Niki Evans couldn’t be less star-struck if she tried. She may have been watched by millions on The X Factor, landed a top job in the West End, and embarked on a huge national tour with Blood Brothers, but in her eyes she’s still just a working mum. Katherine MACAlister catches up with the singer to find out how she manages to keep her feet on the ground.

Niki Evans laughs and shatters any diva-esque preconceptions in one fell swoop: “I’m in Torquay but it’s freezing and I’m not going to the beach because they might harpoon me – I’d be the beached whale.

“But my life hasn’t really changed, I’ve just got a different job, because I still go home to the same house and the same fella every night. And I would happily go back to being a dinner lady and have a normal life again if needs be. But I’ve had four years of bliss and we are still selling out so it’s terrific.”

Not bad for the school dinner lady whose dad sent off for her X Factor forms but died before giving them to her. Anyone who saw Niki’s TV audition was in floods, but one thing’s for sure – he’d be proud of her now.

Because although Niki didn’t win, the 38-year-old has done far better than many X-Factor winners. “I had a great time but I never thought that X-Factor owed me anything. It didn’t. And I’ve never had an ego, I’m just a working mum and I’m no better than anyone else.”

Anyone who’s seen Blood Brothers, coming to Oxford’s New Theatre from Monday, will beg to differ. Niki’s voice is magnificent which is why producer Bill Kenwright knew she could cope with moving from the X-Factor house to the West End. But Niki says it was a steep learning curve.

“I came out of the kitchen onto the TV and landed up in the West End. I’m just proud I managed to hold it all together because I walked out of the Blood Brothers rehearsals three times thinking ‘I cannot do this’” she remembers. “I was so out of my comfort zone.”

And yet 18 months down the line, Niki had itchy feet. “I was just clocking in and out,” she remembers. “So when they offered me the tour I jumped at the chance.”

I point out that most musical stars are desperate to get to the West End and Niki roars with laughter “and I’ve done it the other way round. I know. People thought I was mental to leave, but I’m a Northerner and I wasn’t impressed by it. And being on tour is much more fun than the West End because you’re in a different place every week with a different audience.”

But doesn’t the tour get in the way of her family life? “People forget my children are much bigger these days. They don’t have the ‘go-mum-go’ t-shirts anymore from the X-Factor days,” Niki laughs.

Motherhood has always come first for Niki, which is why her children were so taken aback when she got through the X-Factor auditions. “I didn’t tell them I was going,” Niki smiles “so they were gobsmacked when I got through.”

“I’ve always been able to sing but it’s never been anything special to me,” she says shrugging. “I’d sung in pubs and clubs since I was 12 and had a recording contract aged 16 so it’s not as if I didn’t try to get somewhere but I gave up because I thought if I was that good I would have got somewhere.

“And all I wanted was to have kids and a house and that’s what I did. So I hadn’t got a clue what I was doing when I went to the X-Factor auditions.”

So would Niki change anything? “It’s been a real hard slog but now I enjoy it. But I’m still just a mum who can sing and I’ve never pretended to be anything else.”

* Blood Brothers runs at the New Theatre from Monday to Saturday. Call the box office on 0844 8471588