Читать книгу Union J - The Story - Tina Campanella - Страница 11
ОглавлениеBoth Triple J and George Shelley had made it through to Bootcamp, but they had a long way to go yet. They’d had time to calm down from the initial excitement of their successful audition, and all their friends and family had told them over and over that they were so talented – they really believed they could do it. This was their big chance…
But as they travelled to Liverpool for the intense three days of Bootcamp, their nerves had all started up again. Only 25 acts would go through to the Judges’ Houses and when they arrived at the Echo Arena, the boys could see that it would be an epic competition.
The room was full – with 211 acts, to be exact, and the judges would have to be super-harsh when they made their final cuts. One small slip-up and they would be out.
The tension was unbelievable. Hardly anyone ate or drank anything; they were all so nervous. The waiting room was a cacophony of voices, all singing different songs at the same time.
The boys were all relieved when they survived the shocking first cut, which saw 70 acts eliminated from the competition in a new twist for the X Factor contestants. Those acts weren’t even given the chance to sing again before they were axed. For them, their dreams were over – for that year, anyway. Plenty of people audition for the show year after year, hoping they will have improved enough to finally make it.
The rest of the singers were put into groups and had to take part in a nerve-wracking sing-off.
As the three days passed, the number of acts slowly dwindled. Many went home and had to be comforted by their friends and family.
George Shelley had met Triple J during these exciting days and had instantly liked Josh, JJ and Jaymi. They were all of a similar age, and bonded over their shared nerves. But Triple J were sad when they found out that George didn’t make it through Bootcamp.
He left Liverpool and went home, wishing his new friends in Triple J all the best and trying to figure out how he would ever get used to normal life again. Meanwhile, Triple J were still going strong, but now the judges had a problem. They’d found it really difficult to whittle down the acts, and now they were well and truly stuck: there was one spot left and two bands who desperately wanted to fill it.
Both were talented and good-looking groups of guys and it would be hard to choose between them.
They were GMD3 and Triple J.
The two hopeful bands would have to go head to head in front of the judges and they needed to sing their hearts out for the final spot.
Standing on stage, Triple J looked over at their rivals. They were handsome lads and they could certainly sing – they’d heard them practising so they knew they would be stiff competition.
Gary looked at them all and explained the situation.
‘Okay, guys, the only way of settling this is to battle it out,’ he said. ‘We want to hear you sing again.’
Each band took a minute to decide what they would perform. They all huddled together, whispering secretively. Sipping water, Josh told the other Triple J boys: ‘We’ve just got to not make a mistake.’
It was true, but the boys were so nervous, it would be difficult not to let everything overwhelm them.
‘Triple J, can you go first?’ asked Gary, kindly. Nodding in reply, the boys took a few deep breaths and began.
Their words echoed hauntingly around the stage. Harmonising to ‘Yeah’ by Chris Brown, the GMD3 boys bobbed their heads to the sound of their rivals’ voices. It was clean and in time, and the boys had done themselves proud.
The judges watched intently as they performed with no backing track. Even GMD3 looked nervous, which the Triple J boys took to be a good sign.
‘Okay, guys,’ Gary said to GMD3. ‘Are you ready?’
This was it – this was what it had come down to. The next few minutes would decide whether Triple J would go on to be mentored at the Judges’ Houses – or whether they would be going home. They just had to hope that whatever the GMD3 boys sang, it wasn’t as good as what they’d just offered up to the judges. But sadly, it was…
Singing ‘Bless the Broken Road’, the performance was almost faultless. They sounded much less nervous than Triple J, and the boys wished that they’d had the chance to go second. It had given Greg, Mickey and Dan time to compose themselves, with the result being a beautiful performance.
Triple J looked devastated but the judges hadn’t immediately made up their minds, and instead they whispered to each other, deep in concentration.
All the boys could do now was wait.
‘It’s very close, there’s not much between them,’ said Gary, knitting his brow in concentration.
‘This is tough, they both did so good,’ said former Pussycat Doll and fellow judge Nicole Scherzinger.
On stage, Triple J looked close to tears, desperately hoping for the wait to end. It was torture for all the boys, who had worked so hard to get to that stage. Finally, Gary spoke. It was time to put everyone out of their misery.
‘Okay, guys, you’ve been neck and neck throughout this competition and I’m sorry it’s come down to this,’ he said, ‘but we’ve got to pick one of you right now.’
He paused while both the bands made silent prayers.
‘The act taking the last place at the Judges’ Houses is… GMD3.’
It was all over for Triple J.
The boys were gutted.
JJ courageously said thank you to the judges, before throwing his arms around Mickey from GMD3.
Backstage, the boys wiped the tears from their eyes and once more embraced.
‘We’re not going to walk away downhearted,’ they said after composing themselves. ‘We’ve got this far, we’ve got to keep our heads high and carry on.’
Then they went home, where their families tried their best to console them.
Soon after, Louis’ bands were all set to fly to Las Vegas for the next stage of the competition – the Judges’ Houses. Rough Copy, MK1, GMD3, Mitsotu, Poisonous Twins and Duke all had their bags packed and were ready to go. But before they could leave, Rough Copy received some devastating news: one of the band members had a visa application being considered by the UK Border Agency and so he couldn’t leave the country in case he wasn’t allowed back in.
