Most Irish eyes last Saturday were on Northern Irish singer Eoghan Quigg in the final of ITV show The X Factor. However, it has emerged that the eventual winner Alexandra Burke also has Irish blood coursing through her veins and has strong family connections with Galway.
The singer – who sang down the phone to Stevie Wonder at age 11 – is named after her Irish grandmother and she is clearly proud of her West of Ireland roots. She told newspapers recently of her Connemara-born relative: “She is originally from Co Galway and that’s obviously where the name Burke comes from.”
Burke is the 22-year-old daughter of former Soul 2 Soul lead singer Melissa Bell and has been performing since she was just five. At age 12 she was beaten to the number one spot by Joss Stone on TV show Star For A Night.
Since then though she has continued to follow her dream of becoming a professional soul singer and narrowly missed out on X Factor success in 2005. Last week, following her winning of X Factor 2008, the starlet broke all digital downloading records when her cover of Leonard Cohen’s song ‘Hallelujah’ sold over 105,000 copies in one day. It is widely believed that Burke will have the UK Christmas Chart number one record.
It is believed that the young songstress is interested in visiting her ancestral home some time in the near future
