'I lost my breath': Co-op worker describes meeting Drake in Walsall
A star-struck Co-op worker has described the moment he realised the customer in his Walsall shop was one of the biggest names in international music.
Fresh from two sell-out performances at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham, Drake surprised staff when he entered the Broadway Co-op on Friday.
Josh Letford, 22, could not believe what he was seeing when he saw the man awarded Best International Artist at the Brits walk into his shop with two bodyguards and his own friend, local rising star Jorja Smith.
Josh, who is also from Walsall, said: "It was a bit crazy. I saw two gentlemen enter the store but I was on the till and I couldn't see who they were. I saw their heads and I didn't see anything else.
"I saw someone I know (Jorja Smith) come to the till and the next thing I saw Drake around the corner.
"I lost my breath and I was like: 'hero,' all these lines.
"I shook his hand and I asked for a picture and that is how it came to be."
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Josh was four hours into his shift when Drake and Jorja walked in at around 8.30pm and stayed for around five minues. At the time, they were the only customers in the store.
"It was absolutely unbelievable," Josh said.
"I did not recognise who it was at first, as I just noticed a tall guy walking into the store. I had to look twice.
"When I recognised him it was crazy.
"I'm a fan of his music, and we chatted a little about possibly doing a track together while Jorja bought some boiled sweets.
"I was trying to play it cool, and we were all laughing and chatting. They both seemed really relaxed and friendly.
"They were both smiling."
Jorja, who was placed fourth on the prestigious BBC Sound Of 2017 list of promising new artists, had accompanied Drake at his Thursday show.
The gig was his last of the current UK leg of his 'Boy Meets The World' tour, before he headed to Amsterdam on Sunday.
Student Josh said: "It's been crazy. I'm not even someone on social media but a number of people have said I'm famous. But I've not had the benefits of this fame yet.
"It's just banter really. In the morning my manager asked me to sweep up the shop and said: 'unless you're too big for that'."
He said although Drake is the most famous person he has ever met, while working in Streetly's Co-op he served ex-Aston Villa stars Fabian Delph and Darren Bent and JLS's Marvin Humes.
Drake's UK tour will continue with shows at The 02 in London and the SSE Hydro in Glasgow next month.
And Jorja Smith's own UK tour will start at Birmingham's 02 Academy in April, before moving to Brighton, London, Leeds, Glasgow and Manchester.
Jorja began making waves last year with her first release, Blue Lights, about police injustice that sampled rapper Dizzee Rascal.
"It got played at a Black Lives Matter protest in Birmingham. My friend sent me a video. That was mad. But I was writing it also because of what I was hearing in the media, so it made sense."
The singer lists Amy Winehouse, Mos Def, and Damian Marley as her musical heroes, and her soulful voice has even seen her labelled as a 'successor' to the Back to Black singer.
