Joe McElderry from South Shields

Of the star performers from the first show was undoubtedly Joe McElderry from South Shields, who blew the judges away with his soulful rendition of the Luther Vandross classic, Dance with My Father.There was an interview with Joe straight after his audition, and the young lad from the North East could barely contain his joy after getting a string of glowing comments from the judging panel.

"The judges said some amazing things about me and I honestly can't believe my audition went so well ! Simon said he thought he'd found a popstar, and Cheryl told me she was proud that I was representing the North-East... I never expected to get comments like that, and now I just want to make sure that I do just as well at bootcamp."

Not bad going for an 18 year old lad who only started singing a few years ago. Like so many other X Factor contestants from previous years, Joseph only realised he had a good voice when he tried his hand at karaoke, but once he knew he could sing he knew it was something he wanted to spend his life doing.

"I want to perform for a living and I think The X Factor is a brilliant platform for me to achieve that goal."Joe entered a local competition called ‘Pride of South Tyneside' last June, held at The Customs House in South Shields, and ended up winning performer of the year, which gave him a massive confidence boost and helped him make the decision to audition for this year's X Factor.However he admits to feeling pretty daunted when he found out the auditions were going to be in front of 2,000 strong crowds.

"At first I was nervous because it's a bit like performing in front of 2,000 extra judges, but the more I thought about it the more I started to like the idea, because I find it easier singing to a big group of people instead just three or four sat behind a desk.Now I've been out there and it's gone so well, I feel I could do it all again - I'm just so happy, I cannot wait for the next round... roll on bootcamp ! "