I grew up in Morecambe on the Lancashire coast - a million miles away from the life I now lead with Andy.

When I was about 20 I got a call from an old school friend called Caroline Lynch who had moved down to London.

She asked me if I fancied moving down too. It was a spur of the moment thing but I handed my notice in where I was working and went for it. I had learned my trade as a hair stylist and felt it was time for a change.

We had a real laugh, Caroline and I. I come from a family of five brothers and two sisters – I’m the youngest - and even though I missed them at first I really enjoyed the freedom of my new life in London – going out to pubs and clubs, eating curries and just enjoying being young and free.

After a couple of years in London I split up with my old boyfriend who followed me down.

For a couple of years I didn’t really want a man in my life. I was having too much fun! I loved my job and my friends.

I was working for a salon called Tusk in Camden and after work my friends and I used to go to a local bar called Arizona .

That is where I first spotted Andy.

We just got talking because we both had friends who knew us both. It was a simple as that really.

It was about 1993. I thought he was quiet actually, compared to a lot of other guys in the group.

But I always thought there was something sweet about him. He was usually in there with Mario Andrea his best friend who he had grown up with. They lived on the same street as kids in Camden and had known each other since school.

They were inseparable and even worked together for the same printing firm in Camden . I thought Mario was the more extrovert of the two until I got to know Andy better.

At first we spoke a lot on the phone as mates and then he started to come round to the flat for a cup of tea and a chat. And he used beep his horn when he drove past the salon in his van.

He was just there – part of a big group of friends who lived and worked in Camden . It was really nice. There was no putting on make up or anything like that when Andy came round - in fact I’d often be in my trackies. We were just relaxed together. It was nice like that. We got to know each other quite well before we were an item.

I used to say to my friends ‘Andy is so lovely.’

I grew fonder and fonder of him.  Then Andy made the first move and that was it.

He moved into my place in Camden very quickly after we realised we wanted to be together. By then we knew each other so well and I knew I wanted to have children with him. I just knew he was the right guy for me. Tara came along. She is 11 now and not long afterwards came Jacob who is now nine.

Andy actually proposed to me on Kiss FM radio after Tara was born. He phoned me at home to say listen to the radio. So I did and they played a recording of Andy proposing to me. I didn’t have to think about it and phoned him at work and said ‘Yes’. But then I got pregnant with Jacob and we had to put our marriage plans on hold. Things were tight financially.

We both loved Camden but we moved to the East Finchley area of London because it was better for the kids. Andy was brought up in Camden and really liked the area but he just went along with the move. He is lovely and easy going in that way. He is very easy to live with and doesn’t make a drama out of things.

How you see Andy is exactly how he is. He is just so easy to get along with. There are not many things that will get him annoyed really.

Mario who was 34 died suddenly after doctors discovered he had a heart problem and Andy took it really hard. Mario survived a triple heart by pass operation but suddenly he was taken ill again and passed away. Andy and I had gone up to Morecambe to visit my family thinking he was getting better but during that week he passed away. That was eight years ago. It was a massive shock for us all and hit Andy the hardest. Jacob was just a year old at the time. Andy still feels the loss of Mario now.

I think Mario’s sudden death is what propelled Andy more than anything into wanting to make the most of his voice. He realised that none of us know what is round the corner.

It was a big turning point for Andy. He just couldn’t face working at the printers in Camden any more. Not without Mario. He didn’t want to waste his life. It changed him.

He used to say to me ‘I just can’t do this anymore’. He was taking time off work and that created pressure for him and for work. His heart was not in it any more. So he just had to make the break.

He packed his job in and went to music college.

It got tough for us financially and as a  family after that.   

Andy did some singing here and there and there were quite a few jobs after he left the printing company but at least he was getting involved in singing. He was getting experienced but he wasn’t making money out of it. I suppose you could say life was tough.

But I knew by that stage he was talented. I noticed how he could always hit the notes, whatever the song was he was singing. I remember thinking ‘Wow’ more than once.

He formed a trio called True Mix and they were on the brink of a record deal but it went wrong because of the 9/11 attacks.

The American record company that was interested in signing them went bust because of what happened and that was it.

After that Andy lost heart and the whole music thing fizzled out.

Andy got a job on the buses as a driver. He did a couple of my friends’ weddings but apart from that it had all gone flat musically.

We finally got around to getting married in 2003 and that was the last time he heard him sing for quite a while.

He didn’t sing for at least a year and half after that and I remember saying to him that it would be really sad if he didn’t make the most of his voice. I started to think that maybe I should do something to help him. I always knew he had the ability. I wondered what I could do. By that time he knew he could sing but I felt he had given up a bit on making a career out of it. I didn’t want to nag him, he had to want it. But it did sadden me to think his talent was going to waste.

