Andy's secret heartache

Heartfelt: Andy Abraham on X Factor

12 April 2012

X Factor runner-up Andy Abraham revealed today the secret heartache behind his dreams.

Abraham, 41, who came a close second to winner Shayne Ward in Saturday night's final, has told how he quit his job as a binman to become a singer only after his oldest friend died of a hidden heart condition.

But for the tragedy, he would probably still be a printer in north London.

He said: "I left school without any qualifications at 15 and for years couldn't stick to any sort of job.

"Then I ended up getting work at a printing firm in Camden. I was there for about 10 years and I loved it.

"But then my best friend, Mario Andrea, whom I worked with and I'd known since I was about 14, died."

Mario, 34, was struck down by heart disease and barely two weeks after being taken ill, he was dead.

Abraham, a married father of two, said: "It was around Christmas and it was so sudden and it really, really hurt. He was just one year older and my closest mate. It was a complete shock.

"I just couldn't stay on at the printer's because of too many memories. It didn't feel the same, so I just thought, 'That's it, I'm going to leave and pursue a singing career'."

He had enjoyed singing Jackson Five songs with school friends and in his twenties he recorded some backing vocals as a favour for a budding rap artist friend, but he still had never considered a career. "I really wanted to be a chess player," he said.

After Mario's death, he took the plunge and went to study for a diploma at music college. There, he formed an R&B band with two friends but an offer from an independent label fell through.

With two young children - Jacob, now eight, and Tara, 10 - and a wife, Denise, to support, Abraham became a bus driver in Wood Green and then a binman in the West End, the job he became known for during The X Factor. He said: "The bins really served a purpose. I'd get up at 2am, be in the yard for 3am and work right through to 11 or 12.

"Then the rest of the day I'd go home and have a kip and get the kids from school and spend time with my family."

Once through the final auditions, he quit and now has a manager. He is hoping to land a recording deal before The X Factor live tour in February.

He said: "I never went in it to win, I just wanted to hear what Simon, Sharon and Louis had to say about me. I wanted their advice. But now I've got this far I'm really hoping there's a space for me to make records and that the people who voted for me will want me to do that. The next two or three weeks will determine what happens."

One abiding image during Saturday's ITV1 final was Abraham's sobbing son Jacob.

"After I pointed out the positives - out of 75,000 people Daddy came second - he brightened up again," he said.

On Sunday, there were celebratory drinks at home in Enfield with friends and family. There are plans for a quiet Christmas - excepting the autograph hunters who already ring the doorbell. A sad absence, however, will be Abraham's mother Agatha, who died of kidney cancer in October as he made his bid for fame.

He went to be at her bedside and took four days off from the contest to bury her in her native Grenada, but admits he has not had time to grieve.

"I want to go back out to Grenada to sit down and really soak it up and get the grieving out," he said.

"It's the only way I think I can move on. I don't feel like I've had time to grieve.

"It was a complete shock, she was only 66. People say she's in a better place but I want her to be back here with me."

Abraham, who won viewers over as the "good guy" of the show, has only encouraging words to say about his fellow contestants - and even the judges.

"The judges were brilliant. They're opinionated, obviously, but any criticism I had was good," he said.

"But I do think Louis was wrong to say Shayne was the only act out of the finalists that has any chance of becoming a pop star.

"I think anyone who can get through all the live shows and gets good criticism and performs has The X Factor."

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