Читать книгу Olly Murs - The Biography - Justin Lewis - Страница 10

Though Olly Murs loved singing and dancing at an early age, he never thought of performing as his destiny. ‘I was always in the background. It was my brother who used to do all the singing and dancing.’ Sister Fay agreed that he was something of a dark horse. ‘He was a very different Olly to the one you see on TV. He wasn’t always the centre of attention and was certainly the quieter one.’ But while he did occasionally perform in public to a wider audience, notably in a Howbridge Junior School production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, his primary passion during his youth and early adulthood was football.

Ben, Olly’s younger twin, also enjoyed football and later said of their fraternal relationship, ‘We were inseparable. Even though I’m ten minutes younger, I always felt like his big brother. If someone was being rough with him on the pitch, I’d sort it out.’ The two clashed from time to time as youngsters but rancour would always be short-lived. ‘Me and Ben were always close,’ Olly told ITV2 in 2010. ‘Two peas in a pod. If we ever had a row with each other, it never lasted more than three or four hours. Within an hour we’d be back, playing our computer games together.’

As a spectator, Olly’s first big football match took place at Wembley Stadium in March 1996, just weeks away from his 12th birthday. A few months before England hosted the UEFA Euro ’96 tournament, it was a friendly between England and Bulgaria. Olly was becoming a promising player at his new secondary school, Notley High in Braintree, which previously educated such notables as Leeroy Thornhill, keyboard player with rave pioneers The Prodigy, and the dancer and choreographer Louis Spence. Olly’s enthusiasm and skill for the game of football ensured that he became the centre-forward of the school side. By the time he was 15, he even had a trial for Southend United.

For some in Essex, the league team to support is Southend United, or Colchester United, or maybe a London club like West Ham United. But Olly could not resist the appeal of a club further north. As a child, worshipping the skills of players like David Beckham, Eric Cantona and Roy Keane, he was already a fan of Manchester United FC, perhaps the dominant English football team of the past 20 years. The club has won the Premiership title a total of 19 times, including 12 times since 1992, and lifted the FA Cup Final trophy on 11 occasions. They even had a number-one hit record in 1994, ‘Come On You Reds’. If pushed to nominate a second team he favours, he selects another team from the north-west of England. ‘I’d probably say Wigan. There’s something about them, they’re really hometown. They’re not vicious, they don’t cause any problems, they just go about their business. Their fans kind of applaud what other teams do.’

In his late teens, between 2001 and 2003, Olly studied sport and recreation at Braintree College of Further Education, but some remember that his fondness for music was constantly breaking through even then. Anna Simon (who later became a tutor at the college) was a fellow student who would not be surprised by his subsequent breakthrough. ‘He often entertained us with impromptu singing and dance, and was a charismatic entertainer back then,’ she said.

Eventually, Olly played as a semi-professional in the reserve side for Witham Town FC, but still dreamed of Premier League stardom. ‘My record was pretty good,’ he recalled. ‘I think I scored something like forty goals in twenty or thirty games.’ He modelled himself on the Irish player Robbie Keane who, during Olly’s time as a regular player, was one of the stars of Tottenham Hotspur. ‘I like the fact Robbie could score goals but could really play as well,’ said Olly, aware that teamwork and helping to create the goals, not just scoring them, is central to being a good player.

By 2006, Witham Town’s reserve team was a treble-winning side and Olly would make the club’s first team. But he would get no further in the world of soccer, unlike his teammate Cody McDonald, who would later be a striker for league sides Norwich City and (from 2011) Coventry City.

Witham Town reserves winger Matt Dean knew Olly from both on and off the pitch. They had been close mates ever since their ex-girlfriends had been best friends and he would harbour fond memories of some hedonistic nights out with both Murs twins in Chelmsford. ‘We would watch Olly and Ben own the dance floor,’ he said. ‘They would be incredible.’

Kirk Setford was another of Olly’s footballing friends of several years. They had played together for a Sunday team called the Howbridge Swifts and Kirk watched him develop some killer dance-floor moves at clubs in Witham, as well as accompany him abroad. ‘When we went on a stag do in Amsterdam, he had the DJ trying to outdo him by playing different songs,’ recalled Kirk. ‘Every song the DJ played, Olly did a different dance and everyone was loving it.’

All the while, during his time as a centre-forward, Olly worked in nine-to-five jobs during the week. He had trained to be a fitness instructor but, when he discovered he did not relish the job, he followed in the footsteps of his mum Vicky-Lynn and worked as a recruitment consultant. For about four years, he worked at Prime Appointments in Witham’s Newland Street. Again, according to its managing director, Robyn Holmes, his potential as a singer could not be silenced: ‘He has sung for us in the past, at Christmas parties, and we always thought what a talented singer he was.’ The sound of his singing was ever-present around the offices and, if he wasn’t singing, he’d be listening to music.

