POP mogul Simon Cowell showed his softer side again today by donating money for a one-year-old girl to have cancer treatment in America.

The X Factor judge agreed to pay the remaining money for Sophie Atay to get medical care which will improve her chances of survival.

Singer Alexandra Burke today rang her mother Karine Atay, who is from Gateshead, to tell her the news.

She appealed for donations to raise £500,000 to fund the New York trip to treat Sophie's stage 4 neuroblastoma.

It is a rare cancer which affects children under five and develops from cells left behind from the youngsters development in the womb.

The phone call, which was broadcast on ITV News tonight, featured a tearful Burke saying she was completely touched by the baby girl's battle.

She said: "It's completely touched me and I've spoken to Simon Cowell and he's going to put the rest of the money that you need towards it to give her the treatment."

Burke went on: "I really hope that she's OK and that she's well and she can go over there and fight it."

Sophie's mother Karine said she was lost for words, and thanked everyone who had made donations.

She said: "It's a horrible thing for a little baby to go through and that's why I'm trying to do what I'm trying to do."

Last week Cowell became patron of Children's Hospices UK and visited patients at a hospice in Surrey.