December 17th 2005

Keedie, Pop Opera Singer currently in the charts, supports Shayne Ward
winner of "X-Factor" on stage at G-A-Y at The Astoria in London, England. 

December 21st 2005

Following story courtesy of Torquay Herald Express

KEEDIE GETS THE X FACTOR

BY NAOMI TOLLEY


Shayne with Keedie's younger sister.

X Factor 2005 winner Shayne Ward teamed up with South Devon singing sensation Keedie Babb for his first ever gig.

Just moments after Shayne, 21, was crowned winner of the television talent show, he performed alongside Marldon's Keedie, 23, at G-A-Y Bar in Soho, London.

His single That's My Goal and Keedie and the England Cricket Team's recording of Jerusalem are both in the running to top the festive charts.

They are battling against Nizlopi, Westlife, Girls Aloud and Madonna as they all jostle for the Christmas crown.

Keedie's father, Gary and her younger sister, Natasha, were at the gig to see Keedie and Shayne perform.

Gary said: "At 2am the next morning Shayne performed his first gig with Keedie.

"She sang Jerusalem and Shayne performed his new song - they both had a fantastic response.

"Keedie had to leave at 3am as she had an interview with ITN News and she needed at least three hours sleep to look her best for television as it was going out live that morning.

"So Keedie's younger sister took over and got in the photos instead."

The single Jerusalem is currently 19th in the Top of the Pops charts and ranking sixth in line at bookies odds of reaching number one.

All proceeds from the sale of the track, which was recorded in Faisalabad, Pakistan, will go to the Asian Earthquake Appeal and two cricket charities - A Chance To Shine and the Professional Cricketers Association Benevolent Fund.

The X Factor single was released this week featuring the Manchester singer, whose dream is to duet with Justin Timberlake.

Keedie and her family also met up with X Factor judge, Louis Walsh.

It was also a momentous family occasion for Shayne who is the youngest son of a very large family and is also a twin.

He has three brothers, Mark, 29, Martin, 28 and Michael 27 and three sisters, Lisa, 24, his twin Emma, 20 and Leona, 16.

He walked off with the X Factor title after an emotional finale to the series where he not only stole the viewers' hearts but walked away with a £1 million recording contract.

On hearing the news of his win, Shayne said: "I just want to say thank you so much for voting for me. You don't know how much this means to me.

"I owe you everything," Shayne said to mentor Louis Walsh.

His success mirrors that of Keedie who was catapulted into the limelight when she signed a £1million recording contract with EMI Classics last year. She first performed in public at Paignton's Palace Theatre.

The festive chart number one will be announced on Christmas Day.

December 22nd 2005

Feature courtesy of Hello Magazine

Throughout England people found themselves humming along to an unusual hit last summer - the stirring hymn Jerusalem , which was adopted as the England cricket team's anthem during their Ashes triumph. By the time of the Trafalgar Square victory parade, London echoed to the sound of tens of thousands joining their voices in song.

Now, the cricket stars are hoping Jerusalem will bring people together again, this time in a charitable cause.  They've released it as a Christmas single, and, to help the song weave its magic, they've enlisted pop-opera singing sensation Keedie to sing with them.

Twenty-three-year old Keedie says she was more than happy to fly out to Pakistan to join the boys, who are on tour there, in a recording studio. It seemed appropriate to be in that part of the world, she says, since the Asian Earthquake Appeal is among the charities which will benefit.

What Wolverhampton-born Keedie saw in Pakistan - where October's devastating quake killed 80,000 – still  disturbs her. "I cried for a good hour after I got back," she says.

Now, relaxing between gigs in the President Suite of London's Grange City Hotel, the young star, who sings like a diva but dresses like a rock chick, tells us a little more about herself and her latest venture.

"I come from a really close family - three sisters and a brother, my mum and dad - and we'd be lost without each other. Every day we phone and say 'I love you.' For something to happen to us like in Pakistan ... I can't imagine it," she explains. 

And yet in some ways the Babb family - the singer's full name is Keedie Babb - know what it means to "go without". Her parents, Gary and Maria, made sacrifices for her music career by living in a caravan at one point and selling their belongings to help support Keedie's dream.

Their decade of sacrifice paid off last year when Keedie - dubbed "the new Charlotte Church" - signed a seven-figure, five-album deal with EMI. "It's a family thing, always has been," she says. "I wouldn't be here now if I hadn't had the support of Mum and Dad and my siblings."

