Who is The X Factor's Gifty Louise? Everything you need to know about Simon Cowell's live act

The X Factor 2016 live acts: Gifty Louise

Who is she? Gifty Louise Agyeman is an events manager who moved to London from Ghana at the age of 10. The same year, she lost her mother in a car crash.

Age: 20

Mentor: Simon Cowell (Girls)

Doesn't she look familiar?

There has been a sense of deja vu this year as many hopefuls from previous series have returned for a second shot at hitting the big time. Luckily for Gifty, her determination has led her all the way through to the live shows - a far cry from 2015, when she lost her voice at Bootcamp and made an early exit.

Gifty Louise's first audition

As she prepared to perform Mary J Blige’s No More Drama, Simon Cowell warned her: “You’ve been through this before Gifty. I want a performance now.” So Gifty stepped up and gave a performance. Sharon Osbourne called her audition "very dramatic".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqojFvNAdro

X Factor journey

Gifty's place in the live shows is a no brainer after consistent performances all the way through the series.

Louis Walsh reckoned she showed off "star quality" when she performed Gnarls Barkley's Crazy, and she also wowed with her rendition of Kungs vs Cookin on 3 Burners' This Girl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ebgI2xuF8k

She has been praised as "different" and "interesting" by Simon Cowell.

Controversies

In an interview in The Sun, Gifty revealed that she had been cautioned for kicking a policeman when she was 13 after he tried to stop and search her. "I got arrested once for hitting a police officer," she said.

"It was quite funny. I felt that because I was a female, a female officer should search me. And I felt like he was touching me inappropriately so I kicked him in the balls."

The case apparently did not go to court and her criminal record was wiped two years later.