Brenda Edwards is a 36 year old mother of two, accounts manager from London. She lives with her husband and children Jamal, 14 and Tanisha, 11.

She entered the X Factor competition when she happened to be in Belfast on a ‘dirty weekend’ with her husband and saw an advertisement for the X factor auditions in a local hotel.

Brenda started singing in her local Pentecostal church when she was eight years old and sang in her church choir until she was 18. She then started doing karaoke and singing competitions and in 1989 sang at the Hackney Empire in the semi-final of Channel 4′s 291 competition.

Before The X Factor Brenda showcased her singing talent at the occasional wedding, funeral and private function and her claim to fame before the X Factor was as a session singer for Mr Jack on his track Wiggly World Part Two which went to number 12 in the UK billboard club charts.

Brenda lists her biggest musical influences as Motown, Reggae and Soul.

Brenda made it through to the Semi Finals of the X Factor before she was controversialy voted out in fourth place.