Hello, it's Kate here. And across the course of March, we've been celebrating some of the most

inspirational women who've ever appeared on the podcast. And let me tell you, there are plenty in her

archive. Pop your corks and enjoy. Thanks as always for listening. Coming up on this episode

of White Wine Question Time.

Both of them inspire me on a daily basis.

And even though my baby's not here, I'm still inspired by him every day.

Just from speaking to all the people that getting in touch saying that he did this for them or he did that for them, he gave him his first job there, or he introduced him to that, and now they're doing this, and then I blacked out and collapsed at my 21st birthday party, and went to see the doctor, and they said I was four and a half months of Bricman. Anyone who worked for Virgin, he had an open day, a family day, and it was, like, at his home. And I took Jamar and Senea, and that was where he first met Richard Branson, who later then became a mentor of his, yeah, I don't think Richard Branson is no, that.

Hello and welcome to White Wine Question Time.

The podcast had asked its guests, three thought-provoking questions over three glasses of wine.

And my guest this week is a woman who first stepped into our public consciousness when she auditioned for the second series of the X Factor back in 2005.

As the host of the show at the time, I remember only too well meeting her for the very first time outside the audition room.

She was surrounded by family, the mother of two young

children, with a full-beam smile and a voice that could and did raise the roof. With Sharon Osborne

as her judge and mentor, she made it all the way to fourth place and walked away from the show

and her job in accounts to become a West End leading lady. But her love for music predates the

show. Her earliest memories as a child

are of the melodic hum of her parents' vinyl records crackling through their home in Luton. A music

vast became her solace after she tragically lost both of her parents in a devastating car

accident when she was just four years old, three nights before Christmas. In the midst of

unimaginable loss, music became a real source of strength for the family. And she learned to sing at the top of her voice at her local Pentecostal Gospel Church. And from there followed gigs as an adult at weddings, funerals and bar mitzvah, while she worked full-time in accounts in an office job all the while, raising two young children, Jamal and Tunisia.

She left the show and her career soared.

She won rave reviews in the West End on shows like Chicago, Carousel, Hairspray,

...