I had given up on singing but XFactor made my West End dream a reality

NIKI EVANS had turned her back on music and was concentrating on being a mother - but now she is the star she always dreamed of being, appearing nightly in West End musical Blood Brothers.

The 36-year-old quit showbusiness in 2000 after spending years as a backing singer and despairing she would never break through to the big time.

She decided to devote her time to her family and get a sensible job managing a school kitchen, ignoring her father's pleas to audition for X Factor.

But when he died, she discovered he had kept application forms for the reality television talent hunt and decided to fill them in.

The move paid off as Niki, from Birmingham, who has two sons with her husband Darren, made the show's semi-finals in 2007. On the wave of publicity following her performance she was asked to her first audition.

Bill Kenwright, producer of Blood Brothers, delighted Niki by choosing her for the leading role of Mrs Johnstone in the long-running Willy Russell musical, a part she will play until April. Niki said: "I'm so grateful to be playing to a live audience every single night. Not just the singing, but the acting, which I had never done before, just fell into place.

"I didn't realise I could do it but Bill gave me a second chance."

Niki had sung from the age of 12 and even picked up a recording contract as a teenager. But her solo career failed to take off, with music bosses persistently criticising her weight.

She had been working as a backing singer for years when she decided to give up on her dream.

"I thought, how many years am I going to be kicked in the face?" she said. "I thought I had given it my best shot." Her appearance on X Factor, where she was mentored by Louis Walsh, transformed everything. Judge Simon Cowell said: "I think you've got a great voice, just great." While Dannii Minogue told her: "I'm not sure you realise how good you are."