Katherine Jenkins

November 2014

WHILE the eyes of the world were focusing on the George Clooney/Amal Alamuddin wedding in Venice, Katherine Jenkins was also tying the knot, to New Yorker Andrew Levitas at Hampton Court Palace.
It was a private affair, with just 200 guests, and there were no photo sales to glossy magazines.
“It’s amazing, I’m incredibly happy, I love being a wife... it’s the best thing in the world,” says the 34-year-old mezzo soprano.
“It’s a very happy time.”
Give it 15 years and he’ll be driving you up the wall.
“Oh please,” she laughs. “I don’t want to hear that.”
She’s in the back of a car heading from York to... she’s not sure. It’s a promotional tour of the UK to push a new album, Home Sweet Home and the corresponding theatre tour that lands at the Royal Concert Hall on Valentine’s Day.

That date generated a few fan suggestions on Twitter that she should run a competition to win a romantic meal with her.
“I’m not sure what Andrew would say about that”, she laughs, of her new husband, who is also in the entertainment industry, as a film director, producer and actor.
She has said that he likes her music.
“Well, he’s got to, hasn’t he? He’d be in trouble if he didn’t.”
The couple have made their home in London, where Jenkins moved from Wales at the age of 18 to study at the Royal College of Music.
Will they move to New York in the future?
“No,” she says firmly.
“We’re staying in the UK. I feel really proud of where I come from, my sister’s just had a baby and all my family are here. It’s going to be nice to have family in New York to go and visit but I’m staying in the UK.”
Home Sweet Home, indeed - although the album is more about her return to her original record label, Decca, where her career started ten years ago.

“In some way it’s unbelievable that I’ve been lucky enough to make ten albums. Reaching that landmark made me look back. Along the way I tried to bring different genres of music into the classical sphere but I think the music I enjoyed the most, and suited me most, was the sort I was making on my first few albums.
“I’ve still got a desire to make classical music accessible and Decca really understand classical crossover.”
She adds: “I’ve gone full circle in a way. Musically I’ve come home.”
Songs on the new album, released on November 17, include World In Union, We Are The Champions, Barcelona (with Alfie Boe), Silent Night and How Great Thou Art.
“The songs were chosen for having a classical footing but they had to be anthemic and inspirational... will they make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end?” says Jenkins, who was teaching singing when she signed to Decca.
“They are songs that everybody will know. Even if you don’t know the composer you’ll know the tune.”

In terms of the songs she’ll sing on the tour, she took to Twitter to ask her fans for requests.
“Somebody said an AC/DC song. I was meaning the songs from my ten albums but that did make me laugh.”

When Jenkins started out, there were no other female classical crossover singers but many have since followed, including Nottinghamshire’s Lucy Kay, who came second on Britain’s Got Talent and Victoria Gray, who had a reasonable level of success with the group Amore.
What advice does she have for others who want to follow in her footsteps?
“Get as much experience as you can, join choirs, get involved in amateur productions of shows, enter competitions... because you have to be prepared for the opportunity when it comes.
“And work hard. I’m not scared of hard work and being tired and that kind of stuff. That’s what you’ve got to put into it.”
Jenkins, who music tastes range from Maria Callas and Judy Garland, to Beyonce, Rihanna, Sam Smith and Adele, will be spending her first Christmas as a married woman back in Wales.
“Family is very important to me and we’re very traditional at Christmas so I’ll be at home with mam. It will be my first as a wife but also my first as an aunty; my sister had a baby five months ago. I’m excited about that.”
Which begs the question...?
“Oh gosh! It’s something I really want, I’ve always said that but it’ll be when I can take a little bit of a break.”
Since her breakthrough ten years ago, Jenkins has sold eight million albums, won numerous awards, performed all over the world, been awarded an OBE and become a wife. How has she changed as a person in that time?
“Like anybody, I’m a bit more confident, I feel I’ve learned my job a lot more and I’m definitely more settled within myself.
“Yes, I live a very different lifestyle but I don’t think I’ve changed that much as a person.”

Tickets to see Katherine Jenkins at the Royal Concert Hall on Saturday, February 14 are £29.50- £55 from the box office, call 0115 989 5555 or go to trch.co.uk. Meet and greet packages are also available priced at £85 and £135.

Neil Sedaka

November 2014

 All photos: Kevin Cooper

NEIL Sedaka was – and still is – a huge fan of Elvis Presley but he stands by his criticism of the King’s version of one of his classic songs.

“He did it wrong, he did it off beat,” says the 75-year-old New Yorker of Solitaire, which was one of Presley’s standards during his live shows in the 70s.

“I’ve had much better versions – Shirley Bassey did it beautifully and there was Karen Carpenter’s and Andy Williams’ versions.”

He adds: “Although I certainly was a fan of Elvis. He was a phenomenon.”

Sedaka and his wife saw him perform the song in concert in Las Vegas in 1975, two years before his death at the age of 42.

“We went backstage and he told me he used to play me on the jukebox when he was in the army in Germany. He admired the high tenor male voice – he was a baritone.”

Adds Sedaka: “He was sick and very bloated but this was a legend so it was very exciting for us.”

Solitaire is among around 25 of his 700 songs that Sedaka believes will outlive him.

Others include Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Calendar Girl, (Is This The Way To) Amarillo, Love Will Keep Us Together, Oh Carol, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen and Little Devil.

