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Jackson was born in Whitburn, West Lothian, Scotland, and currently lives in Livingston with his mother Wendy, who brought him up as a single parent. He formerly worked as a retail sales assistant. Jackson only started singing properly in 2007 when his friends entered him into a karaoke competition, which he won. Apart from his hobby of karate, in which he is a black belt, Jackson says that singing is the only thing that makes him happy. Before he made it through to the finals of The X Factor, Jackson had been planning to start an architectural technology course at Napier University.
The X Factor
In 2007, Jackson auditioned for the fourth series of The X Factor in Glasgow. He made it through to the final stages and was announced the winner on 15 December2007, winning a £1 million recording contract with Syco Music/Sony BMG. He was mentored by Dannii Minogue. In the final, he performed a duet with Kylie Minogue on "Better the Devil You Know". Jackson was an outsider to win the competition, and his win was described as "the biggest shock in the history of reality TV betting." Indeed, it was abundantly clear that his closest rival, Rhydian Roberts, was generally his superior in terms of talent.
In December 2007, Jackson performed with Michael Bublé at Wembley Arena, singing Bublé's "Home". Jackson said this was the highlight of his life as Bublé is his idol.
