What's been going on with Collabro?
They are the five lads that won this year's Britian's Got Talent, so what has been going on with Collabro? Michael from the group tells us everything...
How’s it been since winning Britain’s Got Talent? It has been amazing! When we entered the show we had only been together for a month, we didn’t really realise what was going to happen next. Since then we’ve had a number one album, which we made in just nine weeks after winning the show, and we were in the top ten for three weeks which is always nice, especially after knocking Ed Sheeran off the top.
Wow! Knocking Ed Sheeran off the top of the album charts is no mean feat!I know! I hope he doesn’t hate us as the group that knocked him off the top spot! We saw him perform on The X Factor a few weeks ago and we are all so in awe of him, and now he probably knows who we are, which, is amazing.
So you’re going to be meeting and performing in front of Royalty at the Royal Variety Performance?Yes we will, I believe it is William and Kate’s first year. It’s really funny because we performed for The Duchess of York a little while ago, and we were told that we had to say ‘Good evening Duchess’ when we met her. When we were there, someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned round and they said ‘Hello’ and I said ‘Hello I’m Michael’ and went to kiss her on the cheek when she said ‘I’m the Duchess of York.’ I was so embarrassed but just said ‘Good evening Duchess’ but she was lovely, and said ‘I didn’t bargain for that!’ There were so many big names there too. Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Jimmy Carr, Bruce Forsyth along with many others, it was amazing to perform in front of all of them, so to perform in front of William and Kate will be incredible.
Have you been traveling around the world yet?Well we have been to Ireland, we’ve got Hong Kong lined up too and hopefully we will conquer Asia and that side of the world. There are talks of Australia but not just yet and hopefully America at some point – that is the dream. But it’s not even been a year yet so fingers crossed we have traveling around the world all to come.
It must be crazy that you have achieved so much in under a year?It is crazy, and we have a book coming out in Spring next year and the tour is in January as well, so it’s all go. It’s funny because we’re all watching The X Factor at home, wishing all the acts good luck because we know what it’s like going through the whole process.
If you hadn’t won BGT would you have entered The X Factor?I remember thinking when One Direction were put together ‘Why didn’t I audition – I could be in One Direction!’ so I’ve always thought about auditioning but I’ve always thought I’d get my degree done and then give it a go. It was the year after my degree that BGT came about, so I have been really lucky actually, but I would always urge people to enter shows like these because they really can change your life.
What advice would you give to people thinking about entering BGT?Definitely do it! You’ve got nothing to lose, if you’re worried about being shown in a bad light, or Simon Cowell not liking what you do, you’re still getting air time, and people will know who you are and it can help build a career out of it. If they do like you, the possibilities are endless. Just be who you are, and show them what you can do because everybody has a talent out there!
What would be your top tip to conquer stage nerves?I was really lucky because I had four other guys with me, but before every performance we put our hands in on top of each other and say ‘Collabro we can do this ‘. I know a lot of groups do things like that. But just think every performance could be your last. You need to enjoy it because you’re only as good as your last performance and you want to look back on that and know that you tried your best.
You can watch Collabro on the Royal Variety Performance on Monday, December 7 from 7.30pm on ITV