Stephen Desmond "Steve" Brookstein (born 10 November 1968) is an English singer, who is best known for winning the first series of The X Factor in 2004. Early and personal life Brookstein was born in Dulwich, London, England, the son of Malle, a council worker, and Errol Brookstein, a lorry driver. His father is South African and his mother is of Estonian descent. His great-grandfather was an Orthodox Jew. He is a supporter of Crystal Palace F.C. In 1997, seven years before his breakthrough on The X Factor, Brookstein was a finalist on the ITV series The Big Big Talent Show, hosted by Jonathan Ross. Career 2004–2005: The X Factor and Heart and Soul In early 2004, Brookstein auditioned for the first series of The X Factor, a talent series aiming to discover new recording artists in the UK. His audition failed to impress two of the judges, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh, who thought he lacked the motivation and confidence to succeed but the third, Simon Cowell, asked Brookstein to return the following day and sing again. At the second audition, Brookstein managed to impress the other judges and was put through to the next stage of the competition. He reached the live shows, where contestants are put to the public vote, as one of three contestants in the Over 25s category mentored by Cowell. He reached the grand final on 11 December 2004 alongside G4 and won, despite him mixing up words and lines in his winner's song and a controversial outburst against him from Osbourne. However, according to Osbourne's subsequent autobiography, he had gained the most votes in every single one of the live shows. For five years, he held the record for the largest number of votes ever received in the final - 6 million, but this is now held by series 6 winner Joe McElderry, who received over 6.1 million votes. After winning The X Factor, Brookstein was signed to the Sony BMG record label through which he released his first single, a cover of Phil Collins' 1984 power ballad "Against All Odds", on 20 December 2004. The song debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number two and then climbed to number one on 2 January 2005, going one better than Collins' original and staying there for one week. In Ireland, the song peaked at number 11. The music video for the song was