“They have become standards and I do them all in concert, of course,” he promises, talking about his latest tour which comes to the Royal Concert Hall next week.

Songwriting has earned Sedaka millions during his six-decade career, which started when he was just 13. He’d shifted over 25 million records before he was 23 and more than 50 years later his songs are still selling – (Is This The Way To) Amarillo, sung by Tony Christie, is the best selling single of the 21st century thanks to its re-release for Comic Relief in 2006 (and the Peter Kay video).

It took him six years to become a recording artist and he feared it wouldn’t last.

“My second record was a flop and RCA were going to drop me. It was called I Go Ape. Although it was a top ten record in your country because you have good taste,” he laughs. “In fact, it was a hit in many countries but because it flopped in the US I was about to be let go. Then the third record was Oh Carol, which sold three million copies. And there were ten top ten records in a row after that.”

The UK has been important for Sedaka during his career for a number of reasons.

“I had a remarkable comeback the 70s when I was living in England, thanks to Elton John. I’d been out of work for 13 years – I was a family man and did a limited amount of performances.

“Then I met Elton John and he turned out to be a big Neil Sedaka fan. He signed me to (his own label) Rocket Records and I came back to No. 1 with Laughter In The Rain.”

It has been ten years since he last played Nottingham, so what has he been doing?

“Twiddling my thumbs,” he jokes.

“I’m still writing, recording and performing at 75 years old,” a birthday he celebrated in Los Angeles with his children and grandchildren.

“I’ve been doing this for 61 years and I could have retired but I love what I do. There’s something about being in front of an audience that shoots adrenalin through you.”

This tour follows the release of a new album King Of Song, which plunders the demos he made in the early 60s.

“I made them in a small studio in New York and we’d make the demos hoping we could get a big artist to record them. Some of them became big hits but others I refer to as my forgotten children because they were never recorded.”

As well as Elvis, Shirley Bassey and The Carpenters, Frank Sinatra, Cher and Petula Clark enjoyed hits with Sedaka’s songs.

Who would he like to record one of his songs these days?

“Snow Patrol. I love that song,” he says, referring to Chasing Cars, the band’s only US hit. He also likes John Mayer.

So how does he write a hit song?

“I’m like an interior designer. I take different textiles, different fabrics, I listen to people I admire.... and I put all these fabrics together and make them Neil Sedaka.

“I usually start at the piano with a tune. It’s a little more difficult to write the lyrics but I’m fascinated with lyrics. They are like puzzle pieces and they make me work but I like a good challenge.”

Lyric writing is only a more recent pursuit having had the likes of Howard Greenfield and Phil Cody co-write most of his hits.

“It’s more real when I write my own lyrics because it comes from me,” he says.

“It’s like a look into my soul. Nobody puts words in my mouth anymore.”

Neil Sedaka, Royal Concert Hall, Tuesday November 4, £45 and £50, 0115 989 5555, trch.co.uk.

Susan Boyle

March 2014

DESPITE amassing a rumoured £20m fortune, Susan Boyle is determined to stay in the four-bedroom former council house in Blackburn, West Lothian, where she grew up.
“As we speak it’s where I am,” says the 52-year-old, who bought the house off the local council for £65,000 five years ago.
By then both her parents had died and her eight siblings had moved out.
“It’s getting back to your roots,” she says.
“I like to keep in touch with my roots and I like to keep in touch with my memories.”
With the first wave of her earnings after her appearance on Britain’s Got Talent, she did buy a £300,000 new-build detached villa at the other end of the village but moved back to the family home after feeling unsettled by the change.
“I have no plans to move out,” she insists.

Indeed, after we speak, there are stories that she acquired the adjoining property and is knocking through to create a six-bedroom house for herself.
The council-owned property was home to a couple who had complained to West Lothian Council about the noise she made. When they moved out, she bought it.
Now she says: “I do have some brilliant neighbours.”
When I call it’s another Boyle who answers.
“That’s my PA,” she says.
Are there a lot of Boyles in Scotland.
“There’s an epidemic of them,” she giggles.
Does she mind being called Subo?
“I don’t mind. It’s an abbreviation of Susan Boyle.”
“It’s a matter of fact response but not intended that way. Susan Boyle doesn’t do sarcasm.
“I’m feeling chirpy this morning,” she admits, with another chuckle.
She laughs a lot but doesn’t say a lot. Each sentence is short and to the point. And sometimes the strong accent is hard to understand.
Since her appearance on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009, Boyle has released five albums and amassed millions of fans around the worlds.
I tell her that, after I posted on Twitter that I would be interviewing her, one fan calling himself @Mr SuboFan, said: “Make the most of it. Over 60 fans from Canada, USA, Italy, Australia, etc will be in Nottingham for concert.”
“I’m really looking forward to that, it’ll be really good. I think it’s awesome and very humbling,” is all she says by way of a response.
Does she know why she has become so popular?
“I’m not manufactured. I’m not pop. I’m more of a variety act. And I’m approachable. I am, in inverted commas, normal.”
Much has been written about her Aspberger’s, a subject that the other Boyle tells me is off-limits during the interview.

