X-Factor group Only the Young, which features two members from east Kent, is celebrating after gaining a major label record deal.

Charlie George from Chartham and Parisa Tarjomani from Ramsgate were elated at the news of kick-starting their musical career.

The band's debut single I Do is out in July, and fans from Kent are hopeful that its release will be supported with gigs in the county.

As 17 year-old Charlie, who has learnt guitar, piano and drums, revealed, the group's persistence had finally paid dividends.

He said: "It has been amazing for us to gain the deal. It's something that has been in the pipe-line for a while and we've just been working away with gigs. So this is a really exciting time for us and we've had such a good reaction from people since we found out our news the other day.

"I didn't tell friends or family about it initially - my dad was the first to hear and he just went nuts. We are just excited about working on releasing the single now, but we'll have some more big news soon."

The former Canterbury Academy student said that since forming two years ago, the group had developed a strong chemistry that has kept them focused. While he admitted that exiting the X-Factor series had proved "gutting" it had paved the way for major interest in the group from within the music industry.

Despite finishing seventh on the TV show last year, the group, which had been mentored by Louis Walsh, had built up a strong following on social media. The band gained more than a million online followers.

According to Charlie, it was a call to fans on Twitter to help them break their indecision on their name that set the ball rolling for the band, which has been described as favouring an edgy-brand of pop.

For the X-Factor, they began with alternative take on Dolly Parton's 9-5 and put on a display of increasingly confident performances that led many to believe they would make the show's final.

While Simon Cowell passed up on the option to sign Only The Young, he offered some excellent advice for handling on-screen pressure.

"I remember in the first couple of weeks, Simon came round to see us, pulling up in his Rolls-Royce at our house on his birthday. He told us not to worry about it all and just do the best that we could. If it is meant to be then it will be, and if so, it will be the start of an amazing life for us," said Charlie.

After exiting from the screen show, Parisa, who had co-founded the group, thanked fans and vowed they would continue its quest to make it in the industry, with their persistence having paid off.

Tours with the likes of Little Mix, McBusted and The Vamps have since followed and set them on the road to full-blown stardom.

However, as Charlie explained, the past year has proved an exceptionally difficult one for 20 year-old bandmate Parisa, following the death of her mother Sophia from cancer last December. Having been especially supportive of their efforts, he hoped that she would have been proud of their new-found success.

The young singer, who is now based in London, added: "Paris has been my best friend for 13 years now and although we have something of a love hate relationship, we've had an amazing journey together.

"We had decided about three years ago that we wanted to put the group together and found Mikey and Betsy on Youtube - they spent their money coming down to see us and we all just seemed to click."