Alexandra Burke barred from playing Christmas gig with mum

Alexandra Burke was blocked from performing at her annual Christmas gig yesterday because of her X Factor contract.

The singer won the ITV1 talent show earlier in the month and as part of her £1million deal resulting from the show, she was not allowed to sing at the gig with her mum Melissa Bell. Former Soul II Soul frontwoman Melissa and Alexandra have sung at the family-run La Veranda restaurant in Carshalton, Surrey for the last few years but this year, Alexandra had to just watch from the audience instead.

Melissa told the Mirror: “Alex has her own record contract now so unfortunately she wasn’t allowed to sing with me.

“But she turned up to support me. She wanted to stay home and see her performance on Top of the Pops which she was really excited about, so she did that first and then came along.”

Fans of Alexandra - and her Christmas No1 song ‘Hallelujah’ - turned up at the restaurant to see the pair and after Alexandra signed autographs and posed for pictures, they cheered Melissa along.

Melissa added: “The crowd was fantastic, they made me sing a version of Hallelujah. I didn’t know all the words so I had to make some up.”