She revealed that she had the condition, a form of autism in which the sufferer struggles with their emotions and have difficulty in social situations, in December. She told The Observer that she was misdiagnosed at birth.
She said: “I was told I had brain damage. I always knew it was an unfair label. Now I have a clearer understanding of what's wrong and I feel relieved and a bit more relaxed about myself.”
It explains why it has taken her five years to embark on her first UK tour.
Last year, she toured Scotland and enjoyed the experience.
“It was really good and I was ready for it,” she explains.
And the UK tour?
“The timing was right this time.”
What does she remember about her appearance on Britain’s Got Talent?
“At being very shocked at getting through,” she laughs.
“I will always remember it.”
Her version of I Dreamed A Dream went viral, so it was inevitable that, despite coming second to dance group Diversity, Simon Cowell would sign her to his Syco Records label.
The album of the same name, released later that year, became the UK's best-selling debut album of all time.
And since then?

“I’ve been abroad, I’ve met the Pope, I’ve met the Queen, I’ve been on tour for the first time in Scotland, I’ve made five albums... it’s been a whole big rollercoaster,” says Boyle, whose show at the Royal Concert Hall on Sunday is will be her first visit to the city.
Although she honoured most of the dates on the Britain’s Got Talent Tour in 2009, Nottingham was one of the few cities she missed out on, pulling out due to exhaustion.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” she says.
“I’ve heard such a lot about it. I can’t wait, I can’t wait, I can’t wait!”
Will she get a chance to look around the city, maybe immerse herself in the Robin Hood legend?
“I’ll probably have time to look around,” she begins.
“I’ll probably get picked up by the Sheriff of Nottingham , you never know,” she laughs.
At least I think she said “picked up.” It’s easy to misunderstand her. As did the journalist who reported that she’d made serious enquiries about applying for a job in bookies recently.
It was suggested that she feared losing her fame and fortune and was making plans for a regular job.
Says Boyle: “That was just banter. There was nothing serious intended. I was sort of messing about.”

Suzanne Vega

January 2014

WHEN I went to Le Guardia (made famous by the TV series Fame) I had the intention of being a dancer. I wanted to study ballet. And I quickly learned that was not going to be. After about a week my teachers let me know about my limitations.

So, I was demoted to the modern dance group. That was good, actually. I loved modern dance. I made friends with a group of musicians who played for the classes. I loved what they did. I started writing songs. That’s how I made the transition from dance to music.

By the age of 16 I had a bunch of songs and started to go down to the Village (Greenwich Village in New York, famous for its folk scene during the Sixties).

But this was around the mid-Seventies and the popularity of folk music had come and gone by then. Everyone in my school was crazy about David Bowie; he was like a God. But I was still into the Dylan era and everyone thought I’d missed the boat.

I kept at it, though, for the next eight years. It took me that long to be accepted and get a record deal.

When I got the deal and had some success I was told I was so young and that it had happened so quickly.

I haven’t been to Nottingham for ten years but I have been back to the UK since then for festivals and shows at the Barbican in London.

I was seen all over the city? In a pub having treacle pudding? How do you know all this stuff? I probably mentioned it during the show. I was really into the treacle pudding. And I went to a launderette? That happens from time to time. I wasn’t relaxing; I think it was because I needed to do my laundry.

It’s called the I Never Wear White Tour because I never do. At least I try not to. I’m far more comfortable wearing black. It’s the name of a song from the new album and that says it all. There’s no hidden meaning.

The album (Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles) is my first new material in seven years but it wasn’t difficult choosing the songs for it at all. I just used the songs that were finished. It was as simple as that. I never have extra material.

The album is a lot about spirituality. I am a Buddhist and I’ve always been interested in spiritual things – even more so these days.

As one gets older, more people start to pass on and you witness more births. You see more of life and wonder where it comes from and where it goes. So that’s sort of what I’ve been thinking about the last couple of years.

I’m rehearsing for the tour next week so we’ll talk about what songs we’ll be doing then but the focus will be the new material.

I’ll still do the songs that people like to hear, like Luka, Gypsy and Tom’s Diner (based on Tom’s Restaurant in New York). The last time I went there was probably the last time the BBC was in town and dragged me there to do some filming.

I don’t get anything for free there. I wish. They mention me in the menu but they’ve misspelt my name. So, it’s still as humbling an experience as ever as I hand over my few dollars for a lukewarm cup of coffee.


Suzanne Vega plays the Royal Concert Hall on Thursday, February 6. Tickets are £27 to £37.50 from the box office, call 0115 989 5555 or go to trch.co.uk.

