On Sunday night, the 18-year-old won universal praise from the judges for his rendition of The Fray’s hit How To Save A Life.

James’ Idol journey has seen him grow in confidence week-by-week and, with the complete support of Wingham, we are seeing him flourish and win new fans.

James admits he “freaked-out” in the early stages of the competition. He received a setback early on in the top 100 stage when the singers were asked to form lines of 10 and one-by-one come forward and sing a song of their choice unaccompanied.

A very nervous James took to the mic. He started his song two keys too high and halfway through his performance his voice cracked.

“I was so anxious and nervous,” James said of those early days.

The judges forgave this slip-up and James powered through the remainder of the top 100 week – coming into his own at the final stage where he belted the John Mayer song No Such Thing in front of a screaming crowd of 1000.

After the voice-cracking nightmare, James has worked on controlling his nerves – and not letting them control him.

This has led to a series of strong performances – including his live semi-final and top 12 performances.

“I’ve worked on vocally calming myself – it means you don’t get overwhelmed,” James said.

“Then you can work on capturing people in the audience. I just try to focus on what I’m there to do.”

So who is James Johnston’s favourite judge? James is hesitant to choose between Marcia Hines, Ian “Dicko” Dickson and Jay Dee Springbett but he said Marcia is the greatest supporter of the contestants.

“Obviously, Marcia is the nice one – the one you turn to when you get slammed by the others,” James said.

“But Dicko is the most straight-up-and-down.”

James recognises Dicko’s marketing expertise and heeds his advice – even in its often brutally-honest form.

“He’s the one who’ll give you that honest criticism,” James said.