WEBVTT

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Nick and Sue. This edition is brought to you

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in association with the Steel Union for men's

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gifts, presents and problem -solving men's accessories.

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More from them in a bit. This is Nick and Sue,

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with Chatterbox giving you all you need to know

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about musical attainment. Oh, yeah! Chatterbox!

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Mazza, welcome to Chatterbox. How are you? I'm

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well, thank you. How are you? Great, thank you.

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Great to meet you. We've got an exciting project

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here. We've already spoken to a couple of the

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artists on it. Well, Kelly Laroque's been quite

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a regular on the show for a while now. But anyway,

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yeah, some great artists on there. Before you

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got involved with this, what is your background?

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Are you based in London or are you one of the

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little provinces in London? No, I am born and

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raised in London. I am London to the core. Wonderful,

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wonderful. Why weren't you crying up as a kid?

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What sort of influences did you have from home?

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What did your parents listen to? What's going

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on at home to get you into the great sound I

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can hear today? Yes, so I'm from a very gospel

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background, grew up singing in the church, as

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well as that my parents loved like a very diverse

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selection of music. Sometimes they'll play jazz

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in the house and just have the jazz instrumentals.

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A lot of R &B, a lot of soul. So that's all the

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stuff I really grew up listening to. I never

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kind of listened to current music, even now.

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I still find myself going back to the old stuff.

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Yeah, very old school kind of R &B and hip hop

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and then jazz. Well jazz is rather exciting,

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it's rather good. Good jazz, very good isn't

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it? But when it comes to the gospel side, I mean

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obviously I can see the title of your song at

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church, but would you say you were predominantly

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into doing gospel stuff and releasing gospel?

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No, no, I don't release any gospel music now.

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It's just in terms of my sound quality as a singer,

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I'm definitely influenced by that gospel rich

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Sound. OK, when it comes to doing live stuff

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in London, concerts and gigs or whatever, what

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sort of venues are you going to? Do you go around

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other parts of the country or are you just mainly

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in London? Right now I'm mainly based in London.

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I haven't really been doing any big gigs as of

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late. To be fair, I took a step away from gigging

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and stuff like that. I went into a West End musical

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actually. That was the last thing I went into

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Tina, the musical, before they closed last year.

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But when I do sing and I do my kinks, there's

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a lot more intimate, a lot more intimate settings

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that I'll perform in. Okay, well you mentioned

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musicals, so obviously Tina was quite a mega

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one. I mean, somehow I don't think that was your

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only musical. So what other musicals have you

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been in over the years? To be fair, it's mainly

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been Tina and I did Hairspray quite a few times.

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Yeah, it had a strong hold on me for a few years.

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And then I've been in like projects like workshops

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for new musicals that are not out yet. So I can't

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really mention them, but hopefully they come

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out. But yeah. Maybe something to talk about

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in the future. Maybe, hopefully. Hopefully. We've

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got this exciting project that's out now, Singers

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Inc. Volume 3, 12 iconic songs reimagined and

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recorded by a powerful roster of UK vocalists.

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And yes, everyone's up to such an amazing standard.

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I mean, Chris has done really well with this

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project. So this is Volume 3, of course. Have

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you been involved with the project since the

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beginning or is this your first time? This was

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my first time on the project, yeah. And who chose

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the song that you're singing? Was that you that

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decided that, oh, do you take me to the church?

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Oh, this was Chris's idea. He brought the song

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to me. Obviously, I knew the song was an iconic

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song. And obviously, the artist, he's very different

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to how I sound. But Chris was like, I have a

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feeling you can do something very different to

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it. and pay good homage to it but still making

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it different so he brought the song to me and

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he was like let's see what you're going to do

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and i said oh okay yeah i think he's done pretty

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well with the project with having some amazing

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covers with uh i mean obviously i mentioned uh

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kelly la roca yeah who's absolutely amazing now

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she's turned that song on it's head totally yeah

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Another great one who we've spoken to. And what

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I've heard of the album, yeah, it's just been

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turned on its head. And I think, here we go.

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Well, Chris will never fail to make everybody

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happy. Of course, he knows what he's doing. He's

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certainly done it big time here. And I do also

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love the album cover. It's so basic, so simple.

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but the 12 empty chairs says everything. I did

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count them just in case, in case it was going

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to catch me out. There might have been another

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chair, you know, for someone else. Just in case,

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but there's definitely 12 there. So now you've

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been on this project, I mean, I know they, I

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mean, I think it's banned probably since quite

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a few years, actually. I mean, I'm sure there's

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going to be a volume four at some point in the

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future. Now you're part of this, would you like

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to stay part of it? 100%. I love working with

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Chris. I love working with all the creatives

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on this. It was a really, really good experience.

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And I love being in the moment of creating. It's

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just, I love that more than the finished product.

