It has been a whirlwind 12 months for musician Ashley Elliott
BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT was back on our screens this weekend, and who can forget this time last year when our own Ashley Elliott took part in that very competition.
We caught up with Ashley 12 months later to see how life after Simon Cowell is treating him.
“I entered it for a bit of fun, I think it was more of a joke,” he said this week. “I filled in a form, and didn’t think it would get this serious.”
Ashley first attended an audition in front of a camera, and a producer. After a wait, he was then called and asked to travel to Blackpool – the next day.
“I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” he added. “I went on to the auditions show – and got through. Then there were lot of interviews, and doing different filming that they wanted for the next part of it.”
After appearing on TV at the auditions stage, the 18 year old from Monea shot up in value – and an excited public, both in Fermanagh and beyond, waited with baited breath to hear if he got into the live semi-finals.
“When they said, ‘you’re through’, I couldn’t believe it. And that’s when it all started – going to meetings, signing contracts, and things like that.”
And what was it like knowing that millions were watching your every move?
“Being on the live show was probably less scary than being in front of the huge crowd at the audition. There wasn’t as big a crowd in the studio as such – just a lot of cameras. I’d friends and family over supporting me too.”
Ashley may not have won, but, as he said himself, he was ‘more than happy’ to get as far as he did. And to this day, people still come up to him in the streets of Enniskillen. Today, Ashley continues to perform with bands in the locality. And, he travels to Oslo, Norway in two weeks’ time as percussionist for the European Youth Brass Band, where he will perform several times across venues there.
“I’m looking forward to that. There have definitely been opportunities, and it’s got me around a lot more places. I’d get recognised a lot more when we are playing in different places.”
After his A Levels, which he is studying at Portora Royal: Technology, Music and Moving Images, Ashley hopes to do Music Technology in Queen’s University. It certainly appears the talented 18 year old has many strings to his bow.
