EXCITEMENT has almost reached fever pitch for Motherwell's X Factor star Nicholas McDonald as he gets ready to compete in tonight's semi finals.

To make it through to next week's big finish the 17-year-old has to convince the voting public why he has a winning voice.

He will be singing Beyonce's Halo and Elton John's Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me - two huge songs and two big moments to impress.

Judges Gary Barlow, Nicole Scherzinger, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh will be looking for note-perfect performances from the contestants as they search for a worthy successor to last year's winner James Arthur.

After his perfor-mance last week of Bruno Mars's Just the Way You Are, Nicholas was told by Sharon that he "needed to perform more", and urged him to "be like a lion".

Mentor Walsh said he had "a god-given gift", while Scherzinger reckoned he had "connected more than ever".

The youngster recently took some time out from his hectic schedule of rehearsals to celebrate his 17th birthday by taking his first driving lesson.

Nicholas become the pride of Motherwell after reaching the X Factor Live Shows.