Keith Semple (born 20 September 1981) is a Northern Irish singer and musician. He originally had his own band Keith Semple Band. In 2002, he took part and was a winner in Popstars: The Rivals, consequently becoming a member of the boyband One True Voice (OTV). After the split-up of the band, Semple had a solo career before joining the Chicago-based rock band 7th Heaven in 2006 as their lead singer. In 2010, he took a shot at the ninth season of American Idol but lost his "golden ticket" place due to his legal status and residency considerations. In October 2012, Semple announced he would be leaving 7th Heaven to pursue his original music and announced the formation of his new band, SEMPLE. In September 2015, he auditioned for season 9 of The Voice as part of Team Adam. He was eliminated from competition after the top 24 round. In 2016, he formed the progressive rock band, The Cyberiam, where he serves as lead singer and guitarist.
Career
2002: Popstars: The Rivals
Semple took part in the ITV television series Popstars: The Rivals, a British singing competition.
Week 1, he sang "Reach Out I'll Be There" from The Four Tops. He was safe. Week 3, he sang "Over My Shoulder" from Mike + The Mechanics. He was safe. Week 5, he sang "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" from Elton John and Bernie Taupin. He was safe. Week 7, in the boys' final, he sang "You Are So Beautiful" from Joe Cocker.
Host Davina McCall announced the names of the five contestants who had qualified for the boy band. Semple was the first member to be announced followed by Matt Johnson. Third was Daniel Pearce and fourth Anton Gordon. The last available place went to Jamie Shaw whereas Chris Park was eliminated from the boys competition.
Semple and the four other contestant winners (Anton Gordon, Matthew Johnson, Daniel Pearce and Jamie Shaw) went on to form the group One True Voice.
The same show had also produced the girl group Girls Aloud also won the competition.
2002–2003: One True Voice
Semple became a band member of the boyband One True Voice created as a results of the competition. The line up of the band was decided by public vote, who voted for their favourite male hopefuls each week to form the boyband. The name of the band was later shortened to OTV.
One True Voice was made up of: Anton Gordon (from London, England) Matt Johnson (from Deeside, Wales) Daniel Pearce (from Kent, England) Keith Semple (from Larne, Northern Ireland) Jamie Shaw (from Cardiff, Wales)
Their debut single, a double A side hit single "Sacred Trust/After You're Gone" went head-to-head with Girls Aloud on 16 December 2002, for the Christmas number one spot. One True Voice lost out to the girls and had to settle for the UK Christmas No. 2 position. The group's manager, Pete Waterman, has speculated that the show was fixed against OTV, but has not said how.. In any case, the single "Sacred Trust/After You're Gone" reached gold record status.
One more Top 10 hit followed, in the form of "Shakespeare's (Way with) Words", which reached No. 10 in the UK, in June 2003. A few weeks later it was announced that Daniel Pearce, who as arranger and co-writer of some of their songs had quit the group to pursue a solo career. The next day the group disbanded.
The group appeared at number 32 in Chantelle's Top 50 Reality TV Stars, ahead of both Phixx and Clea who also appeared in Popstars: The Rivals.
2003–2008: Solo career
After the split, Semple continued his musical career reforming his pre-OTV band, the Keith Semple Band, then fronted the band Alibi.
2006–2012: 7th Heaven
In 2006, Semple moved to the United States and joined Chicago-based rock band 7th Heaven as their lead singer. This resulted in a critically acclaimed album USA-UK alluding to the co-operation of this UK act in an American band.
During Semple's membership, the band consisted of members: Keith Semple – guitars, vocals (lead singer), keyboard Richard Hofherr – guitars, vocals, keyboard Mike Mooshey – drums Mark Kennetz – bass, vocals Nick Cox – guitar, vocals Tamara Mooshey – vocals
With Semple the band released a number of studio and live albums: Medley CD (2007), U.S.A – U.K. (2008), Unplugged (2009), Pop Medley 2 (2009), Medley CD/DVD (2010), Jukebox (2010), Merry Christmas in Chicago (2010) and Pop Media (2011). He left the band in 2012.
In 2012, Semple left the band and was replaced by Anthony Fedorov, a contestant finalist on the fourth season of American Idol.
2010: American Idol
In January 2010, Semple successfully auditioned for the ninth season of American Idol. He was put in the intro to the Chicago episode of the American Idol.