Interview: X Factor's Sam Bailey

Sam Bailey always dreamed of being a singer, but real life and working as a prison officer didn't go hand in hand with fame and fortune. As her new album, Sing My Heart Out is released, we look back at our interview with the singer whose determined last shot at stardom was auditioning for the X Factor in 2013. As Emily Horton discovers, the rest is history

If you haven’t got in on the Sam Bailey story yet, then keep reading. It’s a story of real life with a fairytale ending. The former prison officer struck gold last December winning ITV’s X Factor, scoring a million-pound record deal with her powerful rendition of Demi Lovato’s Skyscraper. But, as Sam tells me down the phone ahead of her appearance at this month’s GuilFest, fame and chart success hasn’t changed her. 

“A lot of people have been asking me if I’m moving to a massive mansion in Surrey,” she says in her gregarious, chatty tone. ”But no, I’m quite happy living in my little, modest semi-detached house in Leicester. I am still the normal Sam who goes out to do the shopping every day.”

The rise to fame of the mum of two, whose first headline tour was recently announced for 2015, is inspirational stuff. I congratulate her on her debut album going to number 1, the invite to support Beyoncé on her UK tour and her surprise pregnancy.

“Quite a few things there!” she laughs. “Nicking Beyoncé’s audience for half an hour was amazing,” she says of her whirlwind year.

Surely she must feel proud having achieving so much in such a short space of time.“Do you know, I never think about it like that. I just plod along and go with the flow really,” she says modestly.

Sam’s X Factor success came on her second try out on the show.“I first auditioned in 2007, but I wasn’t chosen. I thought I’d never do it again. I’m not sure why I failed, but I did go in a Leicester City tracksuit because I had this thing in my head that I didn’t want to dress up because I wanted them to accept me for who I am.”

It had been a tough year for Sam as her Dad and mentor, Ronnie, was terminally ill with mouth cancer. He died the following year aged just 58.

“At Christmas 2012 I decided to apply again. I went for it and it just stemmed from there. Next thing you know I’m in the final,” she chuckles.

Something clearly had changed over those few years.

“Vocally I had grown quite a lot and I would say I had more of a story to tell six years on. Being a prison officer was a bit of a contrast with being a singer,” she laughs. “I think they liked that one.”

She was later dubbed “Screwbo” on the show, which she admits to finding “hilarious”.

At the time of her audition, Sam confessed to host Dermot O’Leary that getting another X Factor chance was a big moment for her and that singing turned her into “someone elsecompletely”. Like countless others, she expressed the hope that it could change her life, except in Sam’s case, it really did.

She is now a regular on the celebrity scene and counts her mentor on the show, Sharon Osbourne, a close friend.

“Sharon is brilliant - a legend. I know that I can phone her any time I want,” she says of the X Factor judge.

How has the new-found fame changed things for her?

“I’m relatively normal, but it can be wierd. I take my kids to school and the kids call to me in the playground “Hi, Sam Bailey!” Or people do stop in the street and say, “Look, it’s Sam...”

But there are some sides to fame she is reluctant to accept.

“When I was shoe shopping recently, they wanted to usher me to the front of the queue, but I had to say no. I’ve won a programme, but I still like to be treated like everybody else.

“I don’t feel like a celebrity. I still get starstruck around famous people,” she confides. Anyone in particular, I ask?

“I did go up to Jason Donovan and instead of saying hello to him, I started singing Especially For You from the Kylie and Jason years.”

And how was the serenade received?

“He was a little taken aback by it and there was a little nervous laugh. I just thought, oh god, what did I just do?” she says at failing to keep a cool demeanour in front of her old Neighbours idol.

“I try and be professional, but it doesn’t work,” she confides. “Something will break out of me like an animal and I have to say something really stupid.” I think it is something that most of us would secretly sympathise with Sam for.

“I can’t go up to celebrities now and ask for autographs because I am one myself. They must think, ‘You’re one of us now babe, we don’t do that any more!’” Her giggle is infectious.

However, success has been a long time coming. Sam has been singing since she was a tot and her big break was 20 years in the making. Born in Bexley, South East London, her interest in music was fostered from a young age by her dad.

“He is one of my musical inspirations,” she tells me. “We had a little bit of a musical session every day when I came home from school.”

She started doing gigs as a teenager, while still a student at Dartford College and would often perform at the Lakeside Country Club at Frimley Green.

Family support of her singing was instrumental in installing a lasting sense of self-belief.

“When I was starting out I had an army of Baileys turning up wherever I went. I had my own little fan base.“

My mum would spend her last bit of money on an outfit for me to wear to a talent competition. We might not have had a lot of money but the support was there.”

Now Sam is in a position financially where she can return the favour, she is making the most of it. She tells me she has just spent the last couple of days shopping with her mum, Jackie.

“Oh, Mum has been spoilt bless her,” she coos.

However, despite the staunch support from her family, earning a living was hard; practicalities led her to look for more routine work and she applied for a position as a prison officer.

“Next thing you know I am getting a regular wage instead of having to think where I am next going to get a gig from to pay the bills.”

The tough conditions on the singing circuit held her in good stead for her position at HMP Gartree, a men’s prison in Leicestershire.

“You have to be thick-skinned. If you’re not cut out to be assertive, then it’s not the job for you. You work quite closely with the prisoners. If you show weakness then they will use that to try and manipulate you in some way.”

Given it’s such a drastic change to performing, I wonder what aspects of working in a prison appealed.

“We work to rehabilitate prisoners,” she explains. “We are not just there to hold a set of keys to lock and unlock doors. Sometimes you wonder if a prisoner is going to be alive the next day because they are so low. Other times you go home thinking you have made a difference.”

I ask whether she has been approached by the prison service to do their recruitment campaigns yet? She laughs her big, infectious cackle.

“I have genuinely surprised myself at how much I miss my job. I was never the best, but what I did, I enjoyed doing.”

Sam has never made any secret of how much she loves being a mum to children Brooke, 9, and Tommy, 5. Filming the X Factor took her away from them, but now they are all starting to reap the benefits.

“It was hard being away, but I was doing it for the kids and by winning they have a better life and they are getting to see mummy more.”

And now she is adding to her family with an unexpected pregnancy – a third child that she has affectionately named ‘Peanut’. Sharon Osbourne is lined up to be godmother.

And on that note, as if baby Peanut has been woken up, Sam tells me she’s got to go – literally.

“I’m going to have to go because I need to pee!” and there’s a definite sense of urgency in her voice.

We’ve hardly had time to get on to her appearance at GuilFest, but she certainly seems to be looking forward to the prospect.

"I’m really looking forward to performing down in Guildford,” she yells. “I can’t wait! I’ve been looking at past GuilFests and they just look amazing! I’m so excited  – see you there.”

And she’s off. Let’s hope the facilities won’t be too far away from the stage for Sam – she may well need them!

Sam performs at Guilfest, July 18-20; guilfest.co.uk

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