Peter Andre

November 2013

I’ve been working for Children In Need today for the biggest car wash in the UK.  Peugeot are using all of their showrooms over a four day period where anyone can drive up and have their car washed. So I’ve been lending a hand. I washed one and didn’t do a very good job, to be honest.
I’ve also been helping some of the children with learning difficulties and I did something for Children In Need with Barbara Windsor that’ll be on the show. I love her.
I recently finished filming 60 Minute Makeover and that starts on ITV1 next week. It was fantastic fun. I have no knowledge about DIY and I told them that it was going take a lot longer than 60 minutes with me involved.
It wasn’t dissimilar to my reality show (ITV2’s Peter Andre: My Life); we’re just doing other people’s reality.
I’m also working a new album right now that will be released in my own time. It will be out in time for the tour, which will be something I’ve never done before. I’m over the poppy concert thing now. I want to get rid of the gimmicky outfits and just wear a suit and a tie, with great live musicians. I want to do this properly.
For each song that I’ve written and recorded, I will be performing the song or artist or era that influenced it.
I want to focus more on the music and show people the music I love; blues, jazz, soul and Motown.
The first album I ever bought was Off The Wall by Michael Jackson and I grew up listening to Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, The Stylistics, because my brother Chris was into them but my real love was blues and jazz.
Everyone will know the songs. we’ll make it fun and interactive; it’ll be a really entertaining night. Because I love to entertain.
On the last tour that came to Nottingham in January, I did really enjoy it, but we had the musicians behind a screen on stage. We were supposed to have animated musicians on the screens but it wouldn’t work on some of the shows so we had to bin it. But the musicians remained behind this screen, which was terrible.
It suited the album (Angels and Demons), which did go in to the Top 20 but it should have done better than that.
The songs on the next album I want to work as a live concert.
More than anything I want to do what I love doing, rather than what people think I should be doing.
The charity side of what I do is great. I love doing that. Am I going to change the world? Never. Can I help at least one family? Well, that’s why we do what we do.
The situation with cancer is ridiculous. One in three people are going to be affected by cancer. That shouldn’t be happening.
When we lost my brother (Andrew from kidney cancer almost a year ago), it hurt us so much, that I felt I had to try and help other families.
The only way we can do that... is not because I’m going to find a cure for cancer, of course, I’ve no medical background... is to drill into people that early detection is key. Guys like me are stubborn or we can’t be bothered or we’re at work, so we’re trying to fund these mobile cancer units (Cancer Research UK's Cancer Awareness Roadshow). They travel all over the UK and you can walk on there and ask a couple of questions. Even though they can’t diagnose they can advise if you need to see a GP.
The aim is to raise £500,000 every year to fund these units. They’re out there now and my job is to keep them alive.
Pete’s Champions is an idea where, instead of asking people for money, we’re asking them to think of ways to raise money. Do a bake off, a dance competition or whatever.
It’s going really well. People have just jumped on board. I’m very grateful for the fans I have.

Peter Andre comes to the Royal Concert Hall on Thursday, October 23. Tickets are priced from £26.50 to £75 from the venue box office, call 0115 989 5555 or go to trch.co.uk.
60 Minute Makeover starts on ITV1 on Monday at 2pm.
For more information about his charity work go to peterandrefoundation.com.

Harry Hill

February 2013

WHEN Harry Hill thinks about the numerous times he’s visited the city, from early stand-up shows at Just The Tonic to selling out the Royal Concert Hall, there’s one abiding memory: pies. Or rather, one pie in particular, delivered to him at the venue, on his last tour here six years ago.
“When we arrived in Nottingham we were presented with a giant steak and kidney pie,” says the 48-year-old.
“It was because at the show the night before I had commented on a pub that had come second place in a national steak and kidney pie competition.
“I’d said how I liked to go there if I was ever in the area.
“So when I arrived in Nottingham I was formally presented with one of these pies.”
And how was it?
“Well, the sad thing was, we had no way of reheating it, so we had the pie on the road with us for about two weeks, until we realised that all hope of ever eating it was lost and we had to abandon it to the foxes.”
The tour that brings him back to the city later this month is similarly foodie, billed as the Sausage Time Tour.
It features all manner of silliness from live music to stand-up and visual gags, including a 20-foot sausage.
“It’s a tribute to the Olympic opening ceremony,” he says confidently of something which makes little sense.
“Bradley Wiggins makes a brief appearance too.”
The real Bradley Wiggins?
“Well, you’d never be able to tell from the back of the stalls.”
He’ll also be joined by his band The Harrys, plus Stouffer the Cat, his son Gary and grandson Sam, “an expert-whistler-of-chart-hits”.
Topics will range from the existence of God to his Nan’s ailments.
Unlike a lot of live comedy, it is suitable for children. Well, some of them.
“Anyone under 12 is banned,” says Hill, who was born Matthew Hall in Surrey.
“There’s nothing offensive or rude in it but that’s not the reason. I just don’t think younger children would get much out of it.”
He adds: “Actually, we just don’t want kids crying.”
He’s back on the road for the first time since quitting TV Burp last year, the satirical ITV series that made him a fixture on the Saturday evening schedule.
It was a huge success, regularly pulling in nine million viewers, despite its surreal nature going against the grain of primetime TV. The first five years he describes as being “a bit under the radar” since its first home was after the watershed.
“They didn’t really know what to do with it,” says the former doctor, who trained in neurosurgery.
“Because I’d come from Channel 4 (where he presented two series of The Harry Hill Show) they thought I was a bit alternative, so they thought they’d better put it on late at night.
“But it’s never been anything other than silly. When it went out at 6.30pm one Saturday it got good ratings and that surprised them. But after that it was pretty much plain sailing.”
He is still surprised that he was able to get away with some of the material on TV Burp.
“We always thought we’d get closed down,” he laughs.
One of his favourite sketches was the Naughtiest Vegetarians where Heather Mills squared up to Adolf Hitler, with Hill cheering “Come on Hitler!”
He says: “They didn’t seem to have a problem with that.
“It was only once that they got a bit jittery and that was when we did the knitted X Factor, called The K Factor.
“We had a knitted Simon Cowell, a knitted Cheryl Cole and a knitted Louis Walsh. One of the contestants ran riot and snipped off the knitted Simon Cowell’s head.
“The next show we recorded, someone from ITV came down to keep an eye on us. He didn’t say as much but we guessed it was because of that.”
Ratings were still strong for the show but Hill, who is married with three daughters, decided he and his team of writers had done enough.
It was inevitable that he’d return to the road, he says.
“The last tour was a lot of fun. There are always five of us travelling around together. And even while I was doing all the TV (he also does the voiceover for You’ve Been Framed), being back on the tour was always at the back on my mind.
“When I gave up TV Burp I thought it was probably the time to do it. I phoned the guys and they were all keen to get back together and go out again.”
All the lads together. Must be fun.
“It’s very boring,” he admits, from the back of a car on the M4.
“It’s the travel, you know. The motorways are a barren landscape, the weather’s horrible and when you get to the venue you tend not to have time to see much of the town.”
Well, at least he’s had time to enjoy television again, instead of watching it to research clips for TV Burp. Although, he can’t help himself...
“There are those odd shows when I think ‘that would have been good for TV Burp’. But Splash! – you couldn’t even make that up!” he says of the celebrity diving series that ran in TV Burp’s slot until last weekend.
“It’s like a spoof. You can’t take your eyes off it. This is the time when TV Burp needs to be on.
“The funny thing is that there so little diving happens. It’s all the faff around it; what they’ve been doing in the week, what they had for breakfast, now they’re crying before they jump... and then the dive is such an anti-climax because it takes half a second.”
He adds: “They ought to have called it Plop.”
Hill likes the idea so much he keeps repeating “plop!” as I attempt to ask another question.
“I’d like to see Subo on that diving board,” he ponders.
His next project is a stage musical based on another reality TV show – the X Factor.
“I can’t say much but it’s all looking very positive,” he says.
“It’s a comedy but not an attack on the show. It’s more of a celebration... irreverent, tongue-in-cheek... a lot like a TV Burp treatment.”
That and the tour will keep him busy for the next 12 months, which means he won’t be back on our TV screens for a while.
“When I finished TV Burp I didn’t feel the need to do any more TV for a while. Apart from anything else, everyone would be saying ‘right, let’s see what you follow that with’. So there’s a certain amount of pressure to any new project.
“I thought I’d have a break and have some fun. And I am doing.”

