Lloyd Daniels, the former X Factor contestant and the current star of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, has got where he is today thanks to his innate singing talent and his own hard work. But there are also three people without whose help he might never have made it – his former stepfather, his nan and, believe it or not, Celine Dion.

“I haven’t really spoken about this before,” admits the 22-year-old from Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, “but I wasn’t actually auditioning for X Factor – my stepdad was. He’d got through the first round and I went along to the second round with him, and while I was sat in the waiting room they asked me to sing something just quickly and so I did!”

Lloyd was about eight seconds into his rendition of Chris Brown’s With You when the programme’s scouts realised they were dealing with something special and handed him a golden pass through to the next round.

“I came out of the room with this gold ticket and my stepdad came out with a red one,” laughs Lloyd. “As you can imagine, the journey home was a bit tense! Let’s just say my mum’s not with him anymore!”

Lloyd made it through one more round to face the judges in the televised auditions and went on to become, at 16, the youngest contestant on X Factor in 2009. His mentor was Cheryl Fernandez-Versini (then Cole) and he finished fifth in the series, going on to join the X Factor Live tour and then embarking on a three-year round of gigs and small festivals, building up his fan base and finding his feet in the industry – and his voice.

“I was quite baffled when they asked me to audition in that waiting room,” remembers Lloyd, “because I’d told them I wasn’t a singer. So it’s been quite amazing, what’s come of it all.”

Indeed, Lloyd’s only experience of singing up until then had been the odd school play as a teenager and karaoke – which is where his debt to his nan and to Celine Dion come in.

“My grandmother used to have a holiday bungalow in west Wales and we used to go to the caravan park all the time,” says Lloyd. “I’d go on the karaoke every single weekend, without fail! And I’d sing the same song every single time – Think Twice by Celine Dion. I must have been about eight and I’d be belting this song out. I wish I could sing it now!”

So accomplished at this number did the young Lloyd become that he sang it at a karaoke night in a pub in Tenerife while he was on holiday there with his mum when he was nine. “The guy who owned the pub paid me to come back and sing it every night, the same song over and over, it was so funny! That’s when I was asked for my very first autograph.”

Lloyd stopped singing in his teens because it wasn’t considered a very cool thing to do where he grew up, but luckily that hasn’t hampered his career, and he has never done any other than job than singing.

His move into musical theatre is also going very well so far, and he has loved his stint as Joseph in Bill Kenwright’s touring production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice classic, which he started in the autumn of last year.

“I didn’t know quite what to expect but it’s been absolutely amazing,” says Lloyd, who stars in the show alongside fellow X Factor contestant Marcus Collins, who plays the part of the narrator. “I’d definitely be up for doing some more musicals.”

Maybe the next one could be one about Lloyd himself, one charting his extraordinary rise to fame, with Lloyd playing himself, of course. And with three of the main characters being his stepfather, his nan, and Celine Dion.