Who would have guessed on a rainy Wednesday in July 2012 after the cancelled Hit Factory concert in Hyde Park (it was less Stock Aitken Waterman and more Stock Aitken Waterlogged) that fans would then come together for an impromptu get-together at London’s oldest LGBTQIA+ venue City of Quebec? It was then that Cheer Up was born. Twelve years on and over 125 events in London and across the UK. Cheer Up is now “Pop” -ing up regularly at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern with the next event, Cheer Up Ultimate Party, on Friday 4th, April. Before we talk more about that night and the acts appearing, we chat with Mario Kyriacou about all things Cheer Up!
So tell us more about Cheer Up, how it came about and what you love most about doing the events?
Cheer Up came together after the cancelled Stock Aitken Waterman concert in Hyde Park in July 2012 with a group forum on Facebook changing its name to “Cheer Up” and deciding to still come together and party in the City of Quebec instead. Cheer Up began as a Stock Aitken Waterman/PWL party, it was a travelling Locomotion going from city to city every three or so months with events taking place in Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and London at various venues with incredible acts from The Hit Factory joining us including Sinitta, Samantha Fox, Sybil, Nicki French, Deuce, Rozalla, Tight Fit with the first acts we got back in 2013 being Hazell Dean and Nathan Moore in Birmingham followed by Lonnie Gordon in London and Sonia in Liverpool at the end of that year, with them all continuing to be part of Cheer Up ever since. It was a fan event created by fans, which made the events so unique and had people travelling from across the world to attend.
In 2017, when Cheer Up was offered a monthly night in London, we expanded the themes for the night, still including the traditional Stock Aitken Waterman parties but also incorporating more pop and dance from the era we grew up in, came out in, being a fan of the music and having fans attend you kind of “Sing from the same music sheet” so throwing in some additional acts you grew up to excited the crowd doing Cheer Up’s first ever Kylie party back in 2017 in Brighton, celebrating the 30th anniversary of “Locomotion” since then doing a few Kylie parties a year as well as Dannii Minogue themed events, most recently “Love and kisses and ….” and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in February and several Madonna nights in various venues. I love what I do as I can be creative every day from the initial idea of an event to the design and then geeking myself with the music; I love DJing and hope that shows when playing at the nights, “If you look like you’re having fun then the crowd react back”.
Cheer Up will always celebrate the music of Stock Aitken Waterman and, over the last year, have championed the SAW40 anniversary doing a HUGE Pop Gala in Liverpool with acts including Sinitta, Sonia, Sybil, Tina Cousins, Rachel McFarlane from Loveland, Suzette Charles, Haywoode, Maggie K De Monde of Scarlet fantastic and having guest presenters Josselyne from Boy Krazy and Denise Waterman who we actually got to work with again this month on her group, Tight fit new album “Forever” album launch party. We were also invited down at the start of the year to see Mike, Matt and Pete unveil their blue plaque at the old PWL Hit Factory studios, having done work directly before lockdown, organising The Fizz (Bucks Fizz) “Smoke & Mirrors” album launch. I threw a Stock Aitken Waterman party at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern this month on the 40th anniversary of “You Spin Me Round” by the incredible Dead or Alive. It was number one in the UK Charts.
“Music makes the people come together” is what Cheer Up is about. Its ethos is fun, love and cheer. I am not just saying this. It’s like a family. People have been attending from the beginning, 12 years back, to the more recent London crowd of over eight years and to more recent times. What is great is everyone gets together; it’s like a greeting at an airport lounge as people arrive at the venues where we host the events. It’s really special, and that is one of the reasons I love doing the events, the community, the family and boss tunes.
So, your next Cheer Up event is at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern on Friday, April 4th. Can you tell us more about that?
I sure can. I am excited about April’s event as we are billing it Cheer Up Ultimate Party. It’s going to have a bit of everything from Cheer Up, the Stock Aitken Waterman tunes, Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Madonna a real popalicious feel of music plus, which is the exciting part, two incredible acts who complement Cheer Up’s 12 plus years incredibly.
First up is Tina Cousins, who joined us quite recently in Liverpool at the Pop Gala. I have worked with Tina on a number of events now, our first together back in Manchester for our Love & Pride party in 2017. She has joined us since we were in London when I returned to the City of Quebec for monthly events for the run-up to Cheer Up’s tenth anniversary. That was special indeed, almost full circle. I am excited for Tina to be with us at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, as this is a special venue. I cannot believe we have been putting events at the RVT for three years this autumn. Kym Sims is also joining us, especially from America. Our love for Kym began before lockdown when she joined us twice, the first time for a Pride in London event in 2018. Everyone knows Tina’s and Kym’s music, from classics like Too Blind To See It, Killin’ Time, Mysterious Times, to Take My Advice, Pray. These will be two incredible performances on the night, alongside some proper pop and dance classics played throughout.
Tickets out now at www.buytickets.at/cheerup
Cheer Up Ultimate Party featuring Tina Cousins & Kym Sims live on stage is on Saturday, 4th April 9 pm – 3 am at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 372 Kennington Lane, London SE11 5HY, United Kingdom.
