10:20am Saturday 8th August 2009
By Lauren Rogers
STUDENTS from Worcester’s Elgar School of Music have made it through to the ‘boot camp’ stage of X Factor.
Girl band Belle Sorelle made it through the auditions and even impressed judge Simon Cowell who put them through to the next round of the competition.
The quartet, who all study at the city’s prestigious music school in Deansway, joined 200 acts from all over the country for a gruelling week in London, including a performance at the Hammersmith Apollo – under the watchful eyes of judges Louis Walsh, Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue.
The band cannot yet reveal whether they made it through the camp and onto the live show.
The winner of the X Factor will secure a £1 million recording contract, priceless publicity and a shot at having a number-one chart hit.
Band member Hannah Smith said getting so far had already been an amazing experience.
She said: “There were 2,000 people in the audience for the auditions at the ICC in Birmingham and we were thrilled when Simon said ‘yes’.
“We have been approached by a music producer and we are in the studios recording at the end of August. We really are living our dream.”
Sisters Gemma and Patsy Parr, aged 24 and 17, formed the group with their friends Miss Smith, aged 24, and Bella Bennewith, aged 17, in January this year.
The name Belle Sorelle translates into Pretty Sisters.
The band only formed in January and have already reached the semi-finals of major Wolverhampton competition Top Talent. They have also supported comedian Bobby Davro.
To find out more about the girls, visit their website at bellesorelle.co.uk. The new series of X Factor starts on Saturday, August 22.
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