[Vanessa]

Andrea Faustini – Week after week, this (thoroughly nice) man overcomes the fact that English is not his natural language and sings his heart out – no matter what style has been imposed upon him – and tonight was no exception, despite the added burden of having to sing a Gershwin American standard which is essentially a Negro spiritual written to be sung by American black singers. He is genuinely one of the best singers in the competition.

As for Cowell’s comments regarding Andrea’s ‘facial contortions’ whilst singing – what relevance has that? ‘Facial contortions’ whilst singing never detracted from the performances of legends like James Brown, Janis Joplin or even Elvis with that curled lip and occasional ‘pop eyes’ during his early days.