X Factor dream of girl who calls Shirley Bassey Granny (but hasn't seen her since she was two)

She made her stage debut at the Royal Albert Hall aged just 18 months, in the arms of her grandmother Shirley Bassey.

Seventeen years later, Tatjana Novak-Kimsey is making her own bid for stardom after getting through the first auditions for the X Factor.

But sadly, a family feud has meant the Big Spender singer has never heard her granddaughter perform, having had no contact since she was an infant.

X Factor
Dame Shirley Bassey

Hey, big contender: Dame Shirley Bassey's granddaughter Tatjana is among the hopefuls auditioning for the X Factor this year

Yesterday the 18-year-old student told the Daily Mail that she would love to be reunited with Dame Shirley, now 72.

'I've not seen her since I was under two because of a family issue that I've never really got to the bottom of,' she said.

'I am a massive fan of her music, I've got her on my iPod. I would absolutely love to sing with her. It would be amazing if she got in touch.'

Tatjana

Family rift: Tatjana, pictured with Dame Shirley, has not seen her grandmother since she was a toddler

Although Tatjana got past the ITV show judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole, she is yet to emulate her grandmother's star quality.

Her rendition of There You'll Be by the U.S. country singer Faith Hill fell a little short, according to show insiders.

'They weren't bowled over but they did like Tatjana's personality,' said a source.

'When the judges realised who she was, they were gobsmacked. They couldn't understand what she was doing on the show. It was quite sad.

She had to explain that she hadn't seen her gran since she was tiny and admitted the reality show was her only chance of a pop career.'

Tatjana flew from her home in Marbella, southern Spain, to audition in Birmingham in April. Her father is Mark Novak, the adopted son of Dame Shirley and her second husband Sergio Novak.

He has long been estranged from his mother after battling drug addiction, and split from Tatjana's mother Lisa Kimsey before his daughter turned two.

It is because of this fall-out that Tatjana has lost touch with Dame Shirley, who currently lives alone in Monte Carlo.

Enlarge   Tatjana

Bid for stardom: The teen in 2007

Her father, who also lives in Spain, yesterday refused to comment on his relationship with his mother. Tatjana's grandfather Derek Kimsey, of Tattershall, Lincolnshire, said: 'Tatjana's mother has done a jolly good job of bringing her up after she split with her father and I don't think she feels she has missed out on anything.'

He added: 'I was in the audience in Birmingham and she picked a very hard song. The judges were all a little bit edgy about it afterwards.

‘Simon didn't like it at all and the others weren't sure. But she had the bottle to say to them that she had another song she would sing without any backing music.

'She did that and the two girls said yes and Louis said yes but Simon still said no.'

Tatjana made it through to the X Factor Boot Camp in London where she was put through her paces with 24 other hopefuls. Viewers will have to wait and see how she fared as the series progresses.

Twice-divorced Dame Shirley, who lives alone in Monte Carlo, did not wish to speak about her granddaughter yesterday.

The singer from Tiger Bay, Cardiff, had her first child, Sharon, at 16.

She married TV producer Kenneth Hume in June 1961 but it later emerged that he was gay and the couple divorced in 1965.

  

During that marriage she had a daughter, Samantha, widely thought to be the result of an affair with actor Peter Finch. Hume died in 1967 from an apparent drugs overdose.

In 1968 she married Novak and they adopted Mark before the marriage ended in 1977.

In 1985, Samantha drowned after jumping from the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.

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