The winner of this year's X Factor is the brilliant 20-year-old Alexandra Burke (from North London!).

Alexandra started singing around the house when she was just 5. At 9 years old she sang on stage in Bahrain with her mother, one of the singers from ‘Soul to Soul’, and the audience loved her. From that moment onwards she was hooked on performing.

At the age of 12 years Alexandra entered ‘Star for a Night’ where she was the youngest person in the competition but was beaten to the no.1 spot by Joss Stone. When she first started school she was bullied because she won all the singing competitions and was in all of the school choirs. As time went on the bullying resided and she now has fond memories of school. She left school after her GCSEs to pursue a career in music.

When Alexandra’s mum asked her to sing to Jean Carne, Jean was so impressed she asked her to perform at her show the next night and at 12 she sung down the phone to Stevie Wonder. Alexandra recently went on tour with ‘Young Voices’ a charity that raises money for children with Leukaemia where she has performed at huge venues like The Royal Albert Hall.

Alexandra has lived in Islington all of her life and has 4 brothers and 1 sister. When she was 5 years old her parents split up and only recently has her father been there for her and her siblings. Alexandra’s Grandfather was always the backbone to the family and when he passed away in 2004 it left them devastated.

Alexandra has had no professional vocal training and learnt to sing through her mother and by listening to music. Her other hobbies include acting, dancing, and going to the gym.

After auditioning for X Factor in 2005 she got through to the judge’s house’s stage but was kicked out by Louis as he thought she was too young. Despite this she continued singing at small events and writing her own songs and she can’t imagine doing anything else.

Visit Alexandra's official website at www.alexandraburkeofficial.com for more info and to watch all of her performances on the X Factor live shows.

This young lady is going to be a star.

<3 Alexandra.

Alexandra's debut single is a cover of the Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah.
The song is already available to download and the CD single is released to shops today.
Already Alexandra has broken records, as the song sold over 105,000 digital downloads in its first 24 hours of release, becoming the fastest selling download ever in Europe.
Hallelujah is almost certainly going to be 2008's Christmas #1.

Watch the music video for Hallelujah on Alexandra's official website.

Alexandra has already had a #1 single with the X Factor finalists on the charity single Hero, a cover of Mariah Carey's 1993 song.
The song stayed at the top spot for 3 weeks, selling 520,000 copies and raising over £1 million for the Help For Heroes charity.
Alexandra is one of the main vocalists on the song and, as usual, does a fantastic job.

Watch the music video for Hero here.

I thought this deserved its own post, so I'm giving it one...


An absolutely incredible performance and magical moment.

And as an extra, here is Alexandra performing a beautiful acappella version of Listen at her homecoming concert in Camden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-norEULJD0M
I was lucky enough to watch this performance live and it was simply amazing.

Wow could she be another Leona Lewis?

wow, she's absolutely amazing.
such a strong, beautiful voice.
xx

Alex is amazing i voted for her loads

She's really talented My best friend likes her a lot

Successfully, I hope so, but Leona had huge support left, right and centre from very powerful people, such as Clive Davis.
And while Leona was supposedly the "chosen one" on the X Factor, Alexandra was sort of a dark horse, and I don't think many people (if any) expected her to win at the start of the competition - most of the attention was on Laura and Diana, and Alexandra just seemed to come out of nowhere!

But, according to this article - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/artic...nload-EVER.html - it looks like Alexandra has Simon's backing:

58% of the vote compared to eghoens 1%

LOL!
xx

she has a really nice voice

Alexandra is this year's Christmas number one with Hallelujah, which has become the fastest selling single in the UK by a solo female artist of all time.
The single sold 576,046 copies, beating Leona Lewis' first week sales of 571,253 with her debut single A Moment Like This.
In at #2 is Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah, selling 80,883 copies, while Leonard Cohen's original version of the song came in at #36 with 6,922 sales.
Beyoncé's 2007 single Listen, which she sang with Alexandra on the X Factor last week makes a reappearance at a new peak of #8 (it originally peaked at #16), selling 28,913 copies.

Congratulations to Alexandra and be sure to watch her performing her #1 single on Top Of The Pops on Christmas day!

have you seen the winners interveiw with her and cheryl?

there like sat on the step of the stage, its funny, ill try & find the link in a bit.

she is great!!!!

ahh i want to see it! sounds funny!

i feel stupid to have snubbed the show, i thought usually it makes people who have 1 good song and then flop...
but leona is amazing! i didn't think there would be anyone as good again!!!
but ahhhh, alex is amazing!! she's different to leona i think! but just as good
love her

the interview

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=K6ALNDILPqk

thanks

victory dance in simon's bedroom..... haha

no worries (:

baha :')

the garrard bit too.







oohh anddd apparentely (my mum told me, ill ask her when its not 4 in the morning where she found out from) that cheryl is alex's manager. that simon and alex asked her to.

