Boy George and the Kiosk Karaoke Choir

In 1999 I entered a contest called the BT Kiosk Karaoke Competition. It was a nationwide competition whereby you had to sing 30 seconds of a song down the phone in a BT kiosk. The prize was to be one of the 100 backing singers for the re-recording of Karma Chameleon with Boy George at Abbey Road! One sunny Sunday afternoon my dad decided to have a go. I walked to the phone box with him and then at the last minute decided to have a sing myself. Never in a million years did I think I'd get through to the regional finals!! If anything I thought it would be my dad because he's a better singer than me.

So, in September I went to Birmingham for the Midlands audition. I was half an hour late because of the traffic, but luckily they were over running themselves. There was around 30-40 people in the audition room, but only around 10 were auditioning at this time. I was feeling really nervous, as I'd never really sung in public before! There was a small stage designed in the style of the Abbey Road zebra crossing at the front with the karaoke machine. Every time people were called up to sing I was worried it was going to be my turn! They were all really good singers as well! I ended up singing last. I decided to sing 'Come Together' by The Beatles. The words were on the screen of the Karaoke machine, but for some reason they were wrong in places, so I decided to sing the correct words! I'd been learning them!! I was scared my song would go wrong or that it would be in a different key, but luckily it went greatJ We then had our photos taken in groups and individually and were interviewed by three judges. I was glad that I went because I'd decided not to go originally. I had got the dates mixed up and the evening before the audition the organisers rang me to confirm I was attending!! A month or so later I received a letter saying I had won a place in the choir!!
I arrived at the studios on November 1st for a rehearsal. I was with the other women (over 16's) for their studio time. The under 15's had just been and the men were after us. It was about 3'o clock in the afternoon when we arrived at the studios. We walked up the steps and it was just so unreal! I'd had my photo taken on the crossing many times, but I couldn't believe I was actually walking into Abbey Road to record! I entered the reception and picked up my artist pass. On a wall in the reception was a gold disc of the Abbey Road album. We then walked down the corridor to studio 2. As I walked in, it was as if I was in slow motion because I was trying to take everything and the reality of it all in. I'd seen photos of the place and I saw the Abbey Road documentary, but I was actually there now.

We did a couple of sing throughs and practiced for the big day tomorrow. We managed to finish early and had some refreshments. We were allowed to go upstairs to the control room. It was fairly small, but there was a big mixing desk. There was also a large and very thick window looking down onto the studio floor. The technician said the window had only been broken once-Someone had thrown a chair through it!'Rock and Roll!!

The next day we arrived at the studios and waited for Boy George to arrive. We did some more rehearsals and had some more refreshments. When George arrived we did the recording, but after, the press wanted to interview him privately. We were taken to the canteen and the beautiful garden to wait. The organisers apologised for our long wait, but it didn't bother me at all. The canteen/restaurant was one of the places I wanted to see the most! If it hadn't been for the press, I wouldn't have seen it. The garden was medium sized with three sections to it. The trees all had brown and golden leaves it was lovely; Especially and arch of leaves. We had chosen a good time to see the garden. It was dusk and it was brilliant just to sit on the benches and take a breather in the gardens of the EMI studios. Being surrounded by the white houses, you could have been in any town house back garden. It was hard to imagine there was all those studios and history in that house. We finished the day with a champagne reception. It was a brilliant and unforgettable two days. It was a dream come true!

My 18th birthday cake! The photo on the cake is of me with the rest of the Birmingham winners with Boy George at Abbey Road on the cake!:-) (I'm on the right in the black t-shirt!)