Jo Birchall has the voice as well as the looks
Jo Birchall may not be a name you know now, but if she has anything to say about it, you soon will.
The singer has strong determination to see herself succeed in everything that she wants in life, and her past has proven that nothing will stop her from getting there.
Her debut album, Something To Say, is the finishing piece to the jigsaw that she's been assembling for the past five years.
She originally recorded an album for Decca, earlier on in the decade, and things started gathering pace. She was touring with Westlife and performing on high profile TV shows including Children in Need, as she was receiving help and guidance from Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy. 
Yet the next few years saw tragedy and misfortune strike both professionally and personally - Decca was subsumed in a merger, leaving Jo with an album but no label. Take That reunited, so understandably Gary Barlow's prorities changed.
Then her personal life was turned upside down, both her parents were diagnosed with cancer within months of each other. Although her mother went on to recover, her father sadly passed away.
After all that struggle Jo managed to pick herself back up, move to London to pursue her dreams of writing songs and performing them.
We caught up with her to find out just how she managed to find the strength.
How have you managed to keep on going through all of the heartache and tragedy?
I think that's what kept me going. My dad and my mum were great, they've never been pushy parents. They were the ones saying, 'Just because we're ill doesn't mean everything has to stop'. I was still pretending to do stuff, when I actually wasn't. I was just happy to be at home, knowing that I would never get that time back again.
When he passed away, my mum was 'Come on, carry on' because he'd said to me to never give up, I've just never known anything else. I've always wanted to do this, I've always been quite strong minded and I think because I'd done so well beforehand, I was thinking, those people wouldn't work with me if there wasn't something there. So that's what kept me going as well, it was just a really unlucky time and maybe next time it might not be. But I didn't really know whether I'd be lucky enough to get the opportunity again.
What was it like leaving Liverpool?
God, it was heartbreaking. Especially at the time that it was, I was really homesick. The worst thing was, I was home at least once a month, and I'm still the same now five years later, I'd go back home for the weekend and I'd really struggle then, once I'd got back to London. Since I'd seen my family and friends again, I'd have to get on the train to come back and it was then I'd realise how actually homesick I was. But if anything that's what kept me going, because there's no point in being homesick and going to live in the city on my own, unless it's worthwhile.
I think if I'd have just been in Liverpool I'd have settled more, just being with my family and then get another job. But I had to get a job in London and I was working in a restaurant, while I was song writing of a day, working in the restuarant of the night. If I was in Liverpool I think I would have just got side tracked with work and might not have been as keen to stick with it. But the fact that I was on my own in London, that was the only reason I'd moved down, so that's what kept me motivated.
The single, Wonderful, is being released on Septemer 12, how would you describe it?
Wonderful is really uplifting and quite optimistic, it's a real feel-good one. Although I've gone through all that heartache I'm actually a really happy person and I didn't want the album to be all negative and about the heartache because I'm actually in a real happy place. It's just that my dad isn't around to share it, that does upset me but other than that I'm really happy and I just wanted a song that reflected that. Not too much negativity - I don't like all that really. I know I've had my heartaches but so have everyone and I don't want to dwell on them, like 'Poor me' - it's not what I'm about. 
The album is being released on the same day, September 12. After listening to the album, Her Name has to be my favourite.
Yes, they're both being released the same day and a lot of girls have said that one actually.
So how would you describe the album?
It's very like pop and commercial, but it's very mature. For someone who wants to listen to real lyrics, the real experiences in the songs. It's not too manufactured or anything. It's real genuine experiences that have been put into the album. I think it's really targeted at women, particulary women of our age, who have been through the experiences and can take the lyrics and put them into their own lives. Hopefully men and younger people will like it as well. I imagine that it would be women that would pick up on it more.
Who influences you musically?
I'd probably say, growing up I was listening to, because I had no choice with my mum, I was listening to country music. So I did love all of that, Patsy Cline, and then when it became Shania Twain and LeAnn Rimes, that kind of crossover sound country/pop, I really liked that. But again when I was little, I used to love Whitney Houston, when I was at school people liked Madonna or Whitney Houston and again I liked the voice and the songs, rather than the pop side of stuff. I'm influenced by those kind of strong, female artists. You know, sing-along songs and big voices.
