Stars line up for Australian X Factor

Singers Ronan Keating and Natalie Imbruglia will appear as judges on the Australian version of The X Factor, it has been announced.

They will sit alongside Australian singer Guy Sebastian and controversial Aussie DJ Kyle Sandilands when the show is launched later this year.

David Leckie, head of the Seven Media Group, which will make the Australian version of the worldwide TV hit, said: “It’s a bloody great show. What an incredible line-up of judges.”

The Simon Cowell-inspired program has enjoyed enormous success in the UK and is set for a launch in the US.

Imbruglia has sold nine million albums worldwide since launching her singing career in the late 1990s.

As a member of the 22 million-selling Irish band Boyzone, Keating has enjoyed huge worldwide popularity as well as solo success.

Sebastian won the first series of Australian Idol in 2003.

The winner of the Australian X Factor will win a recording contract with Sony Music Australia.