Shane Richie

Multifaceted British actor, comedian, and TV presenter Shane Richie was best known for his role as "cheeky chappie" Alfie Moon on the long-running BBC soap opera EastEnders, but also had a low-key parallel career as a singer. Born in 1964 to Irish parents and brought up in Willesden in North West London, as a young boy he regularly accompanied them to the Irish and country evenings his father ran at local social clubs. Beginning his entertainment career in his teenage years as a "bluecoat" at the holiday resort Pontins, he later moved into standup comedy, appearing on Sky TV and BBC One, before hosting a number of game shows. In the late '90s he attempted unsuccessfully to launch a pop career, releasing two albums, 1997's The Album and 2000's Once Around the Sun. His first acting gig came in 2001, in the offbeat ITV soap opera Night & Day, which later attained a cult following. In 2002 he shot to fame as Alfie Moon on EastEnders, becoming a household name.

His first musical success was in 2003, when his charity cover of <a href="spotify:artist:5lpH0xAS4fVfLkACg9DAuM">Wham!</a>'s "I'm Your Man" went to number two in the U.K. singles chart. Roles in the comedy-drama Minder, sitcom Benidorm, and Alfie-centric EastEnders spin-off Redwater followed, alongside more game show hosting work. Concurrently, Richie flexed his muscle as a musical theater actor, appearing in Boogie Nights and Scrooge. In between all of this other work, he occasionally toured the U.K. as a singer, playing low-key gigs with his own band. In 2009 he was booked as the warm-up act for <a href="spotify:artist:3fMbdgg4jU18AjLCKBhRSm">Michael Jackson</a>'s comeback concert series at London's O2, which ultimately never came to pass owing to <a href="spotify:artist:3fMbdgg4jU18AjLCKBhRSm">Jackson</a>'s untimely death. In 2017 Richie returned to music -- and to his roots -- with the album A Country Soul on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22EastWest%22">EastWest</a>. It saw him covering a selection of old-time favorites by the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:0ECwFtbIWEVNwjlrfc6xoL">the Eagles</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4WlSvDKaq1PA2Nr7cCIPxX">Stephen Stills</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3mC1KCuZZSOlN8Z0M56VsV">Dobie Gray</a>, as well as contributing a song of his own composition. ~ John D. Buchanan, Rovi