X Factor 3 Preview - Dionne Mitchell

Dionne Mitchell
Manager – Sharon Osbourne
Odds – 40/1 (Outright), 16/1 (25 & Over Winner)

Dionne Mitchell is a 26 year old student from London and lives with her mother and father. She has four brothers and two sisters, but she is the youngest child with the eldest in his 40s.

Dionne has been singing for the last six years after joining a theatre company and performing in a play. After the show had finished its run the company asked her to stay on. She has also performed in clubs and as a backing singer at concerts.

Music has always been her passion but she attempted to follow the "safer" academic route and studied psychology but she knew it wasn't what she really wanted to do. Not following her dreams caused her to suffer from depression and she decided she had to pursue her ambition of making it in the music industry.

However, she did not audition for previous series' of The X Factor because she was too afraid but her family nagged her to go for it so she decided to try her luck. Dionne's biggest downfall is her fear of putting herself up for criticism and failing, so reaching the final 12 is both her biggest achievement and challenge of her fledgling music career.

Dionne cites her musical influences as Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Mariah Carey and auditioned in London with Franklin's "Natural Woman". Simon Cowell was not initially impressed and said: "overdressed, not a good song choice but yes" while Louis Walsh was also not entirely convinced when he said: "on the fence but I think yes". Sharon Osbourne shared similar sentiments with Louis when she said: "on the fence. Strong voice – yes".

When Dionne found out Sharon was going to be her mentor she was worried and even cried because she thought she was the least positive of the three judges about her vocal capability. Dionne performed The Beatles "Come Together" on the first day of bootcamp and had nothing to worry about from Sharon, who thought she had a great personality.

At the judge's house Dionne performed Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It" but stopped half way through due to nerves. She was allowed five minutes to pull herself together but during this time she broke down in tears. Both Sharon and her panel of judges were disappointed by the fact she appeared to be terrified of performing in front of an audience.

Dionne returned, finished the song and left Sharon impressed. However, her main concern of whether she could perform in front of the live studio audience remained. Fellow judge Mark also loved her voice but also had reservations about her ability to cope under pressure.