Harry Hill appears at the Royal Concert Hall on Tuesday, February 19. Tickets are £30, call 0115 989 5555 or go to www.trch.co.uk.

Reg Presley

March 2002

I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes. No, not the early stages of arthritis but love. Lovely cuddly love, wrapped up in a three-minute pop song by Reg Presley, eventually recorded by Scottish pop group Wet Wet Wet, featured in the hit British movie Four Weddings and a Funeral, and becoming one of the longest-running chart-toppers in UK history. In fact the Wets’ 1994 version of Love Is All Around was No 1 for 15 weeks — one short of the record-breaking Bryan Adams weepie (Everything I Do) I Do It For You.
Not bad considering that Presley — no relation to the King — wrote it after an afternoon snooze in the early 60s. It earned him three Ivor Novello Awards and made him a few bob, to say the least — more than a million smackers, it has been reported.
Presley isn’t the decadent type and though the royalties — which are still coming — are very nice thank you very much, he was more pleased about being in a position of never having to work again.
That meant he could spend more time on his favourite hobby — UFOs.
He is already close to finishing a book of mysterious Fortean Times-type stuff, due out at the end of the year.
“It’s called Wild Things They Don’t Tell Us. It’s about UFOs and all that,” he says.
It is his first book. “I hope I done it right.”
Although Hampshire born and bred, Presley’s voice is almost comically Wurzel-ese. You expect him to burst in to an odd oo-aarrrrrrrh as he talks.
Which doesn’t help you take his favourite hobby too seriously.
So what made a “wildman” rock ‘n’ roll star start seeing things? Too much happy juice?

“I walked in to my first crop circle on August 7, 1990.
“It was from that point that I started, I suppose, opening my mind to other things.
“It was a Sunday afternoon, beautiful weather and I said to the wife ‘let’s drive out see what it looks like.’
“When we got there, a guy was stood with a couple of dousing rods. I used to douse for water when I was a bricklayer looking for a pipe, so I knew what they were and I knew they worked.
“I gave it a go across the crop circle and I knew there was energy there. I knew that there was more to this than meets the eye.”
Do you believe there is something out there?
He seems a bit hesitant. “There is a possibility there, but I wouldn’t say for definite because we haven’t really got that proof.
“But there have been some sightings of things in the air, just hovering there with no noise. And the following day you see crop circles where they were hovering.”
So what has he seen?
“We have seen geese flying across a valley in a V formation but they break when they fly across a crop circle edge, as though they have hit an invisible wall. They fly round it and join up the other side.”
“And I’ve seen ten UFOs,” he says confidently.

“I've seen two on one night that would blow your mind. These are nuts and bolts UFOs.
“I wasn’t on my own and a TV camera team was there.
“They all saw what I saw. It’s not as if we had a mass hallucination. It was actually there. If it hadn’t been raining the cameramen would have had it on film.”
Like many spotters, Reg has a conspiracy theory.
“I know the Government must be covering up because with their technology the military must have known those craft were there because they flew straight over an RAF base.
“I know they’re there. When you see your first one you’ll go ‘I know’.”

The Troggs appear with The Spencer Davis Group and The Yardbirds at the Royal Concert Hall on April 4. Tickets are £13.50-£17.50 from the box office. Call 0115 989 5555.

