Alexandra Burke was born on August 25 1988. She began singing at just five years old. At age 9, and despite having had no vocal training, she began singing on-stage with her mother Melissa Bell, ex-Soul II Soul's member. Three years later, she took part in a TV show dubbed "Star for a Night" and became the youngest contestant in the show. She didn't win the competition however, as Joss Stone got the number one prize.
After she left school, Alexandra decided she wanted a career in music. She sang in clubs in UK during weekends, and performed at larger venues like The Royal Albert Hall touring with "Young Voices", a charity that raises money for children with Leukemia.
When she was seventeen, Alexandra auditioned for "The X Factor" and made it through to the final seven in Louis Walsh's 16-24 category. However, she wasn't chosen for his final four because he felt that she was too young. Refusing to step back, she had, once again, auditioned for the singing competition in 2008 and was mentored by Girls Aloud's Cheryl Cole. Luckily for her, Cheryl chose her among other contestants to perform at the finals.
In the first live show, Alexandra performed Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". For the second show, she covered The Jackson Five's "I'll Be There" but unfortunately was criticized by judge Simon Cowell as a "copycat." Learning from each of the show and practicing hard, she finally gained her first standing ovation from audience when she sang Christina Aguilera's song "Candyman" during the Big Band week.
Continuing getting positive responses, Alexandra finally made it through the grand final, joining Irish teenager Eoghan Quigg and JLS. She collaborated with Beyonce Knowles singing "Dreamgirls" soundtrack "Listen" and for the first time performed what would become her debut single "Hallelujah", the track was made famous by Leonard Cohen. When it came to the winner's announcement, she was revealed to be the lucky one collecting 58% of the final vote.