Conor Maynard

Conor Paul Maynard was born on 21 November 1992 in Brighton, England, to Gary Maynard, a builder, and Helen Maynard, an office worker. He attended Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Hove, East Sussex, and has two younger siblings: a brother, Jack, and a sister, Anna, both of whom became YouTubers. Anna appeared in several of Maynard's YouTube cover videos, including "Run" and "If I Were A Boy," and hosted the program Got What It Takes? Maynard created his YouTube account on 19 May 2006, and in December 2008 uploaded his first video, a cover of Lee Carr's "Breathe." That same year, he appeared as a young Casper Rose in the Sky 1 television series Dream Team.

Maynard signed to Parlophone in late 2010 and released the music video for his debut single, "Can't Say No," on 1 March 2012. The single debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart during the week ending 28 April 2012, with 74,792 copies sold, and peaked at number thirteen in Ireland. He performed the track at the Capital Summertime Ball on 9 June 2012 before a crowd of 80,000. His second single, "Vegas Girl," debuted and peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart upon its release on 21 July 2012. His debut album, Contrast, followed on 30 July 2012 and reached number one on the UK Album Chart on 11 August, selling approximately 17,000 copies in its first week. A third single from the album, "Turn Around," featuring Ne-Yo, peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart. In November 2011, Maynard had received a nomination for MTV's Brand New for 2012 award, competing against Delilah, Michael Kiwanuka, Lana Del Rey, and Lianne La Havas; on 31 January 2012, he was announced as the winner, having received approximately 48 percent of the public vote.

In June 2013, it was announced that Maynard would publish a book, Take Off, offering an account of his rise to fame; it was released in October 2013. His single "R U Crazy," produced by Labrinth, premiered on radio on 25 August 2013, with its music video released two days later. In March 2014, Maynard participated in recording England's 2014 World Cup song, "Greatest Day," a cover of the Take That track produced by Gary Barlow and recorded at Sarm Studios in London. His collaborators on the recording included Melanie C, Eliza Doolittle, Emma Bunton, Katy B, Kimberley Walsh, and Pixie Lott, with former footballers Gary Lineker, Michael Owen, Geoff Hurst, David Seaman, Peter Shilton, Glenn Hoddle, and Dion Dublin contributing backing vocals. Subsequent singles "Talking About," released 1 March 2015, and "Royalty" followed, though "Talking About" debuted at number 44 on the UK Singles Chart, marking his first single to miss the top forty.

In July 2016, Maynard announced a covers album drawing on the success of his YouTube cover videos. The resulting album, Covers, was released on 5 August 2016 and included covers of tracks such as "Pillowtalk," "One Dance," "Hello," and "Stitches," alongside one original song, "This Is My Version." On 23 December 2016, he released "Are You Sure?" with Kris Kross Amsterdam, featuring vocals from Ty Dolla Sign. His third studio album, +11 Hours, his first collection of original music in over a decade, was announced in April 2023 and released on 9 June 2023, preceded by the singles "If I Ever," "By Your Side," and "Storage." On 24 May 2024, Swedish singer Darin released the single "Moonlight," for which Maynard holds a co-writing credit.

Maynard's Broadway career began in November 2018, when he joined the cast of Kinky Boots at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, taking on the lead role of Charlie Price. He gave his final performance in the production on 10 January 2019.