Mark's on song with X Factor hit

HE probably wouldn't advise his clients to pursue a job in showbiz but this might be exactly what's on the cards for a Niddrie careers advisor who has made it through to the X Factor finals.

Mark McGregor, a personal careers coach at Action4Employment in Tollcross, received a clean sweep from the X Factor's celebrity judges and is now set for television stardom.

Until now, his only claim to fame was having once shared a karaoke stage with Edinburgh's other reality television singing sensation Jenny Douglas, who went from South Queensferry to Oz as a finalist on TV's Over The Rainbow.

They both took part in a singing competition at Eskmills Bowling Club a couple of years ago and now Mark is set to follow in her footsteps again.

However, it could have been different for the 21-year-old former Niddrie Mill Primary and Holyrood High pupil if he had gone with his original choice of song by a fellow Scot.

"I was going to sing Rewind by Paolo Nutini but Simon Cowell said it was too predictable," said Mark. "So I went with R Kelly's If I Could Turn Back The Hands of Time and the judges loved it.

"Geri Halliwell said I had a lot of passion in my voice, while Cheryl Cole said I had a good tone and she liked my style.

"Louis Walsh said 'I think we've found a new pop star'. Finally, Simon said it was singers like me that keep them coming back to audition in Scotland."

Mark is the only one in his family with a flair for performance. Dad Mark Sr, 41, works on the railways while mum Julie, also 41, is currently retraining to work in social services. His brother Jamie, 19, is a joiner and his 16-year-old sister Jodie works as a dental nurse.

Mark is the first to admit that Niddrie isn't the first place most people would look for the next singing sensation, but he's received nothing but praise and support from his friends and former schoolmates.

He added: "I've been singing since before I went to school so everybody knew that it was something I loved. Since they've heard the news that I've made it through to the last stages of the X Factor they've been amazing.

"I've had hundreds of texts, e-mails and Facebook messages from people saying they were pleased I'd made it."

Mark was also full of praise for another Edinburgh-born star who has made it through to the advanced stages, 34-year-old Lee Gardner, otherwise known as Storm Lee.

Lee, who has shared a stage with Meat Loaf and Ozzy Osbourne and is one of the principal singers on the hit American game show The Singing Bee, came in for criticism for what some contestants regarded as "overconfidence".

Mark said: "He was a really nice guy but he's quite a bit older than me so he was competing in a different category so there wasn't any rivalry.

"He hasn't lived in Edinburgh for a long time, though. I can confirm that he made it through to boot camp but I'm not allowed to tell you whether he got any further."