James Arthur has signed a record deal with Columbia Germany

The former 'X Factor' contestant was booted from Simon Cowell's Syco label in 2014 but has started a new chapter, having put pen to paper on an international contract.

In a series of tweets, he wrote: "After a crazy 15 months I'm so happy to be able to say that I've signed a worldwide deal with a major label and releasing album 2 in 2016.