Collabro

Patrick Cash speaks to Jamie Lambert from Britain’s Got Talent winners Collabro ahead of their performance at G-A-Y this weekend.

Tell us a bit about yourself. 

I am 24, I’m from Newcastle, I did a Spanish degree, I live in London and I love musical theatre. And before I was in Collabro I was working for the NHS.

How did you put together Collabro? 

Unfortunately, a lot of very good singers and actors have to go and do things they never expected to do, because there’s not a lot of work. I think we were sick of that – the West End’s so hard to break into, and being 24, it’s not actually that young in musical theatre years. Not when you’ve got thousands of 21-year-olds every single year coming out of three year courses, and they can all sing, act and dance and they’re all very beautiful! So we formed Collabro by holding auditions last year, and in January we put ‘Bring Him Home’ together. Originally we were going to go for corporate events, but then we thought we actually had something more special than that, and so we sent in our video to Britain’s Got Talent.

And what was it like winning Britain’s Got Talent? 

It was incredible. Nothing’s caught up with me yet. I’ve moved house, I’ve done all sorts of different things, and I’ve suddenly got money which I didn’t have before! Of course though it’s not about the money. We were doing the BBC over the weekend, and when we got out there were 20 people who had come down on a coach with pictures for us to sign, and I was like ‘bloody hell, what is this?’ We’re actually doing now, for a living, what we love!

What was Simon Cowell like up close and personal? 

Simon Cowell is terrifying. I have the deepest respect for him, and so do all the boys. He really knows what he’s talking about. He’s got such a successful music mind that when we sat down to talk about doing the album, genuinely all his suggestions went through, not because he was the boss but because his suggestions were better. But I think anyone of that success is quite intimidating!

Definitely, I’d imagine. Now you didn’t come out at the weekend, but you revealed that you were gay. Do you think it’s a good sign that nobody asked you?

I’ve just got to say, thank you so much for saying it like that, because basically The Sun reported it really well and then every other magazine picked up on the fact that I’d ‘come out’. But I didn’t come out as gay, that was the whole point of the article. To me, I didn’t even view it as an issue and no one asked me during BGT, and if they did I would have said something. I don’t think that I come across as particularly gay, but actually I think that’s a good thing.

That you don’t conform to a stereotype?

Exactly. I think I can use this newfound status to be more political about it, and on the front lines because actually I think it’s really important. I don’t think we have equality yet, I think we have tolerance, and tolerance is very far from equality. I don’t know if you ever saw the Panti Bliss interview but she summed up everything for me, and like she said: when I can stand at a traffic light and not check myself, that’s when I’d feel we live in a world of equality for same-sex relationships. And whenever anyone asks me I am very much LGBT-aware; Collabro appeal to both young and old people, and I think that appeal could do quite well in terms of what I want to do for the LGBT community.

I think that’s a powerful message, that celebrity can be used in a positive way for change. And finally, are you excited about playing G-A-Y this weekend? 

I can’t wait! Basically this is pretty bad, but I’ve never been there, although what better time to go there then going on stage? I think you can expect a lot of musical theatre, I’m not going to say which ones they are because we haven’t decided. I want ‘Let It Go’ to be in there, but I’m not sure. I literally think it’s going to be crazy. I’ve seen some of the G-A-Y YouTube performances, the crowd look fantastic, and I’m really excited!


• Collabro are playing at G-A-Y Heaven (under the Arches, Villiers Street, Charing Cross, WC2N 6NG) this Saturday 26th July. 

• Collabro’s debut album ‘Stars’ will be out on August 18th. 

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