MUSIC mogul Simon Cowell stepped in to ensure an X Factor hopeful would keep her day job after she feared she would be sacked.

Kerianne Covell, from Stockton-on-Tees, told him she had skipped work at a shoe shop to perform Adele's One and Only in auditions for the TV talent show.

In scenes to be aired on ITV tonight Mr Cowell called her boss to explain after the 23-year-old told him she might lose her job.

The former Stockton Riverside College student once performed in front of 2,000 people at Gateshead's Sage at the age of just 16 and at 13 landed the role as a solo vocalist at London's Albert Hall.

She went to performing arts school Arts Educational, has grade 8 in classical music and rock and pop and has performed in London's West End.