Wolverhampton landlord and BGT Amy Lou team up for pub gigs
A Wolverhampton pub landlord sang a duet with Britain's Got Talent star Amy Lou Smith in the first of two almost sold out dates.
Dale Bligdon has run the Old Still Inn in the city centre for nearly three years and hosted the gig on Sunday featuring Amy-Lou, who was honouring a long-standing booking made before she was runner up on the television talent show.
The Tipton-based songstress and new mother got to the final in June, losing out to comedian Viggo Venn, but has since been booked for a national tour, pantomime and other shows.
A former manager of Betfred bookmakers over the road from the venue where Amy Lou has appeared many times, Dale himself auditioned for TV show The Voice in 2018 and has appeared at Birmingham Pride.
The pair sang 'The Prayer,' made famous by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion and people who attended the gig took to Facebook to praise the duo.
Martina Costello said: "Aww what a fantastic day /night .Thank your Dale you always look after us and omg Amy Lou brought me to tears especially your duet together amazing."
Carina McIntosh said: "Absolutely fantastic, Amy is actually the best performer I've ever seen, she was out of this world. Then the duet with Dale I can't get over how great he was. "
Amy said the concerts would be amongst her final ones in the Black Country before she embarks on a national tour with a full band in September although she will return to take part in Mary Stevens Hospices' pantomime Cinderella early next year.
She said: "I loved singing at the Old Still and mine and Dale's paths have crossed quite a lot over the years so it was lovely for him to invite me to appear there.
"The crowd was fantastic and I know tomorrow's gig is nearly sold out as well, the Black Country crowds have been fantastic and shown me so much support – I still have a concert at Brierley Hill Civic Hall to come and then I am going out on the road for a bit but my heart is always in the West Midlands."
Dale said: "I'm not in Amy Lou's league when it comes to performing.
"I am big on karaoke and love nothing better than to sing to an audience but she has a fantastic future ahead of her. It was brilliant she could honour the booking as she is very busy and it soon sold out, as did Wednesday's show which we are looking forward to."
Limited tickets at £10 are available from the pub for tomorrow night's show.
