X Factor legend explains dramatic transformation 14 years after stunning the UK with her voice

‘You know what? You only get one life. I might be 64 but I’m not dead.’

Trust X Factorlegend Mary Byrne, affectionately known as Tesco Maryin a nod to her former job as a supermarket worker, to come out with a complete zinger.

The singer has been on an exhilarating career trajectory since she first shot to fame on the ITV show in 2010, the same year as the likes of One Direction and Cher Lloyd appeared on the Simon Cowell vehicle.

In those 14 years, Mary has used her X Factor platform to stay in the limelight and has also dazzled her numerous fans with a stunning transformation – worlds away from her audition look.

These days, Mary has ditched her famous brunette locks and poker-straight fringe for a sleek, blonde bob, and the reason behind the dramatic makeover? Carpe Diem.

She told : ‘I mean, it was a gradual change. It started off with just getting me hair cut into a bob and a few little highlights, and then within a year of that happening, the hair got blonder, the hair went shorter.

‘It’s actually gone shorter again. Now, it’s all shaded at the back, and I have it pumped up at the top. And I said, “You know what? You only get one life. I might be 64 but I’m not dead.”‘

But do blondes have more fun? ‘Sometimes,’ Mary responded coyly.

Life has treated Mary well since The X Factor. She has had a double platinum and gold album in Ireland, performed on Mediterranean cruises with Sir Cliff Richard, and was in in Menopause: The Musical alongside Linda Nolan. Now she is touring her one-woman show, Check Me Out.

But she hasn’t forgotten her time on the show and has stayed in touch with her fellow contestants and mentor Louis Walsh. Mary even scolded the music mogul over his behaviour on Celebrity Big Brother last year.

‘I watched the show and Louis just couldn’t keep his mouth shut,’ she giggled. ‘He had to say what he felt and that’s just him.

‘There’s no point telling Louis to keep his mouth shut but I did tell him that he could’ve been a bit more diplomatic – and he just started laughing. He said, “You know me.”‘

Mary even recalled one of Louis’ madcap stunts on the X Factor. She had accompanied him and One Direction star Zayn Malik to Sainsbury’s to buy lunch and were followed back home by the paparazzi.

Noticing the cameras, Mary said Louis suggested he and Zayn put on a show and try and snog her. ‘Both of them were kissing me on the bloody cheek as we were walking off,’ Mary regaled. ‘They were just nutters, absolute nutters.’

Mary only has kind words to say about One Direction, who called her ‘mummy Mary’ in the house as she would often sew their ripped clothes and underpants. Harry Styles, who was a teenager at the time, would also moon her every morning. Yes, you read that right.

She said: ‘Every day, Harry would say good morning to me, kiss me on the cheek and then when the other guys would come around to say good morning, Harry would moon me.’

Laughing, Mary added: ‘I mean he was only a baby.’

While she hasn’t stayed in touch with the As It Was singer, she last saw the 30-year-old backstage at The Late, Late Show.

The performer said they had a ‘yap’ over coffee during which she told him how proud she was of his superstar career. ‘He was always such a lovely guy,’ Mary recalled. ‘I mean the whole group were the best guys in the world.’

Mary is now busy with her one-woman show, an auto-biographical production that charts her life from her humble beginnings to the X Factor, but there is still one career goal she would love to tick off.

‘Oh god, you know my dream, and I know it would probably never happen, would be to do a James Bond movie theme tune,’ she said.

‘I doubt it would ever happen but if it did I would go to my grave happy.’