Eurovision 2009

The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was finally upon us last Saturday! And what a great show! It really seemed to be all about the songs this year. I can't say however that Norway had my favourite song, but in fairness it was pretty good. I was watching from the Nightingale night club on a big screen, where I was performing later on that night, and the atmosphere was amazing! I've never been out somewhere to watch it before, and it was especially great as everytime I got a mention on the tv, everyone cheered and waved their flags over at me lol ;)

Above is Alexander, who won the competition, with his self-composed song, Faiytale. Its was really catchy, and he got a phenomenal amount of votes!
Below left, is my favourite though, Yohanna from Iceland, who came 2nd. Her song "Is it True?" was absolutely beautiful! And she sang flawlessly! Below right, is our very own Jade, who came a very respectable 5th! Well done Jade and Sir Lloyd-Webber...great performance! I was a little concerned for Jade at one point, when she looked a little un-stable walking down the staircase, got a tad too close to the violinist, and he caught her in the jaw with either his bow or elbow!! She did really well to barely even flinch! Phew! So professional!


The week or two before I pre-recorded a piece for BBC interactive, alongside some of the other past UK entrants. Pictured below. To be aired via the red-button during the show too. It was a really great day, and so much fun sharing our experiences of 'our time' with eachother, and doing quizes etc...which we were all totally rubbish at! Haha! And, we filmed it right be behind Oxford Street, London, so I got to do some real good shopping afterwards too....bargain! lol :)

In the afternoon I performed at Blackpool Pride 2009. I opened Pride there back in 2005, and my how it has grown! It was a little rainy at times, but thankfully there was lots of undercover areas, so no-one got drenched! I'm sure I've said it before, but this time of year is so much fun with all the Eurovision based parties and summer festivals! I have another couple of gigs this weekend...CAN'T WAIT!! I do love the other parts of my job, but the performing is what it's all about for me!

Promotion Tour

With "Hard Not to Fall" now being released I've been busy busy promoting it all around the country. Now while most of it has been on radio up until now, I have taken a little time to film some TV pieces too and have some real great live gigs coming up too over the next month or so...then I'm back to hibernating in the studio for a few weeks...cracking on with the album. Oh some serious writing to continue on with...but all very exciting! It's nice to have so much input and control over my material, and work in general this time around. Radio and studio pics are a bit boring to see...and I also look like a prize pleb in those headphones...hence no pictures to see from them here :) I have however included some from a bit of a fun day this week...

Martyn, my manager and main co-writer, is also a captain for Bmibaby! (Impressive huh?...a multi-tasking man haha...joke!!) So we took a BBC film crew along to Birmingham airport with us before a quick trip to Amsterdam in the afternoon. I was super excited to get clearance to get my turn in the flying seat...although disappointed they didn't actually let me fly the plane, but aparently I need some sort of licence and major qualifications to do that! ;) This job brings some serious perks though...some years ago I got to, would you say "drive??", a frigate... (HMS Chatham to be precise...look it up! Oh man! What a boat??Haha) ...in the baltic sea, with all the Navy on board too! They trusted me!! MADNESS! Although, I couldn't crash it in fairness, and there were no ice-bergs, so we weren't likely to spring a leak and sink in a hurry either! LOL :) Fun memories! I wish I was a blogger back then! Or at least kept a good journal! Still I have some good pics and great memories.So here I am above, in the cockpit. It was so nice to see the pilot's view! Then we have Captain Baylay on the right, having his interview onboard with the BBC.
This is my security pass for birmingham airport. As you can imagine security is extremely tight...so we had a whole load of checks, and I had to wear a hideous high vis jacket, and these truly wrong looking ear protectors, and I had to have this pass...I took a picture of it as it made me laugh so hard! My married name is Satterley...spot the spelling mistake on the pass! I didn't notice this until I'd been wearing it for ages! Then I broke in fits of laughter. I don't know why it seems to always be pronounced and spelled incorrectly...but this has to be one of the best ones! :)
A big THANK YOU to Birmingham Airport and BmiBaby for all your help and support with promoting the new track too!