The press has been so cruel to Ben. I can only think that he and Leona were not given enough rehearsal time. I hope he can live down that performance.
Singing a duet requires real musicality, the instinctive ability to blend your voice with your partner is absolutely essential. Andrea can do that. He knows how to harmonise. It takes confidence and respect for your partner. It's not a fight for domination. It's a collaboration.
I wouldn't watch the series but, after seeing a critique of the duet, I watched it on Youtube. Oh dear!

We are still here, delz. Cheers everyone! Is Andrea's thread the longest? I think it may be.

A snippet of Andrea singing Ain't No Mountain High Enough at the Summertime Choir concert this weekend in Italy, hope there are some more videos surface as he sounds amazing,!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReWC...ature=youtu.be

He's really knows how to duet, doesn't he.

I think this was a charity concert. It won't pay the bills but I keep hoping that something big will happen for him soon.

Thanks that's a really great find. I hope all you fanstinis had a very Merry Christmas.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and wishes for a healthy and happy New Year!! Heres hoping for great things for Andrea in the New Year!!

Merry Christmas all, and also hoping Andrea gets the success he deserves in 2016

Peace and Joy to everyone.

Hear Hear!

Yesterday, I read an article about how little money the X Factor winners make. The writer said that they have to cover the cost of promoting their records on X Factor and it costs a huge amount of money. Silly me! I assumed that they would receive a big fat fee. But no, it's counted as advertising so they have to pay. Poor Ben will probably never recover the cost of his 2015 finals appearance. God help him!

We all wanted Andrea to be featured this year but he may have had a lucky escape.

I remember reading some years ago that George Sampson (BGT winner) ended up owing Simon Cowell money. When you look into these things they really aren't what they seem.

Take the John Lewis advert this year for example, I remember reading it took 7 million to make. 1 million was spent on the actual advert and the other 6 on marketing! Quite an eye opener and really the key to why most X Factor contestants don't do so well. The funds run out quickly and without decent marketing the public don't notice what they're doing and It's just not worth Simon's money when he can move onto the next series of BGT or X Factor. However that tactic is starting to catch up with him a bit now...

Yes I'm sure I read once when a guest performer appears, they pay for all the staging, dancers, etc themselves. X Factor don't pay for it.

I read Ray Quinn's book (quite a while ago now). When he was signed, he was given a wardrobe of expensive suits, taken on photo shoots etc - it wasn't till later he realised he was paying for it all

Let's hope that he succeeds in America next year. There have been tweets indicating that he's going there. He may be playing his own cool game. Fingers crossed!

Didn't Andrea have a lot of support in South America?

There's a lot of Italian descent people in the US too.

Let's hope his management know the right places to promote him

He does have fans in South America , Patti Ann, also in Asia. There seems to have been quite a surge of interest in him on twitter just lately. I wonder whether his sales did well over the Christmas period.

How could we find out about overseas sales?

Has his album been released anywhere else yet?

I don't think it has been released anywhere else,Patti Ann, but I can't say for sure.

I discovered something interesting yesterday. Ben Haenow has now closed his twitter account to everyone but subscribers. He may have been trolled after things went so badly on the X Factor final. Cowell's manipulation did him no favours.

I hadn't actually googled him for a while, but oh dear, he really did get a lot of stick for that duet didn't he? I feel a bit sorry for him, he probably never even had a chance to rehearse with Leona. But he did hit some appalling notes.

Anyway, do we think there's any chance of a few gigs this year? I'm really hoping to see Andrea soon!

Andrea seems to give very little away so I have no idea what he has lined up. A radio station in America asked him to visit the studio when he's over there. He said he would and the DJ said that he would love to break Andrea in America. That's all I know about an American venture. There's Worldsings over there next year so maybe Andrea has plans or hopes for that.

I agree about Ben. He's a really sweet chap and I fear that he didn't get proper rehearsal time. Unlike Andrea, he isn't used to singing duets with powerful female singers. Andrea would have nailed it and the whole sorry saga further emphasises Cowell's ineptitude and his capricious nature, but our boy will rise above it all with a bit of luck.

I agree Andrea and Leona would have a far better duet

Absolutely, Andrea's got the skills to nail a duet with minimal rehearsal. I really hope he gets more opportunities this year.

Andrea was a pointless answer on Pointless last night - they asked people to name xfactor finalists......the pair won the jackpot though by saying Leon Jackson!

So,nobody from the public canvassed for the show, remembered him. That's a reflection of the lack of publicity from RCA. He deserves better.

His fans are waiting for news of his next gig or tour but there has been no hint so far.

Agree there Hilda it does show the lack of promo and also that xfactor isn't the juggernaut it once was. I would say a tour is out of the question due to the costs involved......I reckon Ben will really struggle to sell tickets. Hopefully some gigs might come up though as one offs....

I really hope Leon wasn't watching that

How many people named Andrea?

I usually watch the Pointless Celebrity one - was that it, or the normal regular edition?


I seem to remember, after Ben's duet with Leona, he mentioned he would be going on tour, and hardly anyone cheered

Hi Patti-Ann it was the normal one....and no one had named Andrea as he was one of the pointless answers they could have had.