By 2009, he was working as a customer advisor at Climate Energy Ltd in the same town’s Freebournes Road. Here, he handled telephone calls from customers who were seeking advice on how to save energy in and around their homes. His boss was Tracy Baird. ‘It was a pleasure working with Olly,’ she said in the light of his success. ‘We all miss his dance moves and his tremendous voice.’

Later, Olly reflected on his ordinary working life before X Factor. ‘I had regular jobs, working nine-to-five like most people and earning the minimum wage. I worked in a jam factory and I worked in another factory, then call centres.’ Working in the latter, he found himself selling kitchens, then mortgages. If work was unremarkable, he was relatively carefree. ‘Me and my brother didn’t really appreciate the money side of things and the pressure our parents were under. Being young lads, going out every weekend, we’d miss paying rent and stuff like that because we didn’t know what was going on. We were just going out, splashing our money on drink, me and my mates playing football.’ He later came to appreciate the sacrifices his parents made. ‘Now I realise the stress – the mortgage, the bills – it mounts up. So it is very difficult and I’m sure they go through a lot.’

‘It’s always been his dream to be a pop star or a professional football player,’ said twin brother Ben in 2009. ‘But as he got older, music took over. We used to watch The X Factor at home and I would say, “Why don’t you just go on it?” But he didn’t have the confidence to take the next step.’

In the spring of 2007, Olly finally mustered up the confidence to audition for the programme. Interestingly, in the light of his current status as an ‘entertainer’, his choice of song was the essence of fun, if not the greatest technical challenge for a budding singer. ‘I Wanna Be Like You’ was one of the most popular songs from the muc-hloved 1968 Disney animated feature The Jungle Book. His rendition was unsuccessful, neither good nor poor enough to be televised.

A year later, he tried a second time. This time, his song of choice was ‘Last Request’ by Paolo Nutini. Again, success proved elusive and his attempt would not be screened. ‘Olly was very disappointed,’ twin brother Ben would tell one newspaper. ‘But I kept encouraging him to give it another go.’

Perhaps some regular singing experience in front of people would help. Olly’s ambition to be a singer was growing day by day, albeit on a modest scale. Unlike the likes of Jessie J, Amy Winehouse and Katie Melua, he would not study at the Brit School in Croydon. Instead he began attending karaoke nights at his local pub in Witham, The George. ‘It turned into a Sunday night thing. The place would get busy and it was obvious they were coming to see me.’

‘Even then, he took everything in his stride,’ sister Fay later marvelled. ‘I remember seeing a poster in The George advertising a “Singalong with Olly Night”. I couldn’t believe it. He’s not one to brag and, when I quizzed him about it, he was so laid back.’

Olly quickly became known as a versatile performer, with his repertoire encompassing covers of soul, funk and Motown standards, as well as approximations of Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. His repertoire had something for everyone, in short, and such was his popularity that The George’s landlord, John Fisher, offered him regular gigs with guitarist friend, Jon Goodey. ‘I was terrified,’ said Olly, ‘but thought why not. I had always enjoyed singing and it was a success.’ As Small Town Blaggers, Murs and Goodey were paid £150 a night. ‘We ended up being booked in lots of different pubs doing fifties and sixties theme nights,’ said Olly. ‘It was all word of mouth. They would be packed. I knew from then what I wanted to do.’ Among their repertoire was one of Olly’s favourites from childhood: The Proclaimers’ ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’. ‘It’s one of them songs. As soon as you start playing it, it’s such a big party song. The whole crowd would start singing it.’

Olly’s subsequent spell in a group called F2K would lead to a friendship with singer Lara George. Their association would endure: in October 2010 they would sing together at the wedding of Olly’s elder sister Fay.

Pub gigs, a few parties, a wedding or two – Olly was getting the taste for singing, dancing and performing. But money remained scarce and it was time for one or two reality checks from his family. First, his grandfather sat him down for a talk. ‘He said, “What are you doing with your life? At your age I had a house, a wife, kids and a car. More importantly, I had a decent job. What have you got?”’

One subsequent family dinner brought things to a head. ‘We did say he needed to concentrate on his job,’ admitted his mum Vicky-Lynn in 2010. ‘They all ganged up on me,’ said Olly, ‘saying I needed to get a proper job. I knew they were being realistic but it was sad because, after all the different jobs I’d done since I was sixteen, there I was finally doing something I loved.’ He dearly hoped that he might be able to make a proper living out of his passion but the job of singing – just like any full-time job – takes patience, determination and a lot of hard work. And some luck too.

