Siva Michael Kaneswaran (born 16 November 1988) is an Irish singer best known for being a member of the boy band

The Wanted The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band formed in 2009, and originally consisted of members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness, Tom Parker, and Nathan Sykes. The group signed a worldwide contract to Universal Music, Island Reco ...

Early life

Kaneswaran grew up in Corduff

Blanchardstown Blanchardstown () is a large outer suburb of Dublin in the modern Counties of Ireland, county of Fingal, Ireland. Located northwest of Dublin city centre, it has developed since the 1960s from a small village to a point where Greater Blanchards ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

with a

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

an father of Eela Tamil descent and an Irish mother. He has a twin brother, Kumar, and six other siblings. Kaneswaran started modelling at 16 and appeared in various ads and landed a contract with Storm Model Management. Kaneswaran took part in ''

Rock Rivals ''Rock Rivals'' is a British television drama series following the lives of two celebrity judges on an '' X Factor'' style show as their marriage falls apart. It was produced by Shed Productions, the company behind '' Footballers' Wives'', '' B ...

'', televised in eight episodes between 17 March and 23 April 2008. Kaneswaran and his twin brother starred in the roles of Carson Coombs and Caleb Coombs, respectively. The brothers also appeared briefly in one episode of '' Uncle Max''. The episode "Uncle Max Plays Tennis" aired on 11 July 2008. Kaneswaran was spotted through his modelling campaigns and subsequently recruited for the band. He is the younger brother of former Dove member and former '' Popstars: The Rivals'' contestant Hazel Kaneswaran.

Music career

In 2009, Siva was selected from thousands of auditions to be a member of The Wanted, originally managed by Jayne Collins and signed to Geffen

Island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

Mercury. The band was then signed worldwide to

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...

subsidiaries Island Records and Mercury Records and managed by

Scooter Braun Scott Samuel "Scooter" Braun ( ; born June 18, 1981) is an American businessman, investor, and record executive. Since 2023 he has served as chief executive officer (CEO) of Hybe America, the North American subsidiary of South Korean entertain ...

. The band's debut album, ''

'', was released on 25 October 2010 and peaked at number four on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. Their second number-one hit, "

Glad You Came "Glad You Came", also known as "I'm Glad You Came", is a song by British-Irish boy band the Wanted, released on 24 May 2011 as the second single from their second studio album, '' Battleground''. The song was written by Steve Mac, Wayne Hecto ...

", topped the singles chart in the United Kingdom for two weeks, and in Ireland for five weeks. In early 2012, "Glad You Came" would sell 3 million copies in the US and reach number three on the US ''Billboard'' Top 100 Chart, as well as number two on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

. The Wanted’s follow-up singles, " Chasing the Sun" and " I Found You", both topped the ''Billboard'' Hot

Dance Club Songs The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart. Siva has co-written several songs with The Wanted, notably "Say It on the Radio", "I Want It All" (from their sophomore album, ''

Battleground A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troop ...

''), and "Demons" (from their third album, ''

Word of Mouth Word of mouth is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others a ...

''). In 2014, The Wanted would announce their hiatus. In 2015, Kaneswaran made an appearance in the music video for the single "Love", by Diz and the Fam, a group he was involved in along with

Dash Mihok Dashiell Raymond Mihok (; born May 24, 1974) is an American actor and director known as Brendan "Bunchy" Donovan in Showtime's ''Ray Donovan''. Early life Mihok was born in New York City, the son of theater actors Andrea Mihok (née Cloak) and ...

. Towards the end of 2014, he did another tour with The Wanted in México. In 2016, Kaneswaran wrote the song " You're Not Alone" for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Heroes (Måns Zelmerlöw song), Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organis ...

, performed by Joe and Jake. In 2017, he won the first series of '' Celebrity Hunted'' with bandmate Jay McGuiness. In September 2019, Kaneswaran released his debut solo single, "Breathe In". In November 2020, he released another single, "Ready For This Love". In September 2021, another single, "Syrup" was released. In 2023, Kaneswaran was a contestant on the fifteenth series of ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series broadcast from 2006 to 2014 and then from 2018 to 2025. It was presented by Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern. Other previous hosts include Phillip Schofield and Christine Lampard. The series ...

''.

Other ventures

Kaneswaran was signed to Storm Model Management at the age of 16 and the face of several international campaigns. Kaneswaran has been featured in several fashion magazines, including British ''Vogue'', ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

'' and ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

''. In 2013, Kaneswaran was signed to

Next Model Management Jean-Luc Didier Henri Brunel (; 18 September 1946 – 19 February 2022) was a French model scout. He gained prominence by leading the international modelling agency Karin Models, and founded MC2 Model Management, with financing by Jeffrey Epstein ...

. When Siva signed with Storm Model Management in the UK, he soon began acting in

& Uncle Max. In 2015, Kaneswaran signed with Agency for the Performing Arts and Untitled Management.

Personal life

Kaneswaran became engaged to luxury shoe designer Nareesha McCaffrey in 2013. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' mentioned that Kaneswaran invested in tech start-up The Muse. He teamed up with

to support the Tourette Syndrome Association. He is also a supporter of Girl2B, an organization in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, India, that provides a safe haven for homeless girls to live and grow. In 2013, Kaneswaran starred in the E! channel reality series '' The Wanted Life''.

Discography

Filmography

*'' Uncle Max'' (2006) *''British Rock Rival'' as Carson Coombs (2008) *'' The Wanted Life'' (2013)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaneswaren, Siva Irish people of Sri Lankan descent Irish pop singers People from Fingal 1988 births Living people The Wanted members Irish people of Singaporean descent