Lorenzo: 'Cowell never offered me a deal'

Ruth Lorenzo has denied media reports that she turned down a record deal from Simon Cowell.

The singer signed a contract with EMI/Virgin last month amid rumours that she rejected an offer from the X Factor judge.

However, Lorenzo told the Daily Record: "I never ditched Simon. It is not true that I decided not to go with him, because there was never an offer from him on the table.

"At one of the first X Factor meetings, the acts were told by Simon that he'd only sign the winner this year. So we knew that."

She added that she had been given a "great deal" from EMI which included a "a lot of control to write my own songs and produce".

Winner Alexandra Burke was signed by Cowell's Syco label, finalists JLS and Eoghan Quigg were picked up by Epic and RCA respectively and Diana Vickers was also signed by RCA.

Syco, Epic and RCA are all part of Sony Music.