I made it to the finals of X Factor in a boyband – I went back to work to pay the bills and now I’m a tiler and TikToker
EVEN the best performers need a day job to pay the bills for the periods of no work and former X Factor hopeful Joe Conaboy is no exception.
The 29-year -old appeared on the ITV talent show in 2013 as a member of the band, Kingsland Road, who made it to the live finals of the show.
But even though they amassed thousands of followers, the boys, including Joe and Matt Cahill, Jay Scott, JJ Thompson and Josh Zare found themselves the fourth act to be eliminated.
Now 11 years on, the band are no longer together and Joe has forged himself a career as roof tiler while making music on the side in order to provide for his family, his wife Lisa and their 13 month old son, Presley.
He said: “I was working three jobs, I was working in Aldi doing takeaway bits,” before signing up to do an apprenticeship in plumbing alongside his brother-in-law, Steve.
But Joe later embarked on a course in tiling, adding: “The rest is history – that’s how I went from doing that to tiling, it’s a weird old journey.”
But Joe still finds time for singing as has built up an online profile called The Singing Tiler with around 2000 followers on TikTok.
He said: “I need to work to pay the bills and to feed him. And then on top of that, just finding time, being self-employed helps a bit.
I started a little TikTok to see where it takes me. I’ve just been doing TikTok for about four months just whilst I’m at work, certain jobs, something to keep fire ignited.”
After leaving the X Factor Joe and his bandmates found themselves ‘sitting around for a year’ waiting to hear whether Syco, Simon Cowell’s label were going to sign them.
But when the call never came, Joe went through a period of poor mental health and he was prescribed anti-depressants.
He said: “Looking back, I thought I was mature and grown as a person, but now, in hindsight, I realised that probably it wasn’t a great environment for a 19-year-old lad to be a part of. It wasn’t great, I’ve found coping mechanisms now.”
And Joe says that customers are enjoying the novelty of hiring a tiler who can sing.
“I kept getting reviews on my business pages saying ‘Great work, clean, tidy and considerate but I’m going to miss his singing.’