Glasgow girl Nadia Howard aged seventeen has been singing since the age of twelve. Lacking confidence in her ability as a singer and her mothers determination to enter her into the X Factor 2009 auditions, she decided to get the opinion of an expert vocal coach to see if she really had what it takes to succeed in the X Factor competition.

Hi I'm Robert Wishart,

Nadia came to me just a few weeks before the 2009 Glasgow auditions for X factor to get some advice on whether she was good enough to enter the competition. As I had had experience with Pop idol winner Michelle McManus and Fame academy winner David Sneddon as well as working with thousands of other professional singers from all genres Nadia wanted to know the truth.

I listened to her voice and it was obvious that she had a natural talent which with a bit of help could be an exeptional voice. The tone of her voice was good and she sang in tune but the sound was week and breathy with very little dynamics. Working on her breathing technique as well as the placement of sound and her arrangement of a song it only took five or six lessons to get her voice sounding rich, controlled and confident. She done all of the practice which I had given her and I was now confident that she had the look and the voice to get her through the auditions of X Factor. The only other thing she would need which I couldn't provide was luck.

Nadia sailed through her first three auditions and so the next stage was to meet the judges at Hampden park in Glasgow. She sang at this audition and got a yes from all four judges, she was on her way to boot camp. The producers at X Factor decided that they wanted to change the format and record the auditions in front of a live audience and so Nadia along with all of the other contestants had to go through it all again on th 12th July 2009 at the Breahead Arena Glasgow.

She chose to sing the Joe Cocker hit " You are so beautiful" and needed a backing track. I recorded a simple arrangement of piano with some strings coming in half way through the arrangement and so she was ready once again. She got a standing ovation from the audience and a yes once again from the four judges. Nadia Howard is now getting ready for Factor boot camp on the 26th July and as he vocal coach I have no doubt that as long as she continues to practice her singing execises on a daily basis she will go far in this competition