Optimum performance: X Factor's Louis Walsh has admitted fellow judge Cheryl Cole uses auto-tuning to improve her vocalsWhen it was used for X Factor contestants, it led to hundreds of complaints and threatened the integrity of the show.
But even the biggest stars such as Cheryl Cole use auto-tuning to improve their vocals, according to her fellow judge Louis Walsh.
The technology is so rife that for many singers it is 'just like wearing good make-up', he said.
The multi-millionaire Irishman, 58, waded into the row yesterday after Simon Cowell confirmed that he was scrapping vocal tampering on the show.
Hopefuls on last Saturday's X Factor series opener had their voices altered before broadcast, prompting more than 300 complaints to ITV.
Yesterday Walsh, who is in Dublin filming the Judges' Houses round of the show, said: 'Every pop star in the world uses autotuning. If you're a superstar you don't care.
'I wish I'd done it last year [during the live shows] with Jedward, it might have helped, I might have won the show. There is nothing wrong with it.
'I think people are making a big deal of it. Other channels are jealous of The X Factor, everyone is, it's the biggest show.
'It's the same as wearing good make-up and having a good make-up artist. Every successful artist in the world uses it.'
Mrs Cole, 27, right, was caught in a miming row last year after the Daily Mail revealed that she did not plan to sing live during the first performance of her solo single, Fight For This Love, on The X Factor. Cowell banned her from miming and she resorted to performing alongside a backing track, singing live in parts.
Her vocal talents were even mocked this week by Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles, who said it was her voice that should be digitally improved rather than the contestants'.
After playing a recording of a live performance of her hit Parachute, Moyles, 36, told his listeners: 'She might not need a parachute but she could bloody do with some singing lessons.'
Moving: On tonight's X Factor show, Cheryl Cole, second right, is reduced to tears by Tesco shop assistant Mary ByrneOn tonight's X Factor, Mrs Cole is left in tears after an audition by a Tesco shop assistant who is already being labelled the 'next Susan Boyle'.
The pop star tells Mary Byrne, 50, who sings Shirley Bassey's I Who Have Nothing at the Dublin auditions-that she was stunned by the 'incredible power and emotion' of her performance.
Cowell is also impressed, adding: 'Seriously, seriously good. And actually more than that, I really like you.'
The X Factor was hit by further trouble this week after it was forced to drop single mother Shirlena Johnson when it emerged the contestant had misled producers over the full extent of her mental illness.
Yesterday Walsh said: 'I was looking forward to working with her because she's slightly wacky. All the best people are wacky, look at Grace Jones, look at Madonna, look at Robbie [Williams].'
Asked if he would have been prepared to risk her having a meltdown, he replied: 'I wouldn't mind.'
He added: 'Normal people are boring, they're forgettable.'
source: dailymail
