Amazing Grace battles mum from a chip shop to be Cowell’s ‘new Adele’
IN A world of manufactured music, she may look like an unlikely pop singer.
But Kayleigh Taylor – a size 18 mum-of-three, with a Scouse accent and multiple tattoos – could soon be one of Britain’s biggest stars.
Simon Cowell was last night rendered speechless by the 27-year-old after her stunning appearance on the latest series of The X Factor.
Kayleigh, a former chip shop worker, got the thumbs-up from all four judges as she performed an emotional rendition of My Immortal by US rock band Evanescence.
Moments before she took to the stage, she joked about her weight and even admitted that she looked like ‘Vicky Pollard’. She added: ‘I had a job a couple of years ago in a fish and chip shop because obviously I like my food.’ Ms Taylor also admitted to having a soft spot for 57-year-old Cowell – by showing him a tattoo of his name on her lower back, the result of a drunken night out in Magaluf. Judge Sharon Osbourne heaped praise on the singer, but told her it was time to stop apologising for her size. ‘Stop all the crap about the weight – it doesn’t matter,’ Ms Osbourne said. ‘It’s who you are.’ But Ms Taylor may have a rival to the X Factor title. Warehouse worker Grace Davies, 20, performed a song she had written herself – and was hailed by insiders as ‘the next Adele’. Miss Davies, from Blackburn, was put through to the bootcamp stage after Cowell said her song, Roots, has the potential to be a huge success.
Sources close to Cowell said: ‘Simon sees something huge in her. She’s the early bet to win the show. Simon likes to stay relevant and wants something that’s more the Adele type.’
Among the contestants appearing tonight is a Scots singer who lost five stone before braving The X Factor. Nicole Caldwell, 27, a pub singer from Paisley, Renfrewshire, admits being overweight had dented her confidence.
She tells the judges: ‘People would say, “you should go on X Factor”.
‘I’d say, “I can’t go on X Factor, I look like this”. Two years ago I went on a health kick and lost five stone.’
Meanwhile, Cheryl is making a sensational return to the show a year after vowing never to appear again – but not alongside rival Nicole Scherzinger.
The pop star will help Cowell choose his three final acts at his home in Spain – while the former Pussycat Doll is at her own house in Los Angeles.
NICOLE SCHERZINGER says she has nothing to hide when it comes to her age – so why did she ban guests at the launch of her new perfume last week mentioning ‘ageing’ and ‘wrinkles’? Unfortunately, it proved quite a challenge – the room was full of beauty bloggers, most of whom do nothing but review wrinkle-busting potions. Tetchy Nicole, 39, – pictured left at the launch – turned up two hours late and then got one of her team to step in when one woman asked: ‘Do genetics play a big part in how smooth your skin stays?’ Did X Factor judge Louis Walsh touch a nerve when he claimed Nicole lies about her age?