Stacey Solomon Gets a Hero’s Welcome
Stacey Solomon left her home town of Dagenham in Essex, a single mother, with a very big dream.
And now Stacey Solomon was greeted upon her return to the Essex heartland as a heroine after making it to the final three, and within touching distance of winning the coveted X
Factor crown. Stacey, 20, was reunited with 18-month-old Zachary as she returned to her home in Dagenham with mentor Dannii Minogue.
But before she could get inside for a proper reunion with Zach and her family, she had to negotiate her many fans.
A crowd of well-wishers thronged around the singer, crowned the ‘Dagenham Diva’ by the X Factor judges, as she signed autographs, a novelty she will probably have to get used to.
The 20-year-old, the only girl left in the competition alongside Olly Murs and Joe McElderry, is tipped to be the X Factor’s ‘next Leona’.
A show insider told Now magazine that Simon Cowell is set on making Stacey a star and is ‘convinced that she has the right mix of personality, looks and talent and vulnerability that’ll make a natural successor to Leona.
Her performance of Jackson’s The Way You Make Me Feel last weekend, when she showed a sexier side wearing a tuxedo jacket, trilby hat and not much else, divided the judges opinions.
Cowell said it was the wrong choice of song, branding the performance “gimmicky and silly”.
