Choir bid for festive number one

Only Men Aloud! was formed eight years ago in Cardiff.

Last Choir Standing winners, Only Men Aloud!, are vying to be this year's Christmas number one, with a double A-side single featuring two covers.

The single will include cover versions of All By Myself, which gave the choir their talent show victory, and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

The 18-strong Welsh male voice choir are hoping to prevent this year's X Factor winner reaching the top spot.

Bookmakers William Hill are offering odds of 10/1 on the choir's victory.

Spokesman Rupert Adams said: "The X Factor has killed the Christmas number one in the last few years, but at last we have a song that can take on the Cowell juggernaut.

"Last year the X Factor winner fared extremely badly really. There's potential, if the wrong winner is chosen, that they will be beaten."

Charity donation

Last Christmas, X Factor champion Leon Jackson topped the singles chart with When You Believe, while the 2006 winner, Leona Lewis, had the chart-topping album - a year after her debut single A Moment Like This soared to the Christmas number one spot.

A donation from the charity single, to be released on 15 December, will be made to homeless charity Shelter and its Welsh counterpart, Shelter Cymru.

The Cardiff choir was started eight years ago by Mr Rhys-Evans who wanted to create a young male voice choir unafraid to tackle music not usually performed by traditional male voice choirs.