Leon Jackson

Leon Jackson, 21 (born 30 December 1988), is a Scottish singer who won the fourth series of the popular British television talent show, The X Factor, in 2007. His debut single, a cover of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey's duet "When You Believe", was digitally released on 16 December 2007 and was available in shops from 19 December 2007. It achieved the coveted UK Christmas #1 spot on 23 December 2007, and to date has spent three weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart. Leon Jackson was born in Whitburn, West Lothian, Scotland, and currently lives there with his mother Wendy, who brought him up as a single parent. He formerly worked as a retail sales assistant in GAP. Jackson only started considering singing as an perspective career in early 2007, when his friends entered him into a karaoke competition - which he won. Apart from his hobby of karate, in which he is a black belt, Jackson says that singing is the only thing that makes him happy. He is a huge fan of contemporary jazz, his hero being Michael Bublé, and in December 2007, Jackson performed with Michael Bublé at Wembley Arena, singing Bublé's "Home". Jackson said this was the highlight of his life as Bublé is his idol. Before he made it through to the finals of The X Factor, Jackson had been planning to start an architectural technology course at Napier University. Jackson auditioned for The X Factor in Glasgow, having only started singing properly in January 2007 after his mother bought him an iPod, on which he had started to record his voice. Mentored by Dannii Minogue, Jackson was an outsider to win the competition. However, he made it through to the final stages and was announced the winner on 15 December 2007, beating runner-up Rhydian Roberts to win a £1 million recording contract with Syco Music/Sony BMG. Jackson's second single, "Don't Call This Love", from his debut album Right Now, was released on 12 October 2008, peaking at #3 in the United Kingdom and #8 in Ireland. The album was released on 21 October 2008, and reached #4 in the UK and #7 in Ireland. However, Sony BMG was disappointed with sales, and he was dropped from the label on March 19 2009. Jackson has announced that he would change his musical genre from jazz to more guitar-led music. He is working with other musicians including Scottish singer Paolo Nutini's co-writer Jim Duguid as well as writers who have worked with James Morrison. He is currently working on an new album.