Maybe he’d have some good luck at a TV ‘dream factory’ near Bristol. In between his first two X Factor auditions, Olly Murs applied to appear on a daily game show, which had been a must-see for afternoon viewers since debuting on Channel 4 in October 2005. Noel Edmonds’ Deal or No Deal was a game of chance and strategy. Contestants, faced with 22 sealed boxes containing mystery sums of money ranging from 1p to £250,000, had to eliminate each one until they were left with the last box: their prize. Every now and again, a figure called ‘The Banker’ would call Noel on a telephone and offer the contestant a sum of money, to which they would either say ‘Deal’ or ‘No deal’.

Because Deal or No Deal was a programme where contestants might appear several times on screen before they got the chance to play the game, regular eagle-eyed viewers would come to recognise recurrent competitors. Olly featured on some 29 editions and would consequently be recognised in the street.

Olly was finally selected to play Deal or No Deal in an episode broadcast on the afternoon of Thursday, 13 December 2007. It was his first television appearance. His mum and dad had made him a special Good Luck card. It read, ‘You only sit in the “crazy chair” once so make the most of it.’ Olly was thrilled to meet Noel. ‘An absolutely great guy,’ he told his local paper, the Braintree and Witham Times. ‘I think a lot of people criticise him but he is there for you and wants you to win.’

Watching the programme again, we can see a burgeoning star in the making. Olly flirts with fellow contestants, previews some dance moves on the set’s Walk of Wealth and takes some risks. He went on the show to win some money for his unwell mum but, sadly, his efforts were not rewarded. Turning down the mystery banker’s offer of some £22,000 at one point, he ended up with a paltry tenner. But Olly was not downhearted and Noel Edmonds, having no idea of what was round the corner, uttered some words which seem prophetic now. ‘Every now and again we meet a special person. You do not have failure written over you.’

Olly was philosophical about his performance on a show that, after all, is so often down to pure chance. ‘At the time winning the £10 note wasn’t my highlight,’ he recalled in 2011, ‘but it’s made me the person I am today. I’ve come out on the other side.’

Olly’s efforts at conquering TV had hit a wall – and so had his days as a footballer, at least for now. In late 2008, the effects of an old injury on the football pitch led to him needing an operation. He had damaged one of the four ligaments in his knee during a game and so now underwent keyhole surgery. Unable to play soccer at all for five months, he used some of the money earned by Small Town Blaggers to spend some recovery time on the other side of the world.

Olly’s trip travelling around Australia would be both ‘an incredible adventure’ and a directionless period of his life. He described it as a time ‘when my life was at quite a low. I didn’t know who I wanted to be, what I wanted to do.’ But though he had no idea of where his future lay, he told MTV Australia in 2012 that it acted as a time of reflection and soul-searching for him: ‘I just thought Australia was a great way out of the UK and a chance for me to rebuild some bridges and try and figure out where I’m gonna go with my life. I had three great months, came back and just felt really energised, like I could take on the world.’

He was on the verge of extending his stay but decided against it. From thousands of miles away, he had been keeping an eye on the 2008 series of the British X Factor and, specifically, one of its competing acts. They would fail to beat Alexandra Burke in the final but vocal quartet JLS showed that they might have the potential to outgrow the programme and to succeed in their own right. This they would do, in time selling out a tour and scoring number-one hits. For Louis Walsh, they turned out to be 2008’s ‘real winners. I gave them heart and soul, everything. I worked so hard for them.’

Olly returned to Britain, vowing to try for X Factor a third time in the spring of 2009. He told hardly anyone of his immediate plans at the time, but those close to him could tell there was a newfound determination in him. ‘It was a turning point for him,’ commented Ben Murs of his twin’s time ‘down under’. ‘He grew up out there and his confidence bloomed. He went away a boy and came back a man.’

In the first week of May 2009, just one week before he turned 25 years old, Olly Murs was one of thousands who got up at the crack of dawn to travel to the O2 Arena near Greenwich in south-east London. He had never before made it past this first stage of The X Factor but, on this occasion, choosing Stevie Wonder rather than Disney or Paolo Nutini, coupled with a bit more experience, found favour with the programme’s researchers and producers. He was invited to perform at Stage 2 of the audition process on 25 June in front of Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue. And this would be part of the new-look twist to the series – an audition in front of a live audience. It would be a baptism of fire and he would more than rise to the occasion.

There was little about Olly Murs’ first 25 years that seemed in any way out of the ordinary. Even as a footballer, he was good enough to reach semi-professional level and regularly score goals for a local side but not to reach the national and international level of recognition achieved by heroes of his like David Beckham. Yet these unexceptional early years, spent both on the football pitch and in call-centre offices, were to give him an insight into hard work and perseverance. Any rewards were not easily won. His low-key career experiences would be invaluable for the life-changing events that lay ahead.