He had done another TV show called This is My Moment hosted by Mel C and he came second in that – just as he did in the X Factor – but nothing came from that. I think that really made him feel it wasn’t worth bothering.

Then we were watching the X Factor one day and the number came up on the screen to ring if you wanted to be a contestant. He just wasn’t interested but I said, ‘Come on Andy – you never know.’

But he wasn’t bothered so I took down the number myself. I kept the number in my mobile and rang for an application form. By then Andy had forgotten about it and I decided what I was going to do.

I just answered the questions on the form for him and never told him a thing.

I sat down with my best friend H – Harriet – and filled it in and forged his signature.

We had a bit of a laugh filling it in to be honest. We just sat down and had a cup of tea and got on with it while Andy was out at work. But leading up to doing it I was slipping in the odd the question to Andy like ‘How would you describe your voice?’ so that I could answer as accurately as possible on the form. He said he was ‘soulful’ which he is – so that’s what I put down.

I didn’t tell him anything until after I had sent it off. But he still didn’t show a lot of interest.

But I was determined he was going to do it. I knew he had the talent.

Anyway he was accepted for the first audition and he got through to the second stage.

In the meantime we went to Australia to visit my two brothers who live there.

When we got back he went into the second round and he got through that as well.

That was at the Wembley Conference Centre and later the same day he went on to the third round. That was the first time he met Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh. It was getting serious and it was the first time Andy was filmed.

I was a nervous wreck but Andy is so laid back he doesn’t get nervous. He goes a bit quiet and wants to be left alone. But that’s about it.

He did A Song For You and they liked him. Simon told him it was a hard song to sing and that he had done a good audition.

We knew after that he was going to be on television and that he was on his way.

By this time Andy was no longer working on the buses and had taken a job on the bins which he liked to be honest. He liked the hours because he could get home in the afternoon and be with the kids.

In the meantime Andy’s mum Portia had come over from Grenada .

Portia had gone back to live in Grenada after bringing Andy up but she often came back to visit and stayed with us.

We knew she was ill. She was sleeping a lot and having pain. Andy’s father died aged 28 with kidney failure three months before Andy was born so he was especially close to his mum.

We were told by the doctors she had kidney cancer but the doctors told us there was a lot they could do to treat it.

So it came as a massive shock when the doctors then suddenly told us she had terminal cancer.

Andy was down to the final 12 in the X Factor when we were told – it couldn’t have been worse timing.

She passed away on October 6th 2005. Andy and I were devastated.

I still get very upset thinking about it. She was a tiny lady, but very chatty and very strong. She was lovely and I miss her so much. The telly was never on when Portia was around. She always had something to say.

Andy took four days off from the show and we all went to Grenada for the funeral.

He was so strong during that time. If anything, he was being strong for me. He kept it together despite his grief. He knew he had to keep going because he was doing something that was not just important to him but for his family too.

It was a very intense time. I think there was a time when he thought he should pull out. He never said he was thinking about it but I know it was on his mind. But Portia wouldn’t have wanted that. It was one of those things that he knew he could do for his mum and he just kept going.

He came back from the funeral and sang Unforgettable on the show. He was amazing.

As far as the grieving was concerned Andy kind of switched off. I think the show helped him in a way to deal with the death of his mother. He focussed on what he had to do. He helped us get through it. He was there for his family, despite his own grief. Family is the most important thing to him.

Then came the big final. It was all great fun but it was nerve wracking too.

But Andy just coped. It was never a competition for Andy. It was always about going out there and performing to the best of his ability. He wanted people to like his singing and that was always enough for him. Of course, I wanted him to win.

All the way through Andy was asking me to wear my green dress. But I always said ‘No, I’ll wear it for the final.’ And then when he made it to the final I wore it.

He sang When a Man Loves a Woman in the final and Simon Cowell said his mum would be proud of him. I got very tearful.

Our lives have changed. I don’t work in the salon anymore and maybe one day when the kids have grown up I may be able to run my own place. I have always loved cutting people’s hair and I don’t think that will change.

The X Factor has given us so much but everything at home is just the same and the way we are together is just the same too. I still make him take the bins out!

We are keeping our feet on the ground. But of course financially things will be easier. Before going to Australia we hadn’t had a holiday for eight years.

I think I will find it difficult with Andy having to spend more time away from home doing concerts. But whenever I can be I will be there, supporting him.

I knew Andy was talented but I had no idea things would get this big. I just hoped the show would help him find work singing. But what I love most about everything that has happened is that twinkle in his eye. He is just so happy with what he is doing now. I have always loved my job and I think everyone deserves that. Andy is now doing what really, really makes him happy. And that makes me happy too.

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