Express & Star

Jaki Graham: Run in with A-lister was a night to remember

I nearly collided with a Hollywood star on the red carpet of a recent film premiere. It's not often you can say that, is it?

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It was during the Birmingham premiere of the new Tom Hardy film Locke.

The film's written and directed by Steven Knight, the man behind Peaky Blinders, and it was a star-studded occasion.

It's just a good job my daughter Natalie was there because I almost cut Tom up on the red carpet. Now that would have been embarrassing going out live on local telly.

Typical me, but what a wonderful night it was. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and meeting lots of new faces.

We had the the pleasure of hanging out with a friend of ours, the very talented actor Jay Brown, currently starring in the E4 series Youngers. I think he's going to go far.

For those who don't know I'm also a huge fan of Doctors and so I was very excited to meet one of the show's soon-to-be newcomers, Ollie. It really is great to meet the next generation of talent.

And speaking of stars-in-the-making, I had the pleasure of running some masterclasses for 10-21 year olds at the LG Arena as part of OMG Live.

This fantastic day was organised by the University of Wolverhampton. It gave bands from 13 educational hubs the chance to perform with Lawson and Union J to an audience of 5,000. What an opportunity.

And there was me thinking it would only be the teachers who would know my music. So it was a very nice surprise to have these amazing youngsters filling me in on my own background. There was one lad, who can't have been older than 14, asking me to sing Round and Around. To say that threw me is a bit of an understatement but I was genuinely touched.

Nice to know that some parents out there are keeping kids in touch with some classic eras of music.

I was proud of every one of the performers on the day, who are not only extremely talented, but conducted themselves in a fantastic manner.

It was also a real treat to see some of the university's second year students, who I'm currently working with on songwriting.

I think youngsters of this so-called lost generation get a lot of stick. I feel it's important to highlight that there's lots of good kids out there. Many are getting their heads down, trying hard and aspiring for great things. Well done all of you and remember, Auntie Jaki's always here to help if I can.

As well as this, the Superstars of Soul Tour has officially kicked off.

The first night was at The Jam House in Birmingham and featured The Foundations and Geno Washington, and me.

We're now on tour until mid-June and there's talks of extra dates being thrown in, some of which are in the Midlands. For those of you who fancy a night out, want to let your hair down and be taken on a journey through the '60s, '70s and, of course, '80s, then check out my website for dates and ticket information www.jaki-graham.com

Enjoy your bank holiday Monday and I look forward to catching up with you all again when the festival season begins.

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