Saturday: X FACTOR singing sensation Aston Merrygold takes to the stage tonight (Saturday) with his family and the whole of Peterborough poised to reach for their phones to vote him on to stardom.

The 20-year-old's vocal group JLS is one of 12 that have been chosen to compete in the live stages of the top TV talent contest, which will give the public the chance to vote for the first time.

Pop svengali Louis Walsh, who is also the group's mentor, said he was "absolutely certain" when he put the four-piece through to the live stage of the show last week after their perfomance at his palatial home in Ireland.

Today, mum Siobhan has spoken of her immense pride in Aston. She also urged the people of Peterborough to continue their support as Aston and his bandmates – Marvin Humes, Ortise Williams and JB Gill – reach the most testing part of the show.

Tonight the four piece will perform a song in front of the four X Factor judges – Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Dannii Minogue and Louis – for the first time since their audition.

"It's a tough competition," she said, adding: "I've been delighted with the support and I thank everybody in getting behind them.

"The public are all doing their bit, because JLS can only do what they can by performing, and I would urge people to vote for them."

However, Siobhan believes Aston won't have a nervous bone in his body and instead it will be her who will be on tenterhooks while she watches her son in the studio audience in London.

Also watching from the sidelines will be Aston's father Orjan, brother Conor and sister Courtney, who travelled to the ITV studios in the capital this morning.

The rest of the family, meanwhile, will be having a party at Siobhan's brother's house in Werrington – an event which will take place every week that the talented four remain on the show.

She added: "My contact with Aston has been very brief and limited, but we spoke on Wednesday and he's still buzzing and really looking forward to performing. It's a fantastic opportunity, and I tell him to enjoy it day by day.

"And I'm really looking forward to seeing the live show because that's what he does best, and I'll be more nervous than him."

But it could have been so different for Aston. Despite appearing on Kids Stars In Their Eyes in 2002 – singing Michael Jackson's Rockin' Robin – Aston was a budding sportsman.

In 2004, as a pupil at Jack Hunt Secondary School, Aston represented England in the long jump in the European Youth Games and also had dreams of becoming a footballer.

Unfortunately for Aston, soon after the Youth Games he discovered he had a nerve disorder in his left foot and had to give up sport.

Siobhan said: "Sport was his first passion. His dream would have been to be a footballer, but he did have a lot of injuries.

"But he loved performing at school and he realised that's where his passion lies, and he's trying to fight for that dream."


The X Factor will be on ITV1 tonight from 7.15pm to 9.15pm for the live performance show, and then again from 10pm to 10.45pm for the results show.