Marlon Mckenzie impressed the X Factor judges at the Manchester auditions with his unique take on Bill Withers ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’.

The Mancunian R&B singer previously made it through to bootcamp in both 2005 and 2008, but failed to make it as far as the live shows. This year Marlon said he made a lot of changes to how he looks and performs.

After his performance Simon told him:

 “’I’ve got to be honest, when you said you were going to sing Ain’t No Sunshine, I thought oh god we’re going to hear that same old version we’ve heard thousands of times. The fact that you came with your own version of it, actually made the song sound incredibly current, I’ve got a good feeling about you as a person.”

In an interview with the ITV This Morning program, Marlon was asked why he failed to make it past bootcamp before, he replied:

“In 2008 I didn’t stand out. It was safe performance which got me sent home. In 2005 I was a bit of a mess up. I messed up the key with the pianist.”

“However, this year’s audition was different”.

“I came back, I thought about the performance, the song, the image just tried to keep everything….eye on the prize you know!”

He also said that he considered not returning to the show:

“I wasn’t going to audition this year,” he revealed, “but I thought if I go and they say no, at least I’ll know. If I don’t go, I’d never have known if it was a no or a yes.

‘For me it’s like, you just don’t give up on you dreams. If it doesn’t work out you go back, you just keep trying. I’ve got children, I’ve got to set that example.’