HE captured the affections of viewers when he made it to the finals of the X Factor, and with his soulful voice, down-to-earth attitude and hard work, Andy Abraham has picked up legions of fans since.

The effusive ex-bin man who came runner-up to winner Shayne Ward in the 2005 series of the reality TV show, comes to the Cliffs Pavilion this month to sing with show the History of the Big Bands.

“It’s all about the commercial music of the Twenties, Thirties, Forties, Fifties and Sixties,” he explains.

“All the great bandleaders, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and celebrating the great singers of that time and what they were doing with the big bands – Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Junior, Ella Fitzgerald.

“It really gave me a little bit more of an education with regards to where music today came from, where it started. It’s brilliant, it’s a great show, the big band I would say are one of the best, if not the best big band, out there.”

Andy’s loved taking to the stage with the live band and adds: “It helps you with your timing, it makes you not have to rely on computers or anything like that – it’s how it used to be, with sheet music flying all over the place.”

Andy leapt to fame when he appeared on the X Factor, where with Sharon Osborne as his mentor, he made it all the way to the finals of the contest.

It wasn’t just his own vocal talents that took him through the competition – he never would have entered in the first place if it hadn’t been for the support of his wife.

“I didn’t actually enter,” Andy admits.

“It was Denise, my wife, who forged my signature on the application form, it was all down to her to be honest.”

He has nothing but praise for the experience and says: “The whole show was really good. That’s what gave me the platform to be able to sing and perform and keep a career going.”

It wasn’t without its tough moments, and Andy admits the first time he faced Simon, Louis and Sharon, he felt the pressure.

“It was daunting, it really, really was,” he says. “I have to say the first time I did my audition, not the live show, I walked down the gangway and I was as nervous as anything.

“Simon asked me my name and I told him my name, he put his hand out and shook my hand, and that just eased everything. I thought to myself myself ‘he isn’t the ugly witch dressed as a man’, he was absolutely brilliant through the whole thing.

“My mother died when I was doing the show and they were all fantastic – it was a real serious journey and I’ll always be grateful to the X Factor.”

Another tense moment for Andy was the final, as they waited to hear who’d won the series – but Sharon stepped in to ease his nerves.

“I felt like a waxwork coz I couldn’t move,” admits Andy. “But the great thing was while they were making the announcement Sharon said ‘listen, don’t worry, whatever the result don’t worry because you’re signed. We’ve got the deal.’ “I was like ‘really?’ and she was like ‘yeah, we’ve got the deal’, and I thought ‘hey, no problem if Shayne wins – well done to him.’ “I was very happy.”

The show also saw one of the highlights of Andy’s career – getting to meet his idol Lionel Richie.

“I got advice from Lionel Richie,” he says. “Just speaking to Lionel I was a little bit starstruck. He was lovely, what you saw on TV that was him to me, he was very humble and very constructive and an absolutely brilliant man.

“His advice and Sharon’s advice has stuck with me.”

Andy’s has had success with solo albums since the X Factor – and was picked to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest.

“Eurovision was the best stage I’ve performed on,” says Andy, who ended up coming equal last in the 2008 European competition.

“You could see the amount of money that’d been put into it. The fact that it was Belgrade as well, the experience was an incredible one – regardless of the points tally and the political voting it was really about the performing and that was incredible.”

Although other highlights for Andy have included selling out the Royal Albert Hall and playing at a charity event for Muhammad Ali – “to have a photo with him – which is sitting in my front room” – there’s still more he hopes to achieve in the next few years.

“There’s still many more dreams I want to fulfil,” he says. “I’m onto my fourth album and that’s an amazing dream.

“I’m promoting that now and then hopefully next year I’m looking at releasing a new originals-based album and going on tour with that – and hopefully one day I can have an arena tour, that’s the dream, that’s the next step.”

Win Tickets: THE Echo has teamed up with the promoters of the show to offer lucky readers some fabulous prizes. Up for grabs are a first prize package of two tickets plus a copy of Andy’s album which you can get signed at the show, and four more pairs of tickets as runner-up prizes. To be in with a chance of winning answer this question: Who won the last X Factor competition? To enter by phone, call 09012210029 and leave your answer and details when prompted, or text 80360 starting with ANDY leave a space, followed by your answer, name and contact details. Calls cost no more than 26p per minute from a BT landline. Calls from mobiles and some other networks may cost more. Texts cost 25p plus your normal operator text charge. Telephone and text voting lines open May 18, 2012, and close on May 25, 2012, at 11.59pm. For full terms, visit www.newsquest. co.uk/terms. Service Provided by Newsquest Media Group.