So what's coming up next after the single and the album?
It's depending on how the album is received and at the minute I'm doing everything I possibly can to get people to hear it and hopefully buy it and like it. So I suppose a lot of it depends on this of what is next.
Where would you like to see yourself this time next year then?
Hopefully with a great album out, and hopefully starting up a little bit of a tour and doing some live performances and things. Maybe working towards the second one [album] if the first one goes well.
This is the stage now, where I genuninely don't know. I mean I've been writing songs and recording them for years, I just haven't got a clue how it's going to go. So far it's been all good feedback but, it's all very much whatever the future holds. I'll find out along the way.
We're pretty certain that we can expect something from Jo Birchall, her drive alone will see her succeed and we couldn't be more pleased for her.
Femalefirst Taryn Davies
Jo Birchall may not be a name you know now, but if she has anything to say about it, you soon will.
The singer has strong determination to see herself succeed in everything that she wants in life, and her past has proven that nothing will stop her from getting there.
Her debut album, Something To Say, is the finishing piece to the jigsaw that she's been assembling for the past five years.
She originally recorded an album for Decca, earlier on in the decade, and things started gathering pace. She was touring with Westlife and performing on high profile TV shows including Children in Need, as she was receiving help and guidance from Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy.
Yet the next few years saw tragedy and misfortune strike both professionally and personally - Decca was subsumed in a merger, leaving Jo with an album but no label. Take That reunited, so understandably Gary Barlow's prorities changed.
Then her personal life was turned upside down, both her parents were diagnosed with cancer within months of each other. Although her mother went on to recover, her father sadly passed away.
After all that struggle Jo managed to pick herself back up, move to London to pursue her dreams of writing songs and performing them.
We caught up with her to find out just how she managed to find the strength.
How have you managed to keep on going through all of the heartache and tragedy?
I think that's what kept me going. My dad and my mum were great, they've never been pushy parents. They were the ones saying, 'Just because we're ill doesn't mean everything has to stop'. I was still pretending to do stuff, when I actually wasn't. I was just happy to be at home, knowing that I would never get that time back again.
When he passed away, my mum was 'Come on, carry on' because he'd said to me to never give up, I've just never known anything else. I've always wanted to do this, I've always been quite strong minded and I think because I'd done so well beforehand, I was thinking, those people wouldn't work with me if there wasn't something there. So that's what kept me going as well, it was just a really unlucky time and maybe next time it might not be. But I didn't really know whether I'd be lucky enough to get the opportunity again.
What was it like leaving Liverpool?
God, it was heartbreaking. Especially at the time that it was, I was really homesick. The worst thing was, I was home at least once a month, and I'm still the same now five years later, I'd go back home for the weekend and I'd really struggle then, once I'd got back to London. Since I'd seen my family and friends again, I'd have to get on the train to come back and it was then I'd realise how actually homesick I was. But if anything that's what kept me going, because there's no point in being homesick and going to live in the city on my own, unless it's worthwhile.
I think if I'd have just been in Liverpool I'd have settled more, just being with my family and then get another job. But I had to get a job in London and I was working in a restaurant, while I was song writing of a day, working in the restuarant of the night. If I was in Liverpool I think I would have just got side tracked with work and might not have been as keen to stick with it. But the fact that I was on my own in London, that was the only reason I'd moved down, so that's what kept me motivated.
The single, Wonderful, is being released on Septemer 12, how would you describe it?
Wonderful is really uplifting and quite optimistic, it's a real feel-good one. Although I've gone through all that heartache I'm actually a really happy person and I didn't want the album to be all negative and about the heartache because I'm actually in a real happy place. It's just that my dad isn't around to share it, that does upset me but other than that I'm really happy and I just wanted a song that reflected that. Not too much negativity - I don't like all that really. I know I've had my heartaches but so have everyone and I don't want to dwell on them, like 'Poor me' - it's not what I'm about.
The album is being released on the same day, September 12. After listening to the album, Her Name has to be my favourite.
Yes, they're both being released the same day and a lot of girls have said that one actually.
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