Zoe Birkett

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Zoe Birkett (born 16 June 1985, Consett, County Durham, England) was one of the youngest contestants on the ITV show, Pop Idol, being only 16 at the time.

Birkett had had hopes of being a musician for quite some time, as she even auditioned to be in S Club 7, and ended up in the final 12.^[1] She did a lot better in the first series of Pop Idol however, as she ended in fourth place behind Will Young, Gareth Gates and Darius Danesh, hence being the highest placed female on the show.

During the programme, she performed such songs as Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time", "I Will Always Love You" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"; Aretha Franklin's "I Say a Little Prayer"; ABBA's "Thank You For the Music" and Judy Garland's "Get Happy".

After the show, Birkett joined forces with Pop Idol winners, Will Young and Gareth Gates, on tour as their warm-up act. She performed three songs for Pop Idol: The Big Band Album.

In 2003 Birkett got a recording contract with 19 Management and released one single, "Treat Me Like a Lady" on 13 January 2003. The track was co-written by fellow Pop Idol contestant Sarah Whatmore, but only reached number 12 in the UK Singles Chart. However this quickly drifted down the chart and faded, her 2nd single "Never Gonna Happen" lived up to its name as it was scrapped, she has not since released any further singles. Soon after Birkett was dumped by the record label.^[2] She has not released another record: she finished secondary school and went to university.

Birkett appeared in Robert C. Kelly's production of In Town Tonight at the Glasgow Kings Theatre and then went on to star in pantomime in her hometown of Darlington, along with Big Brother star Anthony Hutton. She has more recently toured the country with What A Feeling - a tribute to musicals such as Saturday Night Fever, Fame, Flashdance, Grease and many more - with Noel Sullivan and 80s pop sensation Sinitta.

In October 2006, she and Noel jetted off to Las Vegas to host a show called Cover Girls in the famous Golden Nugget Casino. She now lives in Darlington and is dating Anthony Hutton. Birkett starred in 'Thriller Live' from May to June 2007. She played the lead female role.