Former X Factor contestant Niki Evans stars in Blood Brothers

Apr 13 2011 by Will Harris, Crewe Chronicle

“I’VE never had a singing or acting lesson in my life.”

Not bad for a mother-of-two who’s performed in front of millions of television viewers and starred in one of the West End’s most demanding roles.

But Niki Evans seems to be no ordinary woman.

The 38-year-old has reprised the role of Mrs Johnstone in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, which comes to Hanley’s Regent Theatre next week as part of a national tour.

She’s made the part her own, ever since getting the call from musical theatre master Bill Kenwright after he spotted her in the 2007 series of The X Factor.

After intermittent breaks from the role she’s back and ready for another marathon tour.

She says: “I started on the West End in 2008. I did about a year-and-a-half and have to keep coming away, because it’s such a long show that you need a break.

“Being the lead you have to be involved in quite a lot, in fact, I don’t come off for the first 40 minutes at all.

“It’s more of a play with a few songs than a musical. It’s not one of these big, elaborate things, it’s more true to life and gritty. If you haven’t seen a musical before then this is a good one to come to first.

“I got the phone call from Bill asking would I like to have a go at this. I hadn’t even seen a musical at that time so didn’t know what I was getting myself into.”

The show has been running for more than 30 years now and tells the tale of two boys, separated at birth who unwittingly become best friends.

But as their lives go down different paths, tragedy never seems too far away.

Niki considered for the role primarily for having such a powerful voice, having fallen just before the final hurdle in an X Factor competition that was eventually won by Leon Jackson.

But singing had come to her years before then.

She said: “I just started singing when I was a kid. I wanted to be Irene Cara, then Whitney Houston and then Madonna. I joined a band when I was 12 but I’d told them I was 18. I started working the pubs and clubs.

“People made out I had this big record contract when I was 16, well before I joined The X Factor. I did a lot of adverts and stuff for DJs but that was about it.

“When my boys came along I worked in a kitchen. It was my dad, who’d passed away, that got me back into singing and it’s not stopped since.

“From start to finish The X Factor experience takes a whole year. You do an audition, then wait a few months, then do another audition. I was in the house for three months and to be honest I can’t remember a lot about it, it seemed to go so quick.

“You get put with all these people, see them get voted off before you get voted yourself, and get all these comments from the judges. It was all very surreal.

“You’ve got to keep your feet on the ground. Not everyone can be a world famous superstar and you’ve got to make sure you know that before you do it.

“The X Factor didn’t change my life, it just changed my job. I still drive the same car and live in the same house. It’s not like you can go off and live in Barbados or something.”

Aside from The X Factor, Niki is working on a new album as she pursues a dual career in the music industry.

She adds: “I generally try to do as many things as I can.

In five years time I want to make sure I’ve won the lottery. Then maybe I can live in Barbados!”

Blood Brothers runs from Monday until Saturday, April 23. Tickets are £19.50-£35.50, to book phone 0844 871 7649 or visit www.ambassadortickets.com/Regent-Theatre.