Keedie stands at a petite 5ft but her voice is big and imbued with an astonishing versatility. She was just 14 when she decided to pursue music full time. Three years ago, a video of Keedie singing out of the side of a borrowed ice-cream van reached a management company, who invited her to sing in London in front of a star-studded crowd.

"It was wall-to-wall celebrities," she recalls. "From the corner of my eye I could see Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was mind-blowing. When I walked off stage he came up to me with tears in his eyes and asked me to sing for him next day at his office.

"When we got there he said 'What do you know from the West End ?', and I told him Phantom of the Opera. He went to the piano. I looked at my dad and started thinking, 'Look at me, Andrew Lloyd Webber's playing and I'm performing his songs.'"

Her first hit, last year's duet with Duncan James, I Believe My Heart, is from the Lloyd Webber musical The Woman in White. "Now my dream is to have a No 1 in both classical and pop at the same time," she says. Who knows? Jerusalem may just do it.  

In the studio with the lads, 
"They're not trained singers," says Keedie, "but what they did sounds terrific - a great boy band!"
 

December 24th 2005

Following story courtesy of Torquay Herald Express

CELEBRITY KEEDIE'S HOME FOR FAMILY CHRISTMAS

BY NAOMI TOLLEY

Singer Keedie Babb is taking time out of her hectic celebrity schedule to return home to South Devon for a peaceful family Christmas.

Quality time with her family and catching up with close Devon-based friends are high on her Christmas agenda.

The 23-year-old, who's currently in the running to top the festive charts with the single Jerusalem, will be spending Sunday with her family at their Moorview End, Marldon home.

Since being catapulted into the limelight after signing a £1 million EMI Classics contract last year, Keedie has toured the globe - from Pakistan to Miami Beach and Romania to Washington.

She has performed alongside Shayne Ward, winner of X-Factor 2005, the English Cricket Team, Duncan from Blue and at Al Pacino and Andrew Lloyd Webber events.

Giggling, she reflected on her first year in fame and said it had been a "crazy" year, finding her feet amid stardom, but said those feet remained firmly on the ground.

She said: "I still keep in touch with all of my friends from South Devon. You have to remember your roots and I never forget where I come from. I would never change that."

She said she had bumped into Kelly Osbourne while out shopping and still remained friends with Duncan from Blue with whom she recorded I Believe My Heart earlier this year - the track reached number two in the charts.

She said her new found friend was Calum Best, son of former Manchester United footballer, George Best, who died recently.

"He's had a lot to cope with recently so I've given him his space. We are really good friends," she said.

She said she met Calum at Trap nightclub in Soho where she performed in November last year.

"You meet a lot of people when you're out," she added.

"But I still love and keep in touch with all of my friends down here."

She said she was looking forward to returning home to Marldon for Christmas and spending quality time with her family: "I'm making the most of it. It's one of the only times we all get time off work and can all be together."

Keedie's classical talent was nurtured from the age of 11 by her Vienna-trained voice coach, Isabelle Morrow, based in Teignbridge.

Her first performance at the Palace Theatre was at a talent show, an event she later went on to conquer.

She won the Herald Express-backed Stairway to the Stars competition in 2001.

It was her first public classical performance and one which set her on the road to success.

After a tumultuous two years, she was snapped up by Kim Turner, former manager of Sting, who tragically died from cancer in May 2003.

She was then spotted by EMI at a gig in Ascot.

As her second single climbs the charts and she prepares to release her next album in the New Year, she still stands by her dream.

"My ambition is to be number one in the pop charts and the classical charts, ideally at the same time.

"It's been my dream since I was three years old."

December 24th 2005

Following story courtesy of Torquay Herald Express



Classical singing sensation Keedie Babb will find out tomorrow whether her charity version of Jerusalem, performed with the England cricket team, hits the Number One spot in the UK singles charts. An outsider now according to the bookies, a week ago the track was in sixth place, ahead of Coldplay, Robbie Williams and McFly.

Keedie flew out to Faisalabad to record the song and proceeds from sales will be split evenly between the Pakistan earthquake appeal and the England and Wales Cricket Board's charity Chance To Shine.

Keedie, 23, who has spent a whirlwind year performing and recording across the globe, will be at home with her family near Paignton for Christmas.

"I can't wait. I'm going to sit around in my pyjamas for three or four days and eat and eat and eat," says Keedie, who will join her parents, her brother and her three sisters for the festive period.

She is also hoping to spend some time with boyfriend Leon Hapgood, who played for Torquay United and now works for the Football Association.

My betting slip - Where did that Shayne Ward come from? he lost me 40 quid!!

{ Page Index }

{ Page 22  >> }