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Joseph Genesis Smith (born August 18, 1988 in Slough, Berkshire, England) is an English male vocalist. He finished 27th in Series 3 of The X Factor. He is currently signed to EMI owned label S-Curve Records, who have announced that his first single "Sensuous Barber" will be taken from his fortchoming album Ultrasoundz. On March 30, Joe officially opened Gallery435 in Slough.

Joe Smith was born in Slough to a teacher mother, Maria, who still teaches at his former school, St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School and a father, Joseph, who managed the Langley Saints junior football team. He received the name Genesis from his father, Joseph Smith Sr being a strict Catholic, as it is his preferred book in The Bible, not - as was joked about on X Factor - due to the 1980s prog band fronted by Peter Gabriel and later Phil Collins. Talking of the Genesis rumour, Joe made reference to the Cadbury's chocolate advert in which a Gorilla drums along to Phil Collins famous song in the air tonight, saying "Me, named after Phil Collins? My parents would collectively be a bigger monkey than the one in the Cadbury's ad", a comment which caused much controversy and saw criticised by members of the Afro-Caribbean community who took offence at the comment which was said during an interview in which Joe was sat next to Simon Webbe who was unfortunately eating a bar of Dairy Milk at the time.

Joe performed well at school before realising his talents lied in performing after his voice and performance in a school production of Grease in the role of Kenickie were widely praised. This led to him performing Greased Lightning at an end of year talent show.

Joe was urged by his friends to compete in X Factor although he did not think he could win and was sceptical about appearing on television, and even thought he could be used as one of X Factor's infamous comic characters who are mocked by the judges. However, due to positive responses from Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne, who commented on his "raw talent" and good looks, Joe was put through to the next round, despite slight criticism from Simon Cowell, who called his performance "wooden" while speaking highly of his vocals.

Unfortunately for Joe, he was put into his critic Simon Cowell's 16-25 group and he wasn't focused on as other, more preferred, performers such as Leona Lewis and Ray Quinn meaning his time on screen was limited. He did, however, gain a reputation for being in the Lee Ryan funnyman popstar role, particularly in his use of Danny Glover's Lethal Weapon catchphrase "I'm getting too old for this shit!", a line which was all the more humorous given that at 17 he was one of the youngest artists in competition.

Joe's soulful voice, lively personality and youthful good looks have seen him likened to Lee Ryan, Brian Harvey, Kevin Richardson and former X Factor winner Shane Ward

In July 2007, Joe embarked on a European tour which saw him visiting 17 different locations, including Zante, Barcelona, and Istanbul, although the latter show had to be cut short due to crowd tension after some members of the audience were offended by Joe's dance routine to the Tom Jones song Sex Bomb, which saw him remove his shirt whilst riding a replica of a scud missile, a move that was considered by some critics as insensitive due to the customs of the Islamic country he was performing in, especially a time of increased tension due to Turkey's invasion of Northern Iraq Since the incident, Joe has been banned from numerous Muslim states, including Saudi Arabia, U.A.E and Pakistan. Joe stirred controversy once again when he responded to these bans by saying -"Ah well, I dont care. I dont even like Shilpa Shetty".

• Official S-Curve records website
• Official Gallery 435 website