Jimmy Osmond

January 2013



LESS than a year after The Osmonds bid farewell to the UK, three of them are back in Boogie Nights, the 70s musical co-created by EastEnders star Shane Ritchie.
It will bring Jimmy, Merrell and Jay to the Royal Concert Hall next month, where the trio played to a sell-out crowd last April as part of what was billed their final UK tour.
“We will still perform together but a proper tour like that, that really was it,” says Jimmy Osmond, 49, from his home in Utah.
The tour was tinged with sadness for the trio as brother Wayne was unable to perform.
“We were really concerned about his health and then the worst happened when just before the tour he had a stroke.
“We’d already sold around 100,000 tickets so we went ahead with just the three of us. And the fans were great. It was the best tour we ever did.”
Jimmy was already committed to join the likes of Gareth Gates, Chico and EastEnder Louisa Lytton in Boogie Nights before the Osmonds tour had finished.
“My brothers were like ‘hey, that was a blast, can we come?’ So they kind of invited themselves,” he laughs.
“I called the producer and he said ‘absolutely, bring them along!’”
Boogie Nights was the West End’s original jukebox musical, conceived by Jon Conway and Shane Richie in 1997.
“It was the first musical that I was in over in the UK,” says Jimmy, who starred in it during its West End run in 2004.
“I’d been in Joseph and other shows in America but it really kicked off a lot of opportunities for me. After that I was in Chicago and Grease. It was when I was in Chicago that the bug really bit me. It’s fun to part of a team.
“So this kind of show is nothing unusual for me, but my brothers have never done anything like this before.”
The latest tour is more of a celebration of the music from the original show and features 70 songs.
“The play that was a hit in the West End was written by Shane and Jon about their experiences growing up in the 70s.
“I think that’s why it has been successful; because people who come to see it are experiencing how they felt growing up in the 70s.
“And that’s always a fun thing to be part of.”
As well as doing Osmonds songs, the brothers will be covering hits from the decade by other artists such as Stevie Wonder and the Bee Gees.
Their visit to the UK coincides with Donny and Marie Osmond’s arena tour, which comes to the Capital FM Arena on January 27.
“When I committed to Boogie Nights I didn’t know that they were going to do their tour at the same time,” says Jimmy. “I’m thrilled. My sister hasn’t spent a lot of time in the UK.
“I used to business manager her and a bunch of other stuff, so I’m looking forward to taking her around some of the places that I love there.
 “I’ve been in Nottingham quite a bit so I know the town pretty well.”

Boogie Nights, featuring The Osmonds, Gareth Gates, Louisa Lytton, Andy Abraham, Chico and Shane Richie Junior, comes to the Royal Concert Hall on Tuesday, February 12. Tickets are £29.50 to £35.50 from the box office, call 0115 989 5555 or go to www.trch.co.uk.

Paul Carrack

December 2012

I LIVE just outside London on the Hertfordshire/ Buckinghamshire border, which is an ideal location for us as we can get into London quickly

by train or tube in less than 30 minutes.

It's also close to the M1, M25 and M40, so it's very handy for getting to gigs.

It's quite green with a fairly mixed, close community and has been a good place to bring up our family.

I have been married for 40 years and we have four children aged 33, 26, 24, 22. Jack, the 24-year-old, is now a permanent member of my band playing drums and percussion.

In our business there is no weekend really.

Saturday depends if we are working and where Sheffield Wednesday are playing. I still get to as many games as possible (including the recent one at Forest and last season at County).

It's more of an effort these days but I made a rod for my back by indoctrinating my eldest son, who is still fanatical and sees almost every game.

Sunday could be tea cup of tea in bed with the Sunday papers depending who gets up first.

When the boys were younger I had to get up in the rain and snow and stand on the touchline watching them get hammered every week with their various teams.

Most Sundays my wife cooks a lovely Sunday roast and, if we're not working, I'll open a bottle of wine.

My doctor always says 'eat like a gourmet, not a glutten and drink the best wine you can afford’. I try to obey the second bit.

When I was a kid I would hardly eat anything but I was constantly on the go. I was like a stick. My ribs stuck out and my folks were really concerned. These days I'm the opposite. Good food and wine is my only remaining vice, if you exclude the football fanaticism and like a lot of men my age I am overweight.

My wife cooks so we try to eat fresh stuff and rarely eat processed foods. I do a pretty good spag bol.

Most of our touring is in the UK and we try to get home as many nights as possible. I usually have porridge (with fruit of some kind) for breakfast. I try to have my main meal just before we leave for the gig. And I might have a banana sandwich after the sound check or show.

Unlike my wife, who likes all the drama stuff on TV, such as 24 and the ones about psycho serial killers, I don’t watch a lot. If I do it’s usually comedy, like The Mighty Boosh or Peter Kay.

I can never follow the plot of a thriller as I read about one page a day. My son gave me the Alan Partridge autobiography which is quite funny.

I'm ashamed to say I hardly listen to any music at home. It's hard to do it objectively unless it’s a classical symphony, which I find soothing. Bringing up four kids, the house was quite chaotic so I always appreciated a bit of peace and quiet.

A perfect weekend would involve a Sheffield Wednesday win, fish and chips, Match of the Day, tea and papers in bed, a long dog walk, roast beef, Rioja, a big chair, more footy on TV and falling asleep.

Yes, I’m Mr. Interesting!

Paul Carrack plays the Royal Concert Hall on Thursday, January 10. Tickets are £27.50 and £37.50 from the box office, call 0115 989 5555 or go to www.trch.co.uk.

His latest album, Good Feeling, is out now.

Jim Kerr of Simple Minds

December 2012

WE’VE got our work cut out for us looking at the list of dates for the tour. Although it was always the plan to do a big tour playing our greatest hits.

