It’s been four years since Mary Byrne belted her way through The X Factor, but she’s still the down-to-earth woman who once worked in Tesco.

“I still live in the same house in Ballyfermot and everyone knows me as Mary from down the road or Mary from Tesco. Then they saw me as a diva on TV and it was a dream come true,” she says. “It was like a fairy godmother waved a wand over me.”

Though Mary hasn’t changed a bit, her life has been completely transformed since The X Factor. She has released three albums, including this year’s Magic of the Musicals, and performs all over Ireland and abroad.

After a successful stint at the Ploughing, she’s taking to the stage for our Women & Agriculture conference. It turns out this Dub, whose father was from Kildare, is a fan of the country.

“Having been born and bred in Dublin, it’s only in the last year that I’ve been travelling all over Ireland extensively and I cannot get over how warm and welcoming my fans from the country are. I can’t wait to perform at the conference,” says Mary.

“I love the Ploughing. I was first brought to it when I was 13 and, at that time, it was a large field with a handful of stalls. I’m stunned at how the show has grown.”

The Women & Agriculture conference celebrates inspirational women and Mary certainly fits the bill. After watching her perform so confidently, it’s astonishing to learn that she suffers from low self-esteem and almost gave up singing.

“I loved singing as a young girl but I had very low self-esteem. It’s only now that I’m learning to hear that there’s a good enough voice in there. I still couldn’t call it a great voice, because I still can’t let myself,” she says.

Mary has battled depression in the past and admits to feeling worthless after the break-up of her relationship with her daughter’s father.

“I went to my doctor and told him I needed to talk to someone,” she says. “He sent me to a psychiatrist but now I have my mates because I can yap about the way I feel.

“Try to listen when someone compliments you. It’s hard, but let it sink in – you are a good person. That’s not a bad person staring back at you in the mirror.”

Mary regained her confidence as a singer when she started singing karaoke and then performing with her brother as The Tommy Lee Experience. Mary’s performances in the local pub earned quite a reaction.

“I used to get a standing ovation,” she smiles. “Those people who stood for my performances gave me the courage to start singing again.

She was persuaded to go for The X Factor by her niece and co-workers, but almost decided not to audition.

“We were queuing from two o’clock in the morning and my daughter Deborah had brought a camp chair because I have arthritis,” she recalls. “We were there until around four o’clock the next day. I turned around to Debbie and said: ‘Will we go?’ She told me to stay, but I did not, under any circumstances, think I’d get through.”

The performance that followed has three million views on YouTube (Simon Cowell said she had the best voice of the Dublin auditions) and Mary passed through all the rounds to earn a place on the live shows, making it to the semi-final.

“I wouldn’t be here if not for The X Factor, it will always be part of my life. It was a fantastic experience, but also exhausting and frightening,” she says.

“All hell breaks loose when you make it to the judges’ house stage and the live show. The amount of filming is colossal. It starts early in the morning and ends late at night, Monday to Sunday. You’re lucky to get one day off every few weeks.”

After years of struggling with confidence, Mary also had to summon the courage to perform in front of millions.

“If I allowed myself to think that the cameras were showing me to that many people, I couldn’t have performed,” she says. “I was amazed when I came home to Dublin and people knew me. When I was on stage, all I could see were the judges and the audience.”

Although Mary didn’t make it to the final, her career took off after The X Factor and she has been performing ever since. However, there’s no danger of the fame going to Mary’s head and she credits her daughter Deborah and her friends for keeping her grounded.

“She has provided a safe haven during this madness,” says Mary. “I’m just mammy to her, not Mary Byrne the singer. She still asks me to cook the dinner or bring bread and milk home.”

“I have a lot of people supporting me and they’re real people. Whenever I do a show, the girls from Tesco support me and half of Ballyfermot come along. They think a lot of me and I think a lot of them.”

Regardless of what your views are on reality TV, Mary is proof that pursuing your passion can pay off.

“Before all this, I was plodding along,” she says. “I wasn’t bored, but there was this niggling little voice at the back of my head saying that there was more to life and I wasn’t given this talent for nothing. I would always push it back because I was scared.

“But life is full of chances and we don’t know which ones are going to take off. I’m glad I took mine.”

Mary Byrne will be performing at Irish Country Living’s Women & Agriculture conference, which takes place on Wednesday 22 October. To book your place, contact the Irish Farmers Journal on 01-419-9505 or click here

Mary’s new album, Magic of the Musicals, is available to purchase at Tesco.