A PUB singer has vowed to audition for TV’s X Factor again — despite being laughed off stage five years running.

Determined John Humphries, of Banbury Court, Abingdon, will once again face the prospect of national humiliation when he auditions for the talent contest for a sixth time.

Mr Humphries, known as Big John, said he was confident a rendition of Unchained Melody would see him progress to the second stage of this year’s contest.

He said: “I have always sung the high-pitched ones so hopefully, if I change the type of song, I have got a hope of getting through.”

Grandfather Mr Humphries first made his mark on the popular television talent show in 2004, when he sang Eye of the Tiger.

His performance was subsequently broadcast on the ITV show.

The 53-year-old has made it through initial auditions to sing for Simon Cowell and his fellow judges on two occasions, but was rejected both times.

Mr Cowell told him never to return after he sang I Believe in a Thing Called Love in 2005, but allowed him to audition the following year after he won a reserve place in the Blackbird Leys Choir as part of the reality television show The Singing Estate.

Mr Humphries has also appeared on the ITV2 show Xtra Factor several times, including a 2006 Christmas special and in a compilation programme featuring a selection of best and worst auditions.

He said: “It is part of my life now really. I have done the X Factor every year since it started.

“I think I am a good singer and it is my dream to get up on stage and perform in front of people and one day release Eye of the Tiger.”

Mr Humphries, who is originally from Blackbird Leys, Oxford, has been practising his singing at karaoke nights at the Temple Bar in East Oxford and the White Horse in Headington. But he has not taken up advice to take voice coaching lessons because he cannot afford them.

Mr Humphries admitted his 2008 audition piece — Let’s Twist Again— had not gone down too well.

He said: “Everyone was laughing when I left. I hope this will be my year and I hope somebody is out there watching because what I need now is an agent.”

Mr Humphries will be among hundreds of aspiring singers auditioning at the O2 Arena in London on Wednesday, May 6.

X Factor contestants such as Leona Lewis, G4 and Alexandra Burke have had huge chart success since the show began — as has novelty act Chico Slimani, who sold 250,000 copies of It’s Chico Time.

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