Earlier this year we did quite a small tour focusing on the songs from early on in our career, so now we felt it was time to play the songs from the middle part, which is when we had all the big, big songs.

It was like a non-greatest hits set but we do have a lot of fans who prefer all the earlier stuff.

One of the things I’m most proud of is that people say to me what Simple Minds are you talking about? The avant-garde, the art-rock, the pop, the ambient, the instrumental group, the political, the folk, the stadium band?

We’ve been on one hell of a journey. To play all those different styles but at the same time be quintessentially Simple Minds is an amazing thing.

And that’s what we’ll be doing this time.

The first set will be all the really big tracks from throughout our career that weren’t singles, such as New Gold Dream. That was never a single but we couldn’t do a Simple Minds set without playing it.

And the second set will be all the hits. That will be party time.

We’ll be playing at the Royal Concert Hall this time and I think that will be exciting. We love to do the arenas but we just wanted to go out and play up and down the country.

“We’re doing 30 dates and I think the last time we did that many dates in the UK it was 1979 or 1980.

It sounds corny but I think people will appreciate being able to see the band up close. I’m sure it will work to all our benefits.

We always try to play a song true to the original. I know when I go and see someone and they play a new version of an old song it can be unrecognisable. Sometimes that works but rarely.

There’s a lot to be said for authenticity.

There are certain songs that can maybe be expanded or given a different intro but we try and pretty much keep faithful to the original.

There will be a greatest hits album (Celebrate is released in March) which the record company is putting together, so I think it will be all the songs that we played on Top of the Pops or got in to the Top 40.

But we’ve included a couple of new tracks on there because there are always fans who say ‘I’ve got all these already. I like the new sleeve but that’s not enough.’

I still have a home in Italy but we’ve had a busy year. After the summer dates we were in Europe, then Australia and New Zealand pretty much up until Christmas.

It’s not the greatest hits set but a follow-on from the dates we did in the UK playing songs from the earlier albums. We broke in those countries earlier than we did over here, strangely enough so there is an audience for that stuff.

I’m looking forward to Nottingham because it has always had a great reputation way back to the early days at Rock City. We had some great nights there and we always get a very enthusiastic audience.

Simple Minds bring their Greats Hits Tour 2013 to the Royal Concert Hall on Friday, April 12.

Celebrate: The Greatest Hits is released in March

Peter Andre

October 2012

WHEN you go and see a show now you really want to be properly entertained and so this time I wanted to do something completely different.

I didn’t want to just do a normal sing and dance show. I didn’t want it to be boring, you know.

So I’ll be meeting up with a magician who has worked with Dynamo. He’s going to teach me a few tricks. So, there’ll be illusions in the show.

It’s stuff that’s going to blow everybody away. Like what? Well, there is something that’s going to happen that is going to be amazing but I’ll leave it at that.

I want people to come and see the show even if they don’t know the songs.

Even though I’m releasing a new album and most of the fans who come will know those songs and my past hits, I want to invite people who don’t know my music.

They will still be entertained. So even if you don’t know any of my songs, come down and you’ll love it.

Anything goes in the show. Although there won’t be any stand-up comedy because my jokes are terrible.

We’ve called it Up Close and Personal, so I may be sitting next to you at some point.

And our band is completely unique. Some of them are real and some of them aren’t. Like Gorillaz, where they are characters.

The sort of people I see coming to my shows these days are fans who were there from the start, from the middle of the Nineties but they bring their kids as well, and their mums. So it’s a very diverse crowd.

The new album is called Angels & Demons and has all sorts on it, including jazz, pop, R&B and dance. There’s a guy on there who has written for Boyz II Men and we’ve done a track that’s very Quincy Jones. And we’ve added this very credible US rapper called Talib Kweli. Kanye West sings about him on his records.

This album is like nothing that I’ve ever made before. I wanted it to be for everyone.

I’m still getting people saying ‘you need to do really commercial, poppy stuff’ and I say ‘why do I need to do that?’

I just want to do my own thing. If you are consistent then eventually people will get it. As long as what you bring out is quality.

I’ve opened my own label and done a joint venture with my past label so I can do what I want.

Right now my life is great. There’ll come a point where enough is enough but I’m getting great work, people are very kind, I still have my own privacy and I do what I want. I don’t think it’ll go on forever but it’s lasted 20 years so far. Lucky me.

What else will I do? Well, acting is something I’d be interested in and I do TV presenting and things but I’d rather do music. Touring is my favourite thing, ever.

I’m looking forward to Nottingham because I remember how wild the crowd were the last time I was there.

In fact, the further north you go, the wilder and wilder the crowds get.

Peter Andre: Up Close and Personal at the Royal Concert Hall on Wednesday December 12. Tickets are £26.50 and £28.50, available from the venue box office, call 0115 989 5555 or go to www.trch.co.uk.

His album Angels & Demons, is released on October 29.

David Essex

October 2012

I’VE not locked the door on EastEnders but I’ve kind of shut it.

I enjoyed doing the show. It was fast and furious, and it worked a treat as I think the viewing figures were at a ten-year high when Eddie (Moon) was in it.

But I have lots of other things to do.

I’m in and out of the studio at the moment doing some film music for Traveller, which comes out next year. It’s about a boy who is half gypsy and he’s trying to work out where he belongs in life.

