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All I want for my future is a happy family,' says Kate. 'I want to be happy myself and just do something that I love and make a living out of it.'

Country girl Kate Cook’s irrepressible smile and high spirits have already endeared her to Australian Idol viewers and according to Kate, her good nature was her saving grace at school. “I was pretty much in trouble all the time,” the 25-year-old says. “But I was pretty bubbly and that, so they liked that side of me!”

Unsurprisingly, Kate doesn’t think her personality has changed that much since she was a kid growing up in country Queensland with her parents, two brothers and two sisters. “I think the closest guys to me would say I’d pretty much give the shirt off me back for anyone,” smiles Kate. “I’m pretty down to earth and a go-getter who knows how to have fun and party on!”

Kate’s teenage years were marked by the death of her mother, two days before Kate turned 17. Her audition song, which Kate wrote for her mother, exemplified how music has always given Kate strength through troubled times. “I’ve always turned to music, it’s a way to express your feelings,” affirms this Harley-riding country music fan, who rates Troy Cassar-Daley as one of her favourite artists.

Earning a living working at an abattoir in Lowood, Queensland when she auditioned for Idol this year, Kate was happy to throw in her meatpacking job to concentrate on her musical dream after she made it into the Idol Top 100 for 2009.

“I tried out about four, five years ago and didn’t get through the first little part of it,” recalls Kate of her previous shot at Idol. “When I got a bit older I thought I really want to do something - I’m trying to get opportunities now, work hard and do what I really want to do, instead of just working in the meatworks every day and trying to make a living the hard way.”