X Factor contestant dies after being hit by a taxi on night

X Factor contestant dies after being hit by a taxi on night
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1114143/X-Factor-contestant-dies-hit-taxi-night-out.html
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:06 PM on 13th January 2009



A former contestant on the X Factor has died after being hit by a taxi during a night out with friends.

Grant Booker, 17, died on his way to hospital after the crash in the centre of Birmingham in the early hours of Sunday.

The teenager was hit by a taxi outside the upmarket Mailbox shopping centre at around 4am.

The taxi driver was arrested and later bailed pending further inquiries.


Loss: Grant Booker, 17, died after he was hit by a taxi on a night out. He had appeared on X Factor in the auditions last year

Grant, from Tyseley, had been out with friends who all played football together but became separated from them at the end of the night, his family said.

The teenager, who appeared in the early rounds of the ITV talent show last year, was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

His mother Karen, 45, told the Birmingham Mail: 'I was shocked when they told me he had died. I couldn't believe it. We just broke down crying.

'He was such a lovely lad. He was so placid he never had a crossed word with anyone.'

Sister Joanna, 21, added: 'He’s died at just 17, but he had so much potential for the rest of his life.'


Rejected: Grant, left, performing on the show with his friend David. They sang 'I'll never break your heart' but did not make it through the first round

Grant appeared with his friend David on X Factor last year, singing 'I'll never break your heart'.

To the amusement of the judges, they performed under the name Trilogy despite the third member of their band having left and moved to live in Spain.

Simon Cowell said: 'You couldn't have change the name?' before asking what their ultimate dream was.

The pair declared that they wanted to be 'as big as the Beatles' before performing their track, but the judges were unimpressed.

Cowell said they lacked charisma and stood like 'two matchsticks' while they sang and he, Louis Walsh and Cheryl Cole all decided not to put them through.

The two friends did not seem very upset at being rejected and outside joked with presenter Holly Willoughby about telling the third bandmate they had made it.

The show even mocked up another sequence of footage showing them celebrating after the judges said they were brilliant.