- Lauren hopes to be getting the ‘yes’ from Simon Cowell
A 17-year-old singer-songwriter from Stone hopes to be performing in front of Simon Cowell and company later this year after she made it through two rounds of X Factor auditions for this year’s competition.
Lauren Battersby has performed a number of songs in front of the ITV show’s executive producers. One of just 100 selected from over 3000 hopefuls for the Manchester auditions, she is now waiting to hear whether she’ll get the chance to perform in front of the star-studded judging panel in September.
However, it was something as a surprise for Lauren when she got a letter though the door confirming that her X Factor application had been accepted – her mum had applied in secret, sending in one of Lauren’s numerous YouTube video performances.
Here’s Lauren singing Adele’s Rolling In The Deep
[youtube siYKT45JR7Q]
Former Alleyne’s High School student Lauren, who’s now studying theatre at Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College, is no stranger to the stage. She recently took the starring role as Belle in Stone’s Pop Star Stage Academy’s production of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ at the Mitchell Arts Centre, she regularly performs at acoustic nights in Stone and recently landed a job as a singer at The Olives restaurant.
Lauren said: “I’m really excited – I auditioned last year but didn’t even get through to the first stage, which really knocked my confidence. I took it quite badly and I said I would never do it again, but now I’m really glad that mum sent off my audition tapes. We’re now just keeping everything crossed that I get the chance to sing for the judges!”
Elaine Bird, principal at Rooftop Studios, where Lauren has been a student of the school’s PSSA since the class started four years ago, said: “It’s fantastic that Lauren has got through these incredibly tough auditions – however, given her talent I can’t say we’re all that surprised! We’ll all be watching her closely on her journey. She’s definitely got the X factor so I am sure she’ll go far!”
