home, leaving fans furious.

Three years later, the JLS star took part in the 2021 series of Masked Singer - appearing as the Robin.

Competing in the last round of ITV singing competition, he sang For Once In My Life by Stevie Wonder.

However, it wasn't enough to save Aston - who lost out to Badger and Sausage.

The JLS star received all round praise from the judges for his performances.

Aston said: "Brilliant. Loved it," then when asked if the rest of his band know he's on here, he said: "No, so - hi guys!"

The judges mostly guessed right for Aston Merrygold in the final - but Jonathan Ross punted for Alexandra Burke.

Is Aston Merrygold married and does he have children?

Aston is loved up with Sarah Lou Richards, 36, who is an English dancer who used to perform on X Factor.

She was a backup dancer for JLS's tour, which was how she and Aston met, and is a member of the Sugar Free Street Dance troupe.

On Boxing Day 2017, Aston posted a photo of himself and Sarah revealing he had asked her to marry him.

"Allow me to introduce you all to my fiancee," he captioned it.

On January 31, 2018 another adorable Instagram snap from Aston announced that the couple had welcomed their first child, a son named Grayson Jax.