A YOUNG singer, with ambitions to go far in this year’s X Factor, has reached the latter stages of another competition.

Olly Patterson, from Darlington, is in the regional finals of the Teen Star competition, which will be held in Huddersfield next month.

The 18-year-old beat off competition from other young hopefuls at the Tyne Theatre, in Newcastle, on Saturday (March 22).

Teen Star is open to singers aged 16 to 19 and the overall final will be held at the O2 Arena, in London, in May.

Mr Patterson, who left Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College last summer, hopes to make a career from singing and plans to enter the X Factor auditions later in the year.

He impressed judges on Saturday with his own take on the Justin Bieber song As Long As You Love Me.