The soundtrack to my life - Dermot O'Leary

Dermot O'Leary has always loved music. Throughout his life and career, music has been a constant companion, best friend, confidant and at times, tormentor.

The Soundtrack to My Life is Dermot's personal memoir of a life in music told through the songs that were playing at key moments in his life.
With a wonderful gift for storytelling, Dermot describes his journey from a childhood in Colchester with his Irish family, to some of the biggest jobs in TV and radio in the UK.
It's a story which is accompanied, in every scene, by music.

Dermot would be the first to admit, they are not all great songs. This isn't Desert Island Discs; the songs chose him, not the other way round. Dermot went to his first gig at the age of nine, and saw Irish troubadour Brendan Shine, he roller-skated to Baby I Can't Wait by Nu Shooz and got his first job in TV while the Macarana was playing everywhere. Constantly.

But, other songs playing in the background to his life - songs by The Smiths, Elbow, The Pogues or Bruce Springsteen, are tracks & artists which he truly loves and will always love, and not just for the memories they evoke.

Funny, engaging and full of surprises, this is Dermot's memoir and his essential soundtrack to his life.

Dermot O'Leary has been the much-loved host of ITV's The X Factor for seven series, and is now working on his eighth.
He also presents his own Sony award-winning BBC Radio 2 show, which draws in close to 2 million listeners each week. From early beginnings as a Runner for BBC Essex, then a Researcher on the TV show Light Lunch, Dermot became one of the founding presenters on Channel Four's T4, before moving on to presenting and producing Big Brother's Little Brother. Dermot has hosted a number of other programmes including, most recently, Channel Four's ground-breaking documentary Live From Space which broadcast from the International Space Station.