Sam Bailey slams Simon Cowell record contract, claiming the label wouldn’t let her work

Sam Bailey is happy to have been dropped from Simon Cowell’s record label as it has given her the professional freedom she craved.

The singer, who won a contract with Syco after competing on the X Factor in 2013, says she was sitting around for weeks on end because company bosses were selective in what jobs they wanted her to do.

The former prison officer told the Sunday Mirror: “[Former X Factor judge] Sharon [Osbourne] said, ‘The sooner you are out of the record deal the better because you’ll get to do what you want to do.’

“There were lots of work opportunities when I was with Syco but the label wouldn’t let me take them.

“They didn’t want me to be seen opening a school or doing something for this charity or that charity or going to a Tesco store to open their meat department.”

Sam admits she grew tired of hanging around to be called into the recording studio while she was turning down other work.

She said: “I didn’t want to be sitting on my a**e waiting for Simon to say, ‘Right, you are in the studio next month.’ I like to be busy.”

The singer and Simon parted ways professionally earlier this year and she reckons it was the right decision.

She concluded: “It was nice to set myself free from Simon. They next think I knew, I was working loads.”