Lyrics gaffe ends dream in X-Factor

Reporter: DAWN MARSDEN
Date online: 20/08/2009

A YOUNG singer has missed out on her “X-Factor” dream after being given the wrong lyrics by the show’s producers.

January Woodhead, a former pupils at Failsworth School, reached the Boot Camp stage of the ITV talent show but failed to make it to the next round.

The 20-year-old was asked to sing Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone” for judges Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Danni Minogue and Louis Walsh at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. During rehearsals January, of Parkhurst Avenue, New Moston, repeatedly told producers that the lyrics she had been given didn’t fit the music but the mistake was only realised moments before she had to perform.

She said: “You only get 20 minutes to rehearse.

“I told them four times the lyrics did not fit with what the pianist was playing and when the producer asked at the end if I was happy I said no and he said they had given me the wrong part to sing.

“My audition was effectively my first rehearsal and I didn’t know what I was singing.

“I went on stage, forgot the lines and made some up to try to fit the music.”

Although January was then voted off, she was pleased to have won through to Boot Camp and be among the last 12 girls in her age group from the initial 200,000 wannabes.

The singer, who is studying pop music and recording at Salford University, impressed all four judges from her first audition when she sang Heart’s “Alone” and Leona Lewis’s hit “Run”.

The X-Factor starts at 7pm on Saturday on ITV.