Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead spoke with Radio 1 about the state of the music industry, depressed how someone as talented as Alex Parks had to resort to appearing on ‘Fame Academy’ to get a record deal. “She’s got a fu**ing great voice and if this is the only way she can get out to people it’s a shame because there’s really something going on there and people will dismiss it because it’s that,” they moaned. “If that’s the only way to get exposed now then there’s something seriously wrong with the music industry. I’m against the safety of it all. The industry sort of eating itself whole seems to be depressingly pointless.”

‘Fame Academy’ champ Alex Parks took part in an online chat with fans on femail.co.uk. One fan asked the openly lesbian singer if she felt a responsibility to the gay community. “Yeah, I feel responsible,” she said. “I hope lots of little girls aren’t going to cut their hair short and spiky! I think people are trying to put me in that position of leader, and I find it quite odd.”

Alex Parks tells The Glasgow Daily Record the boys at her school were devastated when she revealed she was a lesbian five years ago. “Before I came out I had loads of boyfriends,” she said. “In fact, I had more boyfriends than girlfriends. When boys hit on me at school it was a compliment. I broke a few boys hearts when I came out. One boy I was fond of was a bit gutted, but he was really supportive. He respected me for making the decision.”

MyKindaPlace.com caught up with Fame Academy winner Alex Parks for a Q&A and asked the openly lesbian singer if it was difficult coming out, and making it known to a television audience. “I came out years ago and everyone’s always been fine with it so it’s not really a big deal for me but obviously going on the show I knew it was going to be a story,” she said. “Everything I read starts off with ‘The spiky-haired Cornish lesbian singer…’”