X Factor 2008 - Meet the finalists
Tuesday, 7th October 2008
The four X Factor judges have each chosen the three acts they think have the best chance of winning the show.
Boys | Girls | Over 25s | Groups
Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue, Cheryl Cole and Louis Walsh are all now busy preparing their acts for the live X Factor finals.
But until the shows start on 11th October, very little is known of each of the finalists.
So we've got an overview of all the contestants vying to be the new Leona Lewis over the next twelve weeks.
Click on the links or the photos below for full profiles of them all!
The boys
Simon Cowell has chosen three very different singers as he attempts to mentor the X Factor 2008 winner.
21 year-old Austin Drage from Essex is a powerful vocalist who feels working in music is his destiny.
Eoghan Quigg is a sixteen year old schoolboy from Derry, Northern Ireland, whose tenderly soft voice will surely melt female viewers' hearts.
Manchester 19 year-old Scott Bruton jacked in his job as a Pontin's Bluecoat to live the X Factor dream and is ready to show he's a top class singer.
The girls
Cheryl Cole had the toughest task of all the X Factor judges in choosing her final three as all six of the X Factor acts she took to Cannes showed flashes of brilliance. But the three she settled on are all potential winners.
20 year-old Alexandra Burke was rejected at the Judges Houses stage three years ago but has come back stronger than ever, her voice maturing into one of the strongest the X Factor has ever seen.
Diana Vickers is a 17 year-old student who is hoping her quirky, different voice will be appreciated by the judges and viewers alike.
Jazz-singing Bolton girl Laura White, also 17, should find the X Factor audience a breeze after she sang in front of 15,000 shoppers at the switch-on of her town's Christmas lights.
The over 25s
The singers in Dannii Minogue's over 25s category had possibly the most interesting personal stories that the X Factor will ever see, so it was an emotional time when Dannii picked her three finalists.
It's impossible to watch the X Factor without being touched by the story of 38 year-old Daniel Evans whose wife died last year just after the birth of their baby girl. He has a voice that is capable of giving all X Factor acts a run for their money though, so keep an eye out.
Then if that wasn't enough to get you going, there's Rachel Hylton, a 26 year-old mum-of-five from South East London who has been in prison after getting mixed up with drugs but is determined to succeed on the X Factor with a voice comparable to Amy Winehouse.
Dannii's final choice was Spanish 25 year-old Ruth Lorenzo who seemed a very good singer until Simon Cowell asked her to add some Mediterranean spice to her performances in the auditions... which made her an outstanding singer!
In particular her Anglo-Spanish version of True Colours gave guest judge Emma Bunton goosebumps.
The groups
Louis Walsh is perhaps the best judge to mentor the groups, having nurtured Boyzone and Westlife to worldwide success in the last ten years.
He settled on two girl groups and a boy group to take to the finals.
Bad Lashes are a four piece girl group from the North East, aged 19-23, who have an array of singing experience including one member of the band who auditioned for the very first X Factor as a soloist.
Super-sexy Bristol quartet Girlband were fed up of being rejected as soloists in various auditions over the years so decided to form Girlband. The girls are aged 17-22 and, like rivals Bad Lashes, have a sound not dissimilar to Girls Aloud.
It wasn't a case of Louis choosing a boy band just to balance the male-female split in his category because his final choice JLS are a class act. The four chirpy London-based lads that make up the group have a unique harmonious sound not seen by many X Factor boy bands before them.
Who do you think will win this year? Leave your comments below
Photos: ITV
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