The producers were so excited about them as a band, but they found out about the potentially difficult situation just as they were organising flights for everyone. The judges had no choice but to axe Rough Copy from the competition. And that left space for one act to be recalled to The X Factor but who would it be?
Louis had a lot of thinking to do. There were two bands that he was considering taking to the next stage in their place – Times Red and Triple J. But there wasn’t enough time to decide between them so they were both invited along to the Judges’ Houses round.
Triple J couldn’t believe their ears when they heard the news. They had gone back to their old lives and old jobs, and were trying hard to move on, but now they were back in The X Factor! With one more chance to show they were worthy of the public’s adoration, they packed their suitcases in a hurry to leave.
But Louis had one more surprise up his sleeve: he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about another of the acts that the judges had axed. And he had an idea that wouldn’t go away.
He picked up the phone and dialled one more number…
George Shelley was at home in Bristol when the phone rang. As the caller started to speak he couldn’t believe who he was talking to. Louis Walsh. X Factor Judge. Boyband King.
‘Yes, yes, of course,’ he mumbled. And then put the phone down. Had that conversation been real? Did Louis Walsh really just say what he thought he’d said?
George was back in The X Factor! He was going to join his new friends, Triple J, to make the band a fab foursome. And they would have a new name.
Union J was born.
DID YOU KNOW?
Josh’s nan spent over £800 on tickets to see him in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – she went every week!
Let’s take a look at who made it through Bootcamp…
MENTOR: NICOLE SCHERZINGER (BOYS)
JAHMENE DOUGLAS
Fact: Schoolfriends of the shy Swindon supermarket worker used to pay him in sweets to sing.
NATHAN FAGAN-GAYLE
Fact: Nathan had two top 40 singles before joining The X Factor – under the guise of ‘StarBoy Nathan’.
JAKE QUICKENDEN
Fact: A lifeguard from Scunthorpe, Jake hoped to win so that he could pay his mum back the cash he owed her.
ADAM BURRIDGE
Fact: An admin worker from Middlesex, Adam dreamt of playing at Glastonbury.
JAMES ARTHUR
Fact: James ran away from home when he was young and has always said music is his coping mechanism.
RYLAN CLARK
Fact: An Essex model, Rylan’s dream is to release a dance album.
MENTOR: TULISA CONTOSTAVLOS (GIRLS)
JADE ELLIS
Fact: A London bike mechanic, this single mum hoped to win to provide a good life for her daughter.
AMY MOTTRAM
Fact: Student Amy has been nicknamed the ‘Essex Adele’ because of her big voice.
LUCY SPRAGGAN
Fact: The Sheffield portrait-seller bravely performed her own song at the first audition.
LEANNE ROBINSON
Fact: A sales assistant in London, Leanne prided herself on having no gimmick about her – just a fab voice.
ELLA HENDERSON
Fact: Ella overwhelmed the judges, but couldn’t believe she’d got through Bootcamp.
JADE COLLINS
Fact: The Belfast student enlisted her mum’s help to make her stage outfits.
MENTOR: LOUIS WALSH (GROUPS)
MITSOTU (HOLLY COOPER, JAMES COLLINS AND JIMMY ESSEX)
Fact: The North London trio said they were shocked at how emotional it was on the show – and by the lack of sleep!
DUKE (MARKO PANDAZIS, EDWARD TRAVERS AND FLYNN STRONACH)
Fact: The beatboxers from Gloucestershire got a massive 2,000 new Twitter followers in the two hours after their first audition.
MK1 (CHARLIE, REAL NAME, LOTTE RUNDLE AND SIMEON DIXON)
Fact: The London dubstep group dropped their third member after the judges said he looked like an accountant!
POISONOUS TWINS (STEPHANIE MCMICHAEL AND SOPHIE HOUGHTON)
Fact: This was Liverpool born Steph’s second try at fame – after being first out of 2008’s Big Brother.
TIMES RED (STAZ NAIR, SCOTT RITCHIE, LUKE WHITE)
Fact: Geri Halliwell was particularly taken by the sexy Times Red trio.
DISTRICT 3 (DAN FERRARI-LANE, MICKY PARSONS, GREG WEST)
Fact: District 3 were originally called GMD3.
And of course, our boys: Union J.
MENTOR: GARY BARLOW (OVER 28S)
BRAD SHACKLETON
Fact: A London motivational speaker, Brad’s dream was to work with Gary Barlow.
MELANIE MASSON
Fact: The Glaswegian full-time mum-of-two belted out Janis Joplin’s ‘Cry Baby’ at her audition.
CHRISTOPHER MALONEY
Fact: The Liverpool customer services adviser deliberated for five years before entering The X Factor.
CAROLYNNE POOLE
Fact: A casino singer from Huddersfield, Carolynne got as far as the X Factor Judges’ Houses in the previous year.
KYE SONES
Fact: A London chimney sweep, Kye used to be in electro-pop band, Diagram Of The Heart.
NICOLA-MARIE BLOOR
Fact: The Derbyshire lass had been an Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga tribute act before she went to auditions.
