Bad Lashes come good

Oct 7 2008 by Neil Mckay, The Journal

FRIENDS and family of North East girl band Bad Lashes have urged the region to get behind their bid for stardom after they made the shortlist on the reality TV talent contest X Factor.

The girls, Jesmond cafe boss Emily McNamee, 19, Durham duo Stacey Lacey Lincoln, 20, Sam Bennett, 21, and Hartlepool’s Sophie Wilson, 23, secured their place in the final 12 of the show at the weekend after millions saw judge Louis Walsh tell the girls they had made the final cut.

The girls’ family and friends were glued to the screens over the weekend to see if their rendition of the Oasis song Wonderwall had done enough to impress Louis and get the chance of winning a £1m recording contract.

The X Factor is the biggest television talent competition in Europe, with 182,000 auditioning for the current series.

From this coming weekend the audience begins to vote for their favourite act, and Emily’s mother Christine, who works in a cosmetic surgery centre in Jesmond, Newcastle, said: “It is fantastic that the girls are putting North East talent on the map.

“We hope the region will get behind them and help them in the final stages when the public get their chance to vote.

“After all, Bad Lashes are representing the North East which is great news for the region.”

Although her daughter is having to get used to performing before prime-time weekend television audiences, and also to impress judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Dannii Minogue and the North East’s own Cheryl Cole, she is no stranger to the stage.

“When she was eight she starred as Annie in Annie Get Your Gun with the Chester-le-Street Operatic Society.

“The society were really looking for a 10-year-old but Emily had the confidence to perform,” said her proud mum.

Emily lives with Christine and her father Jim, a manager at a chain of newsagents, in Pittington, Durham.

The former Durham High School pupil recruited childhood friends Stacey, from Neville’s Cross, and Sam, from Sherburn Village, both Durham, for Bad Lashes.

They knew Sophie, who lives with boyfriend David Garside in Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, and who works as a wedding singer, through theatre school, and recruited her to make up the foursome.

Emily has her own business, Caffe Luccia, in Jesmond, Newcastle, where her success on The X Factor has been a talking point among the regular customers.

Sam works as a Customer Services Adviser on National Express Trains while Stacey Lacey works on the MAC make-up stand in Fenwick, Newcastle.