Singer Sam ‘Wants To Prove Gary Barlow Wrong’

Millions of music fans will tune in to X Factor this weekend and could see teenage singing sensation Sam Callahan perform at Wembley Arena.

The nervous teen from Great Totham auditioned in Cardiff in June just in front of judges Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne, Nicole Scherzinger and Gary Barlow.

He impressed them enough to make it through to the second stage of the show, a performance in front of thousands of fans at Wembley Arena.

Both the Cardiff audition and Wembley performance could be screened on Saturday and Sunday on ITV at 8pm.

At Cardiff the 19-year-old performed You’re Beautiful by James Blunt and We’ll Be Coming Back by Calvin Harris.

Sam, a former Heathcote School pupil, said: “I must admit it was really scary. I love performing in front of large crowds because I really feed off the energy and getting everyone going – but performing in front of such a small audience knowing you have to impress was nerve-racking.

“Nicole, Louis, and Sharon were all really positive about my first audition so I was pleased with that, but Gary was slightly negative.

“I’m going to try my very best to win over Gary and prove to him that I want to work as hard as I can and go as far as I can in this competition.”

Sam, who is often compared to X-Factor success story Olly Murs, endured three producers’ auditions before he made it in front of the judges and under the TV show’s strict rules he is unable to reveal the outcome of his Wembley performance in front of 4,000 people.

He said: “I was apprehensive at first before going on to the X Factor because I had heard how difficult it can be.”

But Sam is no stranger to performing, after winning a place at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London in 2006 and joining a pop band headed by Geri Halliwell and Simon Fuller.

But he reveals his mum, Tracey, still gets anxious when he performs.

“I would say that my mum gets just as nervous as me when I perform – and she still cries,” he said. “I know that she is very proud so that makes me happy.

“When I finally walked out of the audition it was a huge sigh of relief – I went with my mum and mad and they watched on screen with Dermot O’leary – and when I walked out it was great to see their faces.”