Rough Copy

Rough Copy
10 9
Contestant Profile
Hometown	Croydon, London, England
9
Category	Groups
Mentor	Louis Walsh
Placement	Disqualified before Judges' Houses
10
Category	Groups
Mentor	Gary Barlow
Placement	4/12
Gallery

Rough Copy were an R&B trio consisting of Kazeem "Bazza" Ajobo, Sterling Ramsey and Joseph "Wazza" James Thomas who competed in Series 10 as part of the Groups category mentored by Gary Barlow. They were eliminated at the semi final stage, finishing in 4th place.

Background

They originally formed in 2008 with a fourth member, Rickstar Rickell Brown, and called themselves Sons of Soul. After Brown left, the remaining members decided to stay together as a trio and in 2012 released a mixtape called "Sweet like meat".

The X Factor

Originally auditioning for Series 9, they made it all the way to Judges' Houses but were forced to withdraw from the competition after Nigerian-born member Ajobo failed to secure a visa that would allow him re-entry into the UK. They were replaced by Union J and Times Red, who had previously been eliminated at Bootcamp.

They returned a year later and after making it to Bootcamp, it appeared that Ajobo would have problems with his visa again so Ramsey and Thomas continued on without him. They reached Judges' Houses, this time with Gary Barlow as their mentor. He put them through to the live shows, stating they would do everything to get Ajobo back and he managed to join them for the live shows.

Following the eliminations of Miss Dynamix in Week 3 and Kingsland Road the following week, Rough Copy became Barlow's last remaining act in the competition. In Week 7, they were in the Bottom 2 against Hannah Barrett, who was sent home after her mentor Nicole Scherzinger was the only one to save her. They ended up in the Bottom 2 again two weeks later at the semi final stage against Luke Friend and were eliminated from the competition, finishing in 4th place. Band member Ajobo was later kicked off the live tour following an altercation with fellow contestant Sam Callahan.

Performances

2012

Episode	Theme	Song	Result
Audition	Free choice	"Use Somebody"	Advanced
Bootcamp 1	Group performance	"She Said"	Advanced
Bootcamp 2	Solo performance	"Earthquake"	Disqualified

2013

Episode	Theme	Song	Result
Room Audition	Free choice	"Do It Like a Dude"	Advanced
Arena Audition	Free choice	"Little Things"	Advanced
Bootcamp	Group performance		Advanced
Six Chair Challenge	Free choice	"Stop Crying Your Heart Out"	Advanced
Judges' houses	Free choice	"Boyfriend"	Advanced
Week 1	Songs from the 1980s	"In the Air Tonight"	Safe
Week 2	Love and heartbreak	"I Want It That Way"	Safe
Week 3	Movie week	"(Everything I Do) I Do It for You"	Safe
Week 4	Disco	"September"	Safe
Week 5	Big Band	"Hit the Road Jack"	Safe
Week 6	The Great British Songbook	"Viva la Vida"	Safe
Week 7	The X Factor 10th Birthday Party	"Don't Let Go (Love)"	Bottom two
	Save Me songs	"Stop Crying Your Heart Out"	Saved
Week 8	Musical heroes	"Every Little Step" / "She's Got That Vibe"	Safe
	Jukebox	"I Believe I Can Fly"
Week 9: Semi Final	Songs by Beyoncé	"Survivor"	Bottom two
	Songs by Elton John	"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"
	Save Me songs	"End of the Road"	Eliminated (4th)

Post The X Factor

In April 2014, the trio announced they had signed a deal with Epic Records. However, they were dropped by the label following their debut single failing to reach the UK Top 100. They signed with another label to release their follow-up single, which also failed to chart, and in late 2016 they decided to split up.

Trivia

• In Week 7, Hannah Barrett received more public votes than Rough Copy. This meant that if the result went to deadlock, Barrett would have advanced to the quarter-final and Rough Copy would have been eliminated.