I don't think Cheryl is Alex's actual manager.
I'm pretty sure it's part of the contract that she has to be managed by Modest! (who manage all the X Factor winners/runners up as well as Brian and Delta for that matter).
There was supposedly some big argument with JLS, as they wanted to be managed by Louis but were contractually obliged to wait until their management with Modest! had expired.

http://www.unrealitytv.co.uk/x-factor/alex...-official-role/
http://angryape.com/news/2008/12/17/cheryl...a-burkes-career


i couldnt find the on my mum was on about but i found theese two

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/xfactor/a13869...-my-career.html

found this too.

ir recon she will in some way, simon likes cheryl, cheryl is good at it, simon can pull strings

Alexandra has held on to the #1 spot for a second week running with Hallelujah selling 311,887 copies.
This brings Alexandra's total sales up to 887,953, beating Leona's overall sales for A Moment Like This (840,000 copies).
This also means that Alexandra had 2008's highest selling single in the UK.
The #2 single of the year, Hero, by the X Factor Finalists (including Alex) sold 751,000 copies.

I'm sure Cheryl will play a part in Alexandra's career, but officially I think Modest! is her management.

oh wow! hope it's true!!

btw i love your sig

same, & thanks

is alex's album out in march?

cos its on pre order on some website

Don't forget to watch Alexandra's duet with Elton John performance of Hallelujah tonight on Elton's New Year's Eve Party from 11:15pm on ITV1.


It is apparently scheduled for release in March, but I don't know whether that'll change because both Leona and Leon released their albums in October/November time, so that they could promote it on the X Factor.

Hallelujah is at #1 for a third week running, selling 104,454 copies this week.
The total sales for the single are now at 992,387, so expect it to hit the million mark very soon.

In its fourth week on the chart, Hallelujah drops to #3, selling 34,440 copies.
However this brings its total sales to 1,026,828, making it the tenth single to sell over a million copies in the 21st century.
It is also the first million seller by a UK female solo artist ever.

She was good would've been nice to have seen ruth in the final

Hallelujah falls 3 spots to #6 this week.
I don't have the exact sales figures, but it has sold something between 23,397 and 27,107 copies.

Hallelujah is at #11 this week, selling something between 13,655 and 16,941 copies.

and less than a month to the X Factor Tour...is anyone from the Forum going?

I'm going on 25th Aberdeen AECC quite excited!

Hallelujah is at #23 this week, selling something between 6,710 and 11,102 copies.

Hallelujah has also been nominated for the British Single award at this year's BRITs.
You can vote for Alexandra on the BRITs website at http://www.brits.co.uk/vote

Hallelujah is at #32 this week, selling something between 6,452 and 8,078 copies.

Burke signs $3.5m US record deal

X Factor winner Alexandra Burke is to launch her career in the US after signing a $3.5m (£2.4m) record deal.

Burke, 20, who won the fifth series of X Factor in the UK in December, has agreed the deal with the Epic label.

In the UK, she became the first British female solo artist to sell a million singles, with her debut Hallelujah.

She is flying to the US to work with Simon Cowell on her launch. Burke's X Factor predecessor Leona Lewis has enjoyed huge success in the US.

Lewis, who won the talent series in 2007, also signed a huge US deal and has been working with the man who discovered singer Whitney Houston. Clive Davis, 74, also mentored Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake.

In April 2008, Lewis became the first UK female solo artist to go straight to number one in the US album chart.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7887954.stm

Hallelujah has moved up 4 spots to #28 this week, selling just under 8,167 copies.
This was probably due to the fact that the song was used on last week's Dancing On Ice.
Interestingly, Hallelujah is the #1 physical single, selling 1,981 CD copies.

I am so pleased she is the 2nd X Factor winner to get a US deal. Lets hope she can do what Leona has done!

Hallelujah drops out of the top 40 this week, at #47.
As of last week, the total sales of the single were 1,092,580, making it the 8th best seller of the decade, just behind Shayne Ward's That's My Goal, which sold 1,100,000 copies.

Meanwhile, Alexandra is currently on the X Factor Live Tour.

Hallelujah has become the biggest selling X Factor single to date, after outselling Shayne Ward's That's My Goal.
Below are the top 10 selling singles of the decade:

1. Will Young - Evergreen/Anything Is Possible 1,800,000
2. Gareth Gates - Unchained Melody 1,400,000
3. Tony Christie - Is This The Way To Amarillo 1,190,892
4. Shaggy - It Wasn't Me 1,190,000
5. Band Aid 20 - Do They Know It's Christmas 1,140,000
6. Alexandra Burke – Hallelujah 1,102,050
7. Kylie Minogue - I Can't Get You Out Of My Head 1,100,000
8. Shayne Ward - That's My Goal 1,100,000
9. Hear'Say - Pure & Simple 1,075,000
10. Bob The Builder - Can We Fix It 1,009,000

This also means that Alexandra has the biggest selling single from a female artist, beating Kylie!

