WANNABE popstars hoping to be the next big thing tried their luck in the X Factor auditions.

Scores from across East Lancashire turned out to take part in the first round of the competition, hoping to join the likes of Leona Lewis and Shayne Ward who found fame with the ITV1 show.

Singers were asked to perform a verse and a chorus for two judges in the basement of an empty shop in the Mall Blackburn, the first time auditions have come to the area.

If successful, the crooners will go on to the regional round in Manchester, where if selected they will head to London, and then onto the televised auditions.

Darius Oliver, a 25-year-old accountancy student from Blackburn, sang the Taylor Swift song Love Story.

He said: “I’ve seen every one on TV and they aren’t all that great.

“The ones who are famous now were working in supermarkets or studying when they went on X Factor.

“I was just walking through town and noticed the signs and thought why not?”

Kerrie Halpin, 19, from Burnley, reached the second and third auditions last year and in 2011.

She said: “My last auditions were awful.

“I’ve been made to sing four different songs in the auditions before.

“Then after getting through three rounds they didn’t give me a reason why they didn’t let me through to the next one.”

Jodie Gaul, a 20-year-old from Blackburn, spent two hours queuing before getting her chance to perform Set Fire To The Rain by Adele.

She said: “This is the first and last time I’ll do this so I’m going to give it my best shot.

“I don’t think I’ll ever have the confidence to do this again if I don’t get through.”

Lanre Aluko, a Londoner who works as a claims advisor at a bank in Chester, came to Blackburn especially for the mobile auditions and got through to the second round.

He said: “I feel great. I’m so happy I was the first chosen today.

“I really enjoyed the audition and wasn’t nervous at all. I feel like I’ve been practicing for this all my life.

“I’m just that type of person. I’m really hoping they’ll like me.”