Leave Leon Alone

In a move which is both populist, and consciously unfashionable, I’ve decided I really like Leon Jackson’s new single.

Various newspaper journalists have been poking fun at him, after Peter Kay's spoof talent show song made it to number two, one place above the X Factor winner's latest tune.

But that kind of artificial tabloid tug of war is little more than a willy-waving contest, and the warm, beer-scented urine some of those hacks have been spraying into the breeze might just splash back into their faces.

The problem with Leon is that as soon as he stops singing, and starts talking, it's as if he has a borderline personality disorder, in the sense that it's borderline whether he has much on-stage personality at all (and I like him).

All that means, however, is that he's very quiet, but it makes him an easy target.

He doesn't shout, like some other reality TV contestants, or indeed judges. After all, Dannii Minogue's not un-vocal, but if she could sing as well as Alexandra Burke, say, she might still be making records, instead of patronising timid contestants who have the talent but not the brass neck.

It was, therefore, a little surprising that Leon won last year, but then again, there wasn't much competition. If brother and sister duo Same Difference had gone any further, Christmas would have turned into a wake, as we mourned the passing of 50 years of British musical excellence, to be replaced by a Euro-pop so bland it would have embarrassed Albania.

Leon does, though, have a good voice, and the quiet vulnerability, if not taken to exasperating levels, can be quite endearing. He's the Great British Underdog - plucky, but potentially doomed. Seeing Leon sing provokes the same sort of feelings that watching Tim Henman at Wimbledon used to.

With him, the producers have taken the Leona Lewis approach. Instead of rushing out an album of covers (and it would have been all Michael Buble), they've taken their time, and tried to find songs which suit his voice and style.

The single, Don't Call This Love, is a bit 70s, a bit crooner-esque, and a bit good. The hook rattles around your head long after you've heard it, and I think it could have been recorded by Take That. It's undemanding, and warm, and nice, and he sings it well. It simmers with well-judged seasoning, without ever quite coming to the boil.

But if it did, he might get his fingers burned. As it is, the wee laddie from West Lothian who was still working in a clothes shop just over a year ago, has moved on from the talent show scene, and given himself a chance of genuine success, if not longevity.

To achieve that, he'll have to distance himself from the producers and minders whose thumb he shelters under at the moment.

For now, though, he's become a bona fide recording artist, and that's a lot more than he ever dreamed of in the cold grey summer of 2007.