In the run-up to a guest appearance on the show which made him famous, X Factor winner Joe McElderry talks to Steve Pratt about his new album.

X FACTOR winner Joe McElderry will get back to doing what he most enjoys tomorrow night – performing. He’ll be singing his new single, Ambitions, in front of millions of viewers as the live shows featuring the final 12 acts get under way.

This time last year Geordie Joe was one of that dozen finalists. Mentored by fellow Geordie Cheryl Cole, he went on to win the competition and a massive recording contract.

There was a debut single, The Climb, which was denied the top spot, if only temporarily, by the Rage Against The Machine campaign.

Then nothing. He more of less disappeared from public view, only to return to the headlines with an admission that he is gay.

It’s a chapter in his life he’s pleased to have dealt with, but he wants to move on. He didn’t expect it to happen or plan it to happen. “I was happy to talk about it and move on with the rest of my life. I don’t think it makes any difference to anyone.

“The X Factor had nothing to do with my decision to come out. It was a personal decision.

I just wanted to speak out.”

He’s polite but not naive when it comes to dealing with potentially tricky questions, whether it’s his sexuality or the Facebook campaign mounted against his debut single.

He agrees that the past year has been a bit strange, disappearing from view after the saturation coverage that the winner of TV’s biggest reality show is bound to generate. He knew that winning such a major competition would be life-changing, but admits, “You never realise how big it’s going to be”.

While out of the public eye, the ever-cheerful lad from South Shields was working away on his singing career, recording all over the world. Thisyear has been spent working on his music.

“I’ve been putting all my concentration on the album and going into the studio,” he says.

“I wanted to concentrate on the record, working that out and finding a song I was comfortable with. It’s been a long process.

“It’s very different to what I did on the show. It’s a feelgood album and I had so much fun making it. And performing is something I enjoy and have missed.”

He’d done a few one-off gigs but Sunday’s X Factor is his first proper performance of the song. Yes, he says, he’s “slightly nervous” but adds, “I’m sure it will be fun”.

He’s been following the current series of The X Factor. “I’m a huge fan of it and have been logging all the contestants,” he says. He still speaks to Cheryl regularly and is looking forward to seeing her again at the show this weekend.

I reckon she’ll need all the support she can get in the light of her choice for her final three acts, decisions that have been roundly criticised by many people. “She’ll be fine,”

says McElderry.

The latest pictures of McElderry show a more serious young man rather than the eversmiling youth of a year ago. His base now is London, although he gets back home as often as he can, mostly recently to compete in the Great North Run.

His family are, he says, “loving it – they’re having the best time ever. I like the fact that I can take them to events and they can see what I’m doing in my job.”

His ambitions change all the time and he gets to fulfill some of them every day. He’s must be worth a few bob too, but hasn’t splashed out on too many treats. “A few holidays, nothing too extravagant,” says the sensible Geordie.

What comes across talking to him is how much he enjoys what he’s doing.

“I get to do something I love.

I’m just so lucky,” he says.

■ Joe McElderry sings his new single Ambitions on The X Factor tomorrow (ITV1, 8pm), the day of its release. His debut album Wide Awake is out on October 25.