IT was back in 2013 that Londoner Hannah Barrett, then just 17, first graced our screens.

She impressed The X Factor judges with her soulful voice, but it was her back story that had the British public rooting for her.

The former Greggs sandwich shop worker wept as she revealed that her father died when she was just nine.

She later moved to a temporary homeless shelter for children after the breakdown of her relationship with her mum.

But having sailed through boot camp and wowing mentor Nicole Scherzinger and guest judge Mary J. Blige at judges’ houses, she reached the quarter finals before being booted out of the contest after a sing-off against Gary Barlow’s act Rough Copy.

With her rendition of Etta James’ song I’d Rather Go Blind unable to save her, Hannah risked fading back to obscurity and a life she desperately wanted to leave behind.

While she credits the experience with kick-starting her success, it wasn’t all smooth sailing as she endured racial abuse from cruel cyber bullies.

That led to a jaw-dropping transformation, as within a year Hannah had dropped a whopping four dress sizes; something she says was fueled by the stress of being in the public eye.

Now, three years since that first audition and no longer a teenager, she boasts 120K Twitter followers, an active YouTube channel, Facebook Page and if her Instagram is anything to go by, is very much loved up.

She continues to sing and make music too, while having fun and finally loving life.

It seems she might be taking a bit of a different approach to her career these days though.

Lately Hannah re-tweeted a remark by another social media, which read: “Natural talent is more dominant than manufactured talent. Evaluate to evolve.”

She added, “Amen,” to the comment, but could it have been a dig at TV talent shows?

By By CARON KEMP | Source: LINK