SINGING receptionist Carrie Ford is hoping to prove she's got the X-Factor in her quest for soul stardom.

Carrie, 22, of Blaenavon, who works at the Dial contact centre in Cwmbran, is determined to make it big in the music industry.

Now she is pinning her hopes on Simon Cowell and the judges on hit ITV show the X-Factor.

Carrie is attending a singing showdown at an audition for the show at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on July 3.

She said: "I'm realistic and I know that the competition will be fierce, so my aim is to make it to the last ten. Even if I don't win I'm sure this experience will open new doors for me."

The former Abersychan comprehensive school pupil and Coleg Gwent student has dreamt of becoming a soul singer since childhood, and has been singing semi-professionally for the past three years.

She performs regularly in pubs and clubs around Gwent, while working part-time in Dial. At the X-Factor auditions she hopes to wow the judges with an Alicia Keys' number.