Part 2:        The Call

A great deal of my desire and belief to be a singer came from Freddie. His voice was high tenor. He was a shy man who was transformed by the stage and by making records. He expressed his inner world in the grandest possible way. Those were and still are very much the traits that I identify with.

In fact, by 2010, that love of music and that drive to be like my hero had taken me places. Keane had gone to number 1 three times over, I’d travelled to the far corners of the planet where I was performing to thousands of people. My life had become characterised by one strange and surprising revelation after another. But the surprise that resonated with me more than any other was when I received “The Call”:

Beth (my assistant) “ Brian and Roger from Queen want to know if you’d like to perform with them for The Prince’s Trust at The Royal Albert Hall”.

Me: “Err, in a heartbeat, YES”.

Beth: “You can pick a song”.

Me: “Right, stop it now. Either this is the cruelest prank of all time or I’m dreaming”.

But I wasn’t dreaming. I picked It’s A Hard Life.

(To be continued…)