A singer-songwriter who shot to fame as a Britain's Got Talent finalist has come out as transgender and officially changed his name.

Gabz, from Stevenage, has changed his name from Gabrielle Gardiner to Ashley Gray, saying "I’ve always hated my full name as it was always too feminine," and he has had his first appointment at a gender clinic.

The 23-year-old reached the final of Britain's Got Talent in 2013 with his debut single Lighters (The One) - which he penned at just 13 - climbing to number six in the UK Singles Chart.

Ashley, who says he will maintain his stage name Gabz, took to TikTok recently to update his over 110,000 followers.

He said: "Basically, I have some exciting news.

"So, I'm trans and I've been waiting on the gender clinic waiting list for the NHS for quite a while, so I decided to go private.

"I waited seven months and yesterday I had my first appointment, which is really exciting.

"It went really well. I mean, I just cried the whole time, but it went really well, which means I'm going to be able to change the name on my passport and my gender mark on my passport, which is exciting."

Ashley, who attended Stevenage schools Lodge Farm, Nobel and Barnwell, added: "I feel like a lot of the waiting around for the stuff is money problems. It's so expensive.

"I feel like I'm going to have updates soon on when I can start T [testosterone].

"I'll have to see how long it's going to be for top surgery, because hopefully I won't have to fundraise anymore for that. Hopefully I'll be able to do it through the NHS.

"I'm just really excited and I will keep you guys updated now because I feel like I'm actually getting somewhere with this."

Last year, Gabz came out as nonbinary and said: "This journey had been really confusing for me.

"I’ve decided being nonbinary is no longer going to be a burden for me or hold me back or keep me hiding.

"I wanna be myself 100 per cent authentically always! Hopefully in the future loads of kids like me won’t have to grow up so confused not fitting any labels.

"Gonna be way more open with you all."