Dax O'Callaghan
Dax O'Callaghan (born 2 July 1986 in London, England) is an English singer, dancer and actor. Once referred to as the Prince of Pop in France during the success of his debut single in the early 2000s, Dax is recognized throughout many European territories as a successful entertainer through his accomplishments in music on the European Pop Charts.
Dancing and Acting
O'Callaghan trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London. O'Callaghan started working professionally at a young age featuring in over 70 Television commercials whilst still a child at school. Aged 10 he ventured into Musical Theatre where he played the lead role Gavroche in London's West End musical Les Misérables at the Palace Theatre. Dax then went on to become the first person to play the role of The Artful Dodger in the original cast of Oliver at The London Palladium on London's West End stage.
He appeared on television in EastEnders as Jack Price, Casualty, Hope and Glory, Trial by Jury, The Knock, and presented The Children's Royal Variety at the Dominion Theatre. Leaving school at 16, Dax went on to present for Nickelodeon, the children's entertainment channel, hosting the television show Laugh Out Loud.
As a trained dancer an early dance career also emerged whilst at school, performing with The Spice Girls, SugaBabes, PJ & Duncan, TV show Live & Kicking, and the fashion company The Production Team in his early teens. When leaving school he went on to join world choreographer Wayne Sleep on the production of DASH as a featured dancer. At 16 years old O'Callaghan became the youngest ever choreographer to teach full-time classes at the Pineapple Dance Studios in Covent Garden, London. An accolade which still stands to this day.
After a later career as a recording artists, Dax returned to the UK in 2010 from living in Los Angeles and began choreographing for other artists. He would choreograph Olly Murs, Ella Henderson, The Overtones, Andrea Begley (winner of The Voice UK), MNEK, Jedward (creating their 2011 Eurovision entry for Ireland), was assistant choreographer for JLS on their UK arena tour, assistant choreographer for the infamous T-Mobile flash-mob commercial at Heathrow Airport, in 2014 was guest choreographer for the CBBC's show The Next Step. In 2016 Dax would choreograph three new Theatre productions for Royal Caribbean's Celebrity Cruises; Maxx, Cosmopolitan, and Rock City. He would go on to work on their theatre show Topper as Director.
Dax has been a guest judge for the European and International ASDU Dance Championships, and also the UDO World Street Dance Championships.
Singing career
At 19 O'Callaghan signed as a solo recording artist with Warner International Record Company. His single "Calling Love" was hugely successful in some European charts, particularly in France.
In 2006, he then signed with Universal Records becoming one of five members in the new boyband Lexington Bridge, a mixed American-British act, that had great success mainly in Europe. They released one album, The Vibe and three #1 charting singles, namely "Kick Back", "Real Man" featuring Snoop Dogg and "Dance with Me". During 2007/2009 Lexington Bridge were labeled as one of Europe's biggest bands within the media. The band split in 2010.
In 2008 O'Callaghan became choreographer for Germany's reality TV Show Popstars, working with the winning group named Room 2012, whilst a signed recording artist touring and promoting within the boyband Lexington Bridge Dax would choreograph the reality show winners first music video and European tour.
In 2009 Dax began working with Legendary Producer Teddy Riley in Los Angeles on the theme song for new Nintendo game "Just Sing". Together they wrote and produced the Nintendo theme tune. This transformed into Teddy Riley producing a new album for Lexington Bridge with Dax writing two of the songs which Teddy produced. Both the Nintendo project & LXB album were put on hold due to a breakdown in negotiations with management.
From 2011 - 2015 O'Callaghan collaborated with one of the UK's biggest Churches Kensington Temple, London City Church, working to bring a modern style with music and stage performance and production within the UK Church.
Music production
Dax has worked as a music producer for artists such as Kelly Rowland, JLS, Pixie Lott, Little Mix and Alexandra Burke, designing and remixing their music for TV performances and Arena tours. He has produced and designed music for top fashion shows as well as award shows.
In 2011 he released his first UK single called "Broken", fronted by ex-EastEnders actor Mohammed George, which featured Dax O'Callaghan as well as being written by him. The song was co-produced with Jay-F (John Farmer) through a label they set up together for the UK release named 'D&J Music'. The song was used as an anthem for the Ben Kinsella Trust and all royalties from sales were donated to the charity helping the fight against knife crime within the UK.