[Red Moon]

X Factor: Is Aston hours away from the big time?

NERVES are jangling in the Merrygold household today with the dawning of JLS's X Factor Judgment Day now just a matter of hours away.
City hero Aston Merrygold and his bandmates will take to the stage tomorrow night for the biggest performance of their lives – with R&B megastar Rihanna rumoured to be joining them.

The day of the final, when JLS will go up against X Factor rivals Alexandra Burke and Eoghan Quigg one last time, is set to begin at 8am for Aston, JB, Oritse and Marvin.

After a quick breakfast, they will be whisked to the X Factor studios for 9am sharp for a final intensive preparation session with vocal coach Yvie Burnett and choreographer Brian Friedman.

They will then be put through their paces in full costume for a 2pm dress rehearsal, before fine-tuning their act and psyching themselves up ahead of the live final on ITV1 at 7.10pm.

Aston's family will be as tense and excited as the boys themselves today, but mum Siobhan is hoping to keep her nerves in check by planning a relaxed build-up to the big night.

She is leaving her home in West Town, Peterborough, this evening with Aston's dad Orjan, brother Conor and sister Courtney for a leisurely meal in London with the families of the rest of the band.

"We want to have a bit of a celebration of what the boys have achieved so far," she said.

"The last 12 weeks or so have been manic, and you get very little time to take in and digest the whole experience. For the final, we thought we would take it a little bit easier by coming down earlier.

"Hopefully it will be good preparation for the show on Saturday."

JLS will be performing three songs tomorrow, with reports in national newspapers yesterday suggesting Umbrella singer Rihanna will be taking to the stage with them for one number.

If they see off their rivals in the public vote, they will clinch a £1 million record deal and compete for the Christmas number one slot with their debut single.

But whatever the result tomorrow, Siobhan says the best part will be the chance to spend some time with her son again.

She said: "I have had hardly any contact with him this week because his schedule has been completely full-on. Since the live shows began (in October) I have probably had about two hours with him altogether.

"That has been the toughest part for me and what I'm looking forward to most is all of this coming to an end. We don't know what the future holds but it will be great just to get the chance to sit back with him and listen to his whole experience."

Rihanna treat for the boys

Talented JLS are set to team up with R&B sensation Rihanna in tomorrow's eagerly-awaited X Factor final.

The boy band, who are mentored by Louis Walsh, will join the Bajan singer to perform her No1 hit Umbrella.

Aston Merrygold, Jonathan 'JB' Gill, Oritse Williams and Marvin Humes are hoping their Rihanna duet will help them clinch this year's X Factor victory.

Meanwhile, their fellow finalists Alexandra Burke and Eoghan Quigg will be teaming up with Irish boy bands Westlife and Boyzone respectively.

Beyonce Knowles is also rumoured to be making an appearance on the show, although it is unknown whether she will perform solo or duet with Burke.

Rihanna, who arrived in London on Wednesday to perform at the Capital FM Jingle Bell Ball is staying in the capital until the weekend so fulfil her X Factor duties.

JLS are hoping the Rihanna duet will help them to repeat the success last year's winner Leon Jackson had in the competition after he duetted with Kylie Minogue.

Scots star Jackson's duet of Better The Devil You Know with Minogue attracted more phone votes than Rhydian's teaming with Katherine Jenkins and Same Difference's duet with Jason Donovan.

A JLS spokeswoman said: "JLS are thrilled to be working with Rihanna. It is a massive coup.

"She has an incredibly wide fanbase, which is bound to help pull votes.

"The feeling is that Rihanna's backing is the clincher.

"Even Simon Cowell has admitted they could win. He views them as an increasingly profitable asset."

Source: Peterborough Today