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Andy Abraham first finalist to rehearse

17 May 2008 at 19:52 CEST

Andy Abraham first became a household name in the United Kingdom when he was the runner up in the X Factor series back in December 2005. Since then he has sold over half a million records in just over two years. 

Today was the first glimpse of Andy's stage performance in Belgrade. He was the first of the finalists to rehearse. Andy is joined on stage by a drummer, both a male and female guitarist, a keyboard player and a backing vocalist. Towards the end of the song, pyrotechnics are used. Andy gave a thoroughly competent vocal performance throughout his rehearsals.

Andy opened his press conference by thanking the team he is working with on stage, saying that they are all consummate professionals. Andy was asked about the differences between his X Factor experience compared with the Eurovision Song Contest. He states "What a lot of Europe doesn't know is that my mother died whilst I was doing the X Factor show, so I needed that platform to express my emotions, I was singing and thinking of her. I'm a bit more nervous about the Eurovision Song Contest as it's such an institution. I want to respect the contest as a song contest, with a credible song."

Andy went on to say that final preparations are being made for his new album. It will also be called Even If and will be released in the United Kingdom on June 2nd. According to Andy the songs will be of a similar vein as the Eurovision Song Contest song, inspirational music. A British journalist asked Andy about his experiences working with Sharon Osbourne as his mentor on the X Factor show. Andy remembers one particular incident which stood out, he says "Sharon is kind of a spur of the moment person. We were filming a fly on the wall documentary once, and because I was a dustbin man before I got the X Factor break, she started talking about bin bags, and made reference to her breasts, and on national television she asked me to feel her bin bags! I was so embarrassed!."

Originally, in the United Kingdom final selection Andy had been eliminated in the first round of voting. It was Terry Wogan who gave him the wild card place for the final. Andy says "Well yes, Terry saw fit to bring me back in. I'm very grateful for that. Then in the second round the British public decided that they were looking for something a bit different, more credible. I can't thank them enough for sticking by me."

Andy revealed a little about his ambitions and expectations in Belgrade. He says "Success for me is getting in to the top ten. I think the song is good enough to do that. I hope that people will vote, enjoy the song and like what i'm doing."

Andy is directly qualified to the Final with the United Kingdom being one of the Big Four automatic finalists.