TV X FACTOR contestant Rowetta Satchell is hoping to be on form for this weekend's show after nursing a sore throat.

The former Bury Grammar School and Unsworth Comprehensive pupil has been resting her voice in preparation for the live programme on Saturday night.

The mother-of-two, from Bury, has made it to the final eight in the show, with a multi-million pound recording contract awaiting the winner.

But it is not the first time she has been on the big stage. Rowetta (38) has already had chart success as the backing singer for Manchester band the Happy Mondays in the 1990s, touring the world with the band for three years.

The singer, who made it through to the final in the over-25s category, has the hard-to-please Simon Cowell as her mentor.

Since leaving the Happy Mondays, Rowetta has played herself in the film Twenty Four Hour Party people, which recounted the Manchester music scene from the 1970s to 1990s.

Rowetta has admitted that the X Factor is her last chance of success in showbusiness, and that she is determined to make it to the top.

Viewers saw her audition in front of judges Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh during the first few weeks of the show. Now it is down to the dramatic elimination stage, with one act being voted off the show each week.

See Rowetta in X Factor on ITV1 on Saturday night at 6pm.