14 - 24 girls, mentored by Cheryl Cole

Laura White

Laura White, 17

Born in Manchester, Laura has been singing and playing the piano since she was a little girl. She has never had a professional lesson but at the age of 15 yrs old, she started singing in Jazz Bars. Her dad acts as her agent and she has been doing this for the past six years. At 17 yrs old, Laura won a radio competition where she got the chance to sing in front of an audience of 15,000 people when Peter Kay switched on the Bolton Christmas lights.

A year ago, Laura started writing her own music and singing her own songs and after receiving good feedback on her MySpace site, Laura decided to enter The X Factor.

Laura is studying creative writing at university and currently lives at home with her parents, brother and sister. Her dad runs a builders merchant and even though her mother runs a beauty salon, Laura has never been tempted to go down this route. She feels blessed with her family that she has as their huge support, they have always helped her out financially and her dad has been going to gigs with her since she was 15. Her greatest supporter was her uncle but sadly he passed away a few months ago - she wants to do well in The X Factor for him.

Diana Vickers

Diana Vickers, 17

Diana Vickers was born in Lancashire and has been singing since the age of 11. She has had singing lessons and has always taken part in local competitions but she has never gigged and she has never done anything professionally. Diana is currently studying Theatre Studies, Classics and Psychology and her plan is to go to Drama School to study Musical Theatre.

Fame doesn't bother her Diana, she just wants to be up there doing something that she loves and have people watch her perform. She feels like if she doesn't do it now she will let her studies take over and she will go to university and never go for it.

Diana has a real passion for music and believes she has a quirky, different voice that she's hoping the Judges and The X Factor viewers will like.

Alexandra Burke

Alexandra Burke, 20

Alexandra has four brothers and a sister and lives with her mum (ex Soul to Soul singer) in North London.

Alexandra started singing at the age of 5 yrs old and when she was 9 yrs old she was passed the microphone at one of her mother's gigs. Everyone loved her and from that moment onwards she was hooked on performing. At the age of 12 years Alexandra entered Star for a Night. She was the youngest person in the competition and was beaten to first place by Joss Stone.

Alexandra used to be in the school choir and when she left school, she tried to pursue a career in music. In 2005, Alexandra's auditioned for The X Factor and got through to the Judges Homes stage. However, Louis Walsh decided she was too young and her X Factor journey ended.

Alex has had no professional vocal training and learnt to sing from her mother and CD's. Recently she went on tour with Young Voices, a charity that raises money for children with Leukaemia, with them she has performed at The Royal Albert Hall, Dublin Point Theatre and the MEN Arena.

Alexandra feels she is not getting where she wants to with her music career at the moment and is hoping her second chance at X Factor stardom will give her career the lift she so desperately wants.