X Factor's Ben gets double shot at the big time
THEY both enjoyed a brush with fame.
But former Myrtle Springs School pupils Ben Loy and Lindsay Dracass didn't let the fleeting prospect of superstardom go to their heads.
Gleadless lad Ben, aged 25, shot to overnight fame when he got through to boot camp in the last series of ITV talent show X Factor.
But Ben's pop career seemed to have been cut short when Simon Cowell and co decided not to send him through to the final stages and he returned to his first love of hairdressing.
But now he has a double chance to make the big time.
Ben was contacted by a leading London musical agent wanting to launch him in the capital – and in the same week he was shortlisted for a top national hairdressing award at the Clynol Business and Creative Awards held later this month.
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Ben, who works at Headlines UK salon on Ecclesall Road, is now getting a few tips from his mate – Sheffield's 2001 Eurovision song contest UK entry Lindsay.
Ben has been Lindsay's stylist for years and even did her hair in Copenhagen at Eurovision as well as for her recent wedding in Sheffield.
So when 22-year-old Lindsay, formerly of Arbourthorne, found out about Ben's latest success she took time out of her hectic touring schedule with Paul Carrack to help him hone both his hairdressing and singing talents.
Ben said: "Whenever Lindsay comes in for her hair doing we always brush up on our vocal talents as we regularly perform together live."
But as for his own ambitions, Ben says he'd rather be top of the mops, than top of the pops.
He said: "Doing so well in the X Factor was a real buzz but also strange because I'd never had a singing lesson in my life and it all happened so incredibly fast.
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"Success in hairdressing seems so much more deserved as I've worked in the business for 10 years and I've been trained so well."
Irene Ball, director of Headlines UK said: "There are many similarities between hairdressing and singing – they both require someone with creativity and an ability to perform and that's something we instil in all our staff.
"We wish Ben all the luck in the world but we hope he sticks to singing to his customers and working with us."
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