By GEMMA BROWN

Last updated at 11:30, Thursday, 03 September 2009

MILLIONS of viewers watched a Tynedale girl band last Saturday as they made it through to “boot camp” after a performance on ITV’s The X Factor.

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TV stars: Helen Crowe, Ashleigh Close and Faye Scope impressed the X Factor judges.

But for Trinity, made up of Hexham’s Helen Crowe (24), Ashleigh Close (23), from Prudhoe, and Faye Scope (24), from Newcastle, it wasn’t the first time they had performed in front of formidable music mogul Simon Cowell.

For in November the trio tried their luck on Cowell’s other national TV talent search, Britain’s Got Talent, and received disappointing critical feedback which has spurred them on to succeed.

Helen, owner of Hexham boutique Donna Bella, explained: “We didn’t get anywhere with Britain’s Got Talent and the judges were quite negative, but looking back now we realise that wasn’t the right competition for us.

“X Factor is much more suited to what we’re about and our hard work since the Britain’s Got Talent auditions to take on board what the judges said has definitely paid off.”

The band, who formed a year ago after meeting through North-East based event and promotions agency, Showgirls, run by Miranda McCrory, wife of boxing legend Glenn McCrory, have already had a degree of success locally. With Miranda as their manager, the girls performed in front of a host of big names from the world of sport and entertainment, when they took to the stage at the Newcastle Legends awards dinner, at Newcastle Civic Centre earlier this year.

So as the auditions for the latest series of X Factor got under way, the girls couldn’t wait to travel to Manchester and prove themselves to the panel of judges, including fellow Geordie and Girls Aloud member Cheryl Cole.

Faye, who works as a model for Newcastle-based agency Tyne Tees, said: “We made it through three auditions in front of the production team before we actually got to perform in front of the judges in July.

“All of them were very complimentary and said they liked our sound and look.

“To get a yes from Simon this time was the main thing for us – and we did. The live audiences this year were also good and really supportive.”

After performing an acapella version of More Than Words by Extreme and chart topper Pixie Lott’s Mama Do, Trinity also got the seal of approval from Cheryl and fellow judge Louis Walsh, giving them the three yes votes they needed to sail through to the next round.

Dance teacher Ashleigh said: “Cheryl was lovely and the dream would be to have the same sort success that she has had with Girls Aloud.”

From 250,000 acts who auditioned, Trinity know they are now among 150 who have made it through to another series of auditions known as “boot camp”.

First published at 09:49, Friday, 28 August 2009
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk