X Factor judges stunned by 16-year-old Ella Henderson from Tetney

Sixteen-year-old Ella Henderson, of Tetney, will have TV audiences under her spell tonight as the ninth series of the X Factor kicks off.

Ella, who has been writing her own songs since she was 13, stuns the judges with her beautiful voice and tribute to her late grandad Bill, whom she credits for getting her into singing.

You'll have to tune in tonight to see if she makes it through to Bootcamp, but if comments from the judges – and show host Dermot O'Leary – are anything to go by, she's already set to be the star of the show – and hopes people will get behind her.

Looking forward to watching the show with family and friends, Ella told the Telegraph: "I am very proud to have been born and raised here and I want to put the area on the map. My home town is where my heart is and it would be great if people got behind me."

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The former star of Cleethorpes dance festivals, who is awaiting her GCSE results next week, auditioned in Manchester before Gary Barlow, Tulisa, Louis Walsh and guest judge Mel B.

The former Spice Girl told her: "Whoever, or whatever, you wrote that song about, those words, I'm sure, hit a chord with everyone. Your song writing is so clever. It made me go into my own little world, and go 'Oh my God!' – I felt like that at one point, and that's hard to do as a song writer.

"And when you sang it, you just made me believe every single word, I was right there with you. What we just witnessed was incredible, absolutely incredible.

Louis, who is returning to the panel for his ninth year, told her: "It's hard to believe that you're only 16, that was a brilliant audition, absolutely brilliant, you're a class act."

Take That star Gary, who took over as head judge from mogul Simon Cowell last year, said: "That performance was absolutely out of this world, it really was. That was really something special, thank you very much for that."

And Tulisa couldn't praise her enough either, saying: "There's so many good things I could sit here and say about you, I could go on and on – the list is endless, but the one thing is that you are the one person that I personally go 'I really want to mentor, I really do'. I see something so special in you, there's just a spark, you're just a star."

And Dermot gushed about her on an interview on ITV1's Daybreak yesterday after a clip of her audition was shown.

"She has the most beautiful voice," he said.

It's been eight years since the last local successes on the X Factor – in the first ever series, judged by Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh.

Singing teacher Verity Keays made it through to live finals in the older category with mentor Simon, but Matt Stiff and his group G4 made it to the final with Louis Walsh – losing out to Steve Brookstein and going on to enjoy a successful career.

X Factor is on ITV1 at 8pm tonight, followed by the Xtra Factor with Caroline Flack and Olly Murs on ITV2.