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Alexandra Burke

Personal Profile

Alexandra Burke
  • Birth Name:
    Alexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewan Burke
  • Date of Birth:
    August 25, 1988
  • Zodiac Sign:
    Virgo
  • Place of Birth:
    Islington, London, England, UK
  • Sex:
    Female
  • Hair Color:
    Black
  • Eye Color:
    Brown
  • Nationality:
    British
  • Religion:
    Christianity
  • Education:
    Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School, Islington

Family

Alexandra Burke
  • Mother:
    Melissa Bell

Career

Alexandra Burke
  • Profession:
    Singer
  • Claim to Fame:
    The X Factor
  • Debut:
    Overcome - Album

Trivia

Alexandra Burke
  • She also went on tour with "Young Voices", a charity that raises money for children with leukemia, where she performed at large venues such as the Royal Albert Hall. She was bullied for having a big mouth.
  • Before her X Factor success, she had been working as a singer, gigging at weekends in clubs.
  • When Burke's mother asked her to sing to Jean Carne, Carne was so impressed that she asked her to perform at her show the next night. Burke's mother was previously in a girl band.
  • At age twelve, she also sang down the phone to Stevie Wonder.
  • At the age of twelve, Burke entered the TV talent show Star for a Night where she was the youngest person in the competition. She was beaten to the number-one spot by Joss Stone.
  • At nine years old, she sang on stage in Bahrain with her mother.
  • Burke started singing when she was five and, prior to The X Factor, had no professional vocal training.
  • As of 15 December 2008, Burke became the current European record holder for single sales over a period of twenty-four hours, selling 105,000 copies of her debut single, "Hallelujah", in one day.
  • Burke's prize, as winner, was a recording contract with Simon Cowell's Syco record label, whose parent company is Sony BMG. The contract has a stated value of £1 million, of which £150,000 is a cash advance and the remainder is allocated to recording and marketing costs.
  • Alexandra is the second female to win "The X Factor" (2004) the first being Leona Lewis.

Quotes

Alexandra Burke
  • "I think the American release will be next year at some point but it's not been confirmed yet. My manager Richard is out there at the moment talking to the American label and a lot of the people I'm working with are Beyoncé's people."
  • "[Record label] Syco wanted to do it at the same time but that's not realistic as I can't be in two places at one time."
  • "The singer, who recorded much of the album in Los Angeles, revealed that she is hoping the record will be released in the States next year."
  • "It needs to mean so much to me to the point where I wanna cry when I'm singing it - and if it's an uptempo track I wanna be going crazy on stage."
  • "I said to them if it's going to be a ballad that you're choosing for the album, I want it to make it to make me cry."
  • "We are trying to get a mix between some good ballads, mid and very uptempos, but mainly the uptempos because I love to dance."
View all Quotes: Alexandra Burke

Biography

Alexandra Burke
Last Updated: Wednesday, October 07, 2009

AlexandraAlexandra Burke, born on August 25, 1988, started to sing when she was just five years old. Without any professional vocal training, she began singing on-stage at the age of 9 with her mother Melissa Bell, ex-Soul II Soul's member. Three years later, she participated in a TV show dubbed "Star for a Night" and became the youngest contestant in the show. Unfortunately, she failed to win the competition as Joss Stone grabbed the number one spot. After graduating from school, Alexandra decided to pursue a career in music. She worked as a singer at clubs in U.K. during the weekend and performed at large venues such as The Royal Albert Hall to tour with "Young Voices", a charity which raises money for children with Leukemia.

When she was seventeen, Alexandra auditioned for "The X Factor" and made it through to the final seven in Louis Walsh's 16-24 category. However, Louis did not choose her for his final four because he felt that she was too young for the competition. Refusing to step back, she had, once again, auditioned for the singing competition in 2008 and was mentored by Girls Aloud's Cheryl Cole. Luckily for her, Cheryl chose her among other contestants to perform at the finals. In the first live show, Alexandra performed Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". For the second show, she covered The Jackson Five's "I'll Be There" but unfortunately was criticized by judge Simon Cowell as a "copycat."

Learning from each of the show and practicing hard, she finally gained her first standing ovation from audience when she sang Christina Aguilera's song "Candyman" during the Big Band week. Continuing getting positive responses, Alexandra finally made it through the grand final, joining Irish teenager Eoghan Quigg and JLS. She collaborated with Beyonce Knowles singing "Dreamgirls" soundtrack "Listen" and for the first time performed what would become her debut single "Hallelujah", the track was made famous by Leonard Cohen. When it came to the winner's announcement, she was revealed to be the lucky one collecting 58% of the final vote.

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