I’ve a cameo role in it as a character called Blackberry, who is the gypsy patriarch. But they asked me to do the music as well.

They’re working on the post production now so it should be in the cinemas hopefully next year.

It’s a very powerful script and very positive from a gypsy traveller point of view, which is nice. There is some bare knuckle fighting in it but it’s more of a spiritual journey.

And it was shot with real travellers so it’s very authentic.

What I’m really looking forward to is getting back on the road with the band. It’s three years since we’ve toured.

Since then we’ve had All The Fun Of The Fair which was a great success. I’ve been working on the Traveller film and doing EastEnders, so it will be nice to get back to where I started, with a band up on stage.

We’re going to do something a little bit different this time. We’re going to have a big old film screen at the back which will have relevant images of what we are playing on stage. There’ll be clips of films and photographs. So it is kind of the story of my career.

All The Fun Of The Fair came to Nottingham earlier this year and it did feature my music but it was a story. It wasn’t autobiographical. This is purely a concert tour.

Am I ready? I hope so. Sex, drugs and rock n roll is page one of the rule book for going on the road. I think I’m on page two now.

Once the tour finishes, I’ll put my feet up over Christmas and we’ll see what happens next year.

I should probably put more energy into film-making. It’s an area I’ve not really explored as much as I’d have liked. Obviously I did That’ll Be The Day, Stardust and Silver Dream Racer and they were successful but there was a pressure for me to go to Hollywood after them and I didn’t particularly want to.

Even though Rock On has been No. 1 twice there, I’ve always been very English, my family are here and everything I’ve been doing has been based locally really.

What’s brilliant for me is being able to work in different mediums, as a writer, as an actor and as a singer. It’s perfect.

You don’t get bored or complacent and I think that probably radiates to an audience and they don’t get complacent about the things you are doing.

That’s probably the essence of longevity.

David Essex appears at the Royal Concert Hall on Monday, October 29. Ticket are £27.50 and £29.50 from the venue, call 0115 989 5555 or go towww.trch.co.uk.

Little Mix

September 2012

IT has been less than a year since Little Mix became the first group to win the X Factor and yet the all girl quartet have just topped the singles chart for a second time... and picked up their fair share of over zealous fans. For Perrie Edwards, the blonde one who is dating One Direction’s Zayn Malik, it has been a surreal – and painful – experience.

One fan recently showed her a tattoo of the letter “P” on his hand that he said was dedicated to her.

“Yeah, that was quite bizarre,” says the 19-year-old, who celebrated her birthday over the summer with a holiday in Nice.

Surely that “P” could be for any number of his family or friends?

“That’s what I thought but he didn’t have it when I first met him,” she says. “We’ve met him a few times but when he came to a signing we did in South Shields he said: ‘I’ve got this for you.’ I said ‘Wow!’

“If it is for me then it’s such a compliment.”

She adds: “A fan ripped my hair out once and they took quite a lot of it. If I knew they wanted it that bad I’d have cut it off and given it to them,” she laughs, before strangely adding: “But if it makes them happy, why not?”

Perrie, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall and Jesy Nelson initially auditioned for the X Factor as solo performers but judge and mentor Tulisa Contostavlos encouraged them to join forces.

They signed to Simon Cowell’s label Syco and topped the chart with their debut single, Cannonball, a cover of the Damien Rice hit.

They headlined the X Factor tour in February, which included a visit to the Capital FM Arena – although she has no memory of the city.

“I just remember it being an amazing crowd,” she deadpans.

Come on, Perrie.

“I don’t remember,” she laughs. “Everything on the tour was just amazing. There were more and more people with Little Mix T-shirts as the tour went on. I loved being on that tour.”

As well as working on their debut album, Little Mix spent the summer touring with JLS.

“They are the sweetest boys ever!” she beams. “So lovely and genuine and down to earth. They make time for everyone.”

Also supporting were Cover Drive, who were less, erm, lovely.

“We were playing practical jokes on each other all the time but they started it! We got them back big style.

“It started off with us in our dressing room, doing our thing getting ready to go on stage then all of a sudden there was a fire alarm. When we came rushing out they were standing there laughing. One of them had a fire alarm app on his phone.”

They’ve just announced their debut headline tour, which opens at the Royal Concert Hall on January 28.

“Being on tour is the best time because you get to see the crowds, you get to see your fans and everyone is going wild, it’s just amazing,” she says. “When the audience is singing the lyrics back at you and waving their arms having a good time, there’s no better feeling.”

Wings, which topped the chart on Sunday, is the first taste of the new material that will be on their debut album.

“We will have an album out by the tour,” says Perrie. “Then hopefully everyone knows all the songs.”

She adds: “We know it’s going to be hard work and tiring but we just can’t wait to get into it and start rehearsals.”

The first gig the South Shields singer went to was McFly.

“When I was younger I didn’t see that many people live. I couldn’t really afford the tickets. I know – poor me!”

She’s been seeing Malik since December.

“It’s only hard to a certain extent because you’re not seeing each other as much as you’d like. But if you’re happy with someone and you really like them you’re going to make it work.”

Leigh-Anne Pinnock is the only member of the group who is single. So, what’s wrong with her? Does she have a personality defect?

“(Laughs) No, I just don’t think anyone is good enough for Leigh-Anne”

Who: @ Little Mix

Where: @ Royal Concert Hall

When:@ Monday, January 28, 2013

Tickets: @ £19.50 and £29.50

Web: @ www.trch.co.uk