HE only reached public consciousness four years ago, but Joe McElderry has already had a winding career.

The winner of X Factor and Popstar to Operastar is heading to Gravesend on September 6 as part of The Woodville’s 40th birthday celebrations.

The audience can expect an eclectic show, Joe told Vibe.

The 22-year-old said: “I’m really mixing it up so people get a taste of everything over the past four years of what I’ve been doing.”

Producing a show with such range is not an easy task.

“It is a challenge,” he said. “One of the classical songs comes after a real up-tempo song with a big dance routine so it takes a bit of focus to go from that and being out of breath to something like Nessun Dorma.”

Spending time with his fans is important for Joe, too.

He said: “The fans are the ones that make everything possible.

“I like to spend time after a show meeting people outside.

“I make it a mission to make sure I spend time with them and let them see me as a person.”

After winning the X Factor in 2009, Joe was thrust into the spotlight.

“It takes a bit of getting used to,” he said. “I still find it a bit surreal walking down the street and people recognising me.

“I suppose that’s part of the job. I never wanted to be famous.

“I don’t really thrive off it.”

His debut single The Climb narrowly missed out on the Christmas number one spot, which went to Rage Against the Machine hit the summit, but hit the top the next week.

“At the time, I didn’t have a clue what was going on,” he said. “I had just won the show, I was exhausted by how busy we’d been and I didn’t really understand anything about the music industry.

“What I came to realise after was they actually helped us sell even more copies than we would have done and made it one of the biggest winning singles ever because of the chart battle.”

Joe parted with Simon Cowell’s record label SyCo in 2011 despite his album Wide Awake reaching number 3 and was almost immediately picked up by Universal, with whom he is now working on his fourth album.

He said he had fond memories of working at SyCo and keeps up to date with the X Factor. He bumps into his fellow finalist at events and sometimes exchanges good luck messages and has remained friends with his mentor on the show, Cheryl Cole.

So does he miss seeing Cheryl and Simon on the judging panel?

“I’m not too bothered about Simon but I miss Cheryl on the show,” he said.

“Cheryl is doing her own thing now, she’s doing really well. I don’t know if she’d go back or not.

“I suppose Simon is that historical judge that everybody wants approval from.

“I think whatever judges are doing it, they have got to be interesting and people have to respect what they say.”

The singer is also a role model for young men, having announced he was gay, aged 19.

He said: “When it first happened, it was one of those things that I thought ‘oh my god, this is a huge deal’.

“But it was a necessary thing to do. I wanted to be honest and I wanted to be true to myself.”

The reaction he received, he said, was incredible.

Joe said: “I was blown away. I remember walking down the street the next day and everybody was coming up and saying ‘congratulations’ and ‘you should be proud of yourself’.

“It was lovely, really nice.”

Joe McElderry will perform at The Woodville in Gravesend on September 6. Tickets cost £25.25 and VIP tickets are sold out. Go to Woodville.co.uk or call 01474 337774.

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