Melanie Masson has tried to play down reports that she once had a record deal.

The 44 year old mum of two will take to the stage for the first time on tonight’ first X Factor live show, after wowing the judges at every stage of the competition so far.

The self confessed ‘fairy’ has impressed with her power house vocals at auditions, bootcamp and Gary Barlow’s judges houses, so it’s no surprise to find out that she had been courted by a record company at one point in her career.

Speaking on This Morning she revealed that she was never properly signed to a label though, explaining:

“In 1996, 18 years ago, I was signed to EMI on what they called a development deal, in which they don’t commit to an album. They develop you and decide whether they want to take you up on the album or not. The single was put out and it went to 190 or something and then I got dropped. ”

The experience was enough to make Mel doubt her ability and although she has went on to provide backing vocals for major acts such as Kasabian in the meantime, she almost didn’t turn up to her X Factor audition because of nerves. She explained:

“I got the call from our lovely Ciara who is a researcher and she told me I had got through to sing for the judges. I thought about it for four weeks and I thought ‘I’m not right, the judges are going to hate me, Gary’s going to hate me.’ I was just a bit scared and nervous and thought ‘it’s not going to work.’”

Thankfully, Mel did make it through the audition, onto bootcamp and judges houses and tonight she will perform on the first live show of the series.

When Gary chose her as one of his final three, he revealed to Cheryl Cole:

“This is her last chance.”

The X Factor live shows start tonight and the song list for the singers has been revealed. Check it out and tell us if you think Melanie can shine in the comments section below…