So call me an old cynic if you like, but I loathe any television show where Z-List celebrities come out of the woodwork to sing, eat bugs or dance around a television studio in their tuxedo. After all, once the show is over, both the winners and losers get some much need publicity – and hopefully work – from their efforts. And there's me thinking it was all for our entertainment.
So, as with the X-Factor, I always suspected that the only people that made any money from the show were the three judges - Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh. Year on year winners have come and gone (I couldn’t even tell you who the previous winners were) but this year one person in particular caught my ear. I just happened to be passing through a room whilst the show was on and thought “Oooh, that Leona person can’t half sing”. As a result, and for the first time ever, I started to sit down each week and watch the X-factor to how she progressed.
So, last Saturday (17th December) was the nail biting finale with 21-year-old Leona Lewis and 18-year-old Liverpudlian Ray Quinn, who looks remarkably like Eddie Munster, battling it out for the ultimate prize. In another first for me, I just had to give my hard earned money to a television series by voting.
Leona may have been accused of lacking in the confidence that little Eddie oozed, but her singing was so pitch-perfect and versatile I had to vote three times just to make sure Ray didn’t win (although, to be fair to the lad, he did sing pretty well too).
So, unlike the previous winners who have disappeared into obscurity, appearing in trashy gossip magazines and quite possibly a future series of I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, I think I witnessed history being made.
Leona romped home with 60% of the vote and a wonderful new star was born with the voice and talent to conqueror the music industry in the United Kingdom and, that finicky of places to an outside singer, the Holy Grail that is America.
Watch the BBC report above by pressing "Play"
And before the evening was out the records begun to tumble. Her Christmas single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson's hit single A Moment Like This, has already broken the world record of having 50,000 downloads in the 30 minutes after the show had ended.
Needless to say, it’s a pretty much forgone conclusion that the much coveted Christmas No. 1 is in the bag. And, as sad as it may well be too, I’ll be dashing down to my local store on Wednesday to pick up a copy or two of the CD single.
It’s not every day a singer can make me sit up and take notice, but if Leona can do that to the likes of me, she’s got a very bright future indeed.
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