Can't wait for her album. She so pretty

i'd never heard of her before
her voice is...wow

I thought it would be time to bump up this thread, in preparation for the release of Alexandra's debut album.
The new single is called Bad Boys and features Flo Rida.
It will be released on 12th October, followed by the album on 26th October.
The song will premiere on radio tomorrow on the Chris Moyles breakfast show - funnily enough, it will also be Alexandra's 21st birthday.

Here's some info about the song from Popjustice:



Think of 'Hallelujah', then think of the opposite.

Some important points here, in no particular order:

» The single is called 'Bad Boys' and it features US rap gentleman Flo Rida.

» The writing credits are Larry Summerville Jr, Busbee, Lauren Evans and Alexander James. The song is produced by The Phantom Boyz.

» The song's intro is a brilliant hybrid of the intros to Britney's 'Womanizer' and Girls Aloud's 'Biology' (ie it's quite noisy and exciting sounding) except with Flo Rida shouting over the top and a demented elasticated siren effect bouncing from speaker to speaker. The track's definitely in the same ball park as things like 'Womanizer', but with a slightly more euphoric disco feel.

» 'Bad Boys' is about Alexandra fancying dangerous men. "Some people call them players but I'm far from terrified," she says in the song's opening lines, "somehow I'm drawn to danger and have been all my life." The nature of these boys' actual 'badness' is not specifed. We're not sure if it's Josef Fritzl level badness or just 'has three points on his driving licence after doing 37 in a 30 zone'. Probably the latter, on reflection. Still, imagine the video for the former.

» The chorus has a really strong melodic topline - the lyrics are "the bad boys are always catching my eye, the mad boys are always spinning my mind, even though I know they're no good for me it's the risk I take for the chemistry, and the bad boys are always catching my eye".

» This is NOT A BALLAD. This is THE OPPOSITE OF A BALLAD. (Mind you it would probably lend itself quite well to one of those stripped down piano versions that seem to be all the rage these days.) We estimate this song to be about 140bpm and HIGHLY DANCEABLE. Alex's vocals sound very Whitneyish in parts and this is the sort of song we'd like to imagine Donna Summer coming out with if she was twenty years old in 2009. Sadly she is not twenty years old in 2009. She is far older.

» Flo Rida is in two parts of this song - the intro ("FLO RIDA! ALEXANDRA GIRL I KNOW WHAT YOU LIKE!" yeah alright calm down mate) and the middle eight. The middle eight is Flo explaining to the listener to just what an extent Alexandra Burke is actually fond of 'bad boys' and badness in general. One particularly earth-shattering moment comes with the announcement that "with even the alphabet she only sings the crooked letters". (Amazing.)

» In terms of vocal acrobatics 'Bad Boys' has a singy chorus but it's not a 'look at me I'm a singer' chorus, and the same goes for the rest of the track. It works briliantly - sometimes we can't help but feel (this is probably just us but still) that there's something quite exciting about an incredible singer being forced to follow a very strong and melodic topline instead of going all over the show. It's like pop singer bondage. *Cut to shot of Eoghan Quigg wanking with orange in mouth*

» There's no fade at the end, just an amazing BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BAD BOYS BAD BOYS which will hopefully be accompanied by an eyebrow-burning quantity of pyrotechnics when Alexandra turns up to The X Factor in order to warble the tune on the day of its release.

» 'Bad Boys' is out on October 12. As is the modern way, Alexandra has also recorded an 'album' - a dozen or so songs grouped together - and that will be released on October 26. You can hear 'Bad Boys' tomorrow morning on Chris Moyles' Radio One breakfast show.

» We have listened to this song 41 times since it arrived in the post earlier today. It's basically brilliant.

http://www.popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3969&Itemid=206

^Nice pic.
Deffo going to buy the album
Love the pic with Cheryl and Beyonce my fav pic of Alexandra

Bad Boys is out on radio now, so listen out for it.
YouTube are quick to take down the song whenever it's been uploaded, but I'm sure you'll be able to find it easily.
I'm not a particular fan of Flo Rida, so luckily for me (and the listeners of Radio 2), there's a version without him you can listen to here at about 1 hour 40 minutes in.

I'm really liking the song - it's got a very catchy chorus but the verses aren't as strong.
I can see it being very successful - it probably won't be another "Bleeding Love" but it definitely won't share the same fate as "Don't Call This Love" (which I think was pretty underrated).
I'm looking forward to seeing the video and Alexandra's performance on the X Factor.

my best friend is like her biggest fan and now she's so excited about 'bad boys' so i listened to it too and i like it ha

i love Hallelujah!!

The music video for Bad Boys is out now - you can watch it here.

I think it suits the song well, but it is VERY American.
It's likely that it didn't get as big a budget as Bleeding Love did, but overall I like the whole story that goes with it, including the little bit after Flo Rida's rap.

By the way, the debut album will be called Overcome.

Alexandra's first original single Bad Boys featuring Flo Rida is out today.
Bad Boys is up against Robbie Williams's comeback single Bodies for the #1 spot this week.

Be sure to watch Alexandra's incredible performance of Bad Boys on the X Factor last night here.