by Chris Malone
X Factor hopeful Cher Lloyd may enjoy performing songs on the show with her own urban twist, but she has revealed that her roots lie not in the city, but in the Welsh countryside.
The young singer spent the early years of her life living in a caravan as a Romany traveller, just as her family had for generations.
Cher is said to have spent some of her childhood in a second-hand tourer from Buccaneer Caravans that was parked in lay-bys around Wales. As a result, children at her school used the playground taunt “pikey” to disparage her Romany lifestyle.
The road to stardom
Aged just 17, Lloyd has already made a name for herself on the show with her fierce renditions of urban classics and her penchant for rapping. She is considered among the front runners to scoop the lucrative record deal prize offered to winners of the X Factor.
However, her uncle Jessy Smith told the Daily Mirror that the star’s upbringing was far-removed from the glitz and glamour she is currently experiencing.
“Cher was just a few months old when they moved out of her mum’s,” he said.
“[Her parents] Diane and Darren bought an old Buccaneer six-berth caravan with plastic windows and a battered Ford Transit Mark II pick-up for £200.”
Mr Smith explained that life was not easy for the young family, but spoke with pride that his niece had made it so far in her quest to become a pop star.