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I love going back and forth and layering and

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doing harmonies. So the opportunity to do it

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all again, very much so. Yeah, absolutely. So

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what would you, we've got this out as quite a

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lot of promotion. I'm sure you get loads of interviews

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on it. I say it's the third one we've done on

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the project alone. So I'm sure, you know, it's,

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and I don't know what, but I think volume three,

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maybe it's just been that little gap apart to

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get people, resurrect people's interest in the

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project again, perhaps. But it does sound quite

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fresh, you know, quite. Yeah, it really does.

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So what are you going to be doing for the rest

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of the year? What are your plans music wise?

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Well, I actually do have a song coming out next

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week. It's meant to drop next week, Friday. So

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I've been working on the back end of that. to

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work towards that release. It is my first solo

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release in a very long time. I think the last

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time aside from the project with Chris, the last

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time I released a song of my own was 2024. So

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it is my first time releasing a long time. And

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there's a whole bunch of music that also on the

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back end of that song. So this year is just about

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really just letting the music. go and putting

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it out there. So I'm looking forward to that

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very very much. I think we should get you to

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name drop the song because if that's coming out

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next Friday we'll see if I can find a copy because

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this won't go out before next Friday because

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I've already got the next edition already sorted

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so it'll be the one after. So I think if you

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name drop it and we see if we can... drop it

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in as well yes the song is called for tonight

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it's a very upbeat fun song we are still in the

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depths of summer so i wanted something to really

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just give and the weather's been lovely so i

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wanted to give something that people can enjoy

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get ready to go out to it's called for tonight

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that's wonderful thank you We're taking a quick

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Chatterbox Chatterbox Chatterbox Chatterbox Chatterbox

00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:07.419
Let's go up to this time next year. Can you think

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far ahead of what you want to do with all your

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projects? Because it sounds like you had quite

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a few in the can or will be in the can, if not.

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Yes. So, well, all the way up until Christmas,

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that's a long time. To be fair, I think once

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this song drops, I'm probably going to start

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working towards the next one. I want to have

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a good collection of music by the end of this

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year, just to really get my name out there even

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more. I think people that do know me, they know

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me as like an all -round performer, whether that's

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being in a musical or working with other dance,

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I mean other artists as a dancer as well as a

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singer. So this year for me was really to push

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myself out there as the actual main brand. So

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towards Christmas, probably dropping a lot more

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songs and performing the songs. I'm definitely

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looking towards trying to get them pitched for

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different adverts and TV opportunities to really

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get them out there because they're fun songs.

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They're really good. So yeah, just as much pushing

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as possible. Sure. And can we expect to see you

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at any festivals or is the plans next year to

00:13:14.730 --> 00:13:16.889
do any festivals? Next year we'll probably be

00:13:16.889 --> 00:13:20.029
to do a lot more festivals. I think this year

00:13:20.029 --> 00:13:21.889
is more about dropping the songs and letting

00:13:21.889 --> 00:13:24.909
them marinate for people's ears. And then next

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year, by God's grace, the one will take off and

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I'll perform a lot more. That's fantastic. Wonderful.

00:13:33.190 --> 00:13:34.789
So there's plenty to chat about in the future

00:13:34.789 --> 00:13:39.529
then. okay so let's and also of course you've

00:13:39.529 --> 00:13:43.429
got the the musical side you're well established

00:13:43.429 --> 00:13:50.730
as a musical star so let's you know when it takes

00:13:50.730 --> 00:13:53.710
a producer to bring you up one day oh we're doing

00:13:53.710 --> 00:13:58.610
so and so and so and so would you like to audition

00:13:58.610 --> 00:14:02.730
for meaning you know so there's always that side

00:14:02.730 --> 00:14:05.909
to it so yeah yeah What's the longest you've

00:14:05.909 --> 00:14:08.830
been stuck in? I will use the word stuck because

00:14:08.830 --> 00:14:13.090
it because it was an ongoing thing. It probably

00:14:13.090 --> 00:14:18.809
does. Stock projects for a while, maybe. Yeah.

00:14:19.470 --> 00:14:21.490
So what's the longest you've actually been in

00:14:21.490 --> 00:14:24.730
a musical in a single run? What do you say? Probably

00:14:24.730 --> 00:14:28.490
nine months. It was meant to be a year and that

00:14:28.490 --> 00:14:32.210
was hairspray. But I did it on the Royal Caribbean

00:14:32.210 --> 00:14:36.110
cruise line. And that literally was from 2019.

00:14:36.110 --> 00:14:39.269
It was meant to be from 2019 into 2020. And obviously

00:14:39.269 --> 00:14:44.490
COVID hit us in 2020. So the contract got ended

00:14:44.490 --> 00:14:48.610
earlier than I had to come back for safety. So

00:14:48.610 --> 00:14:50.809
that was probably the longest run. It's usually

00:14:50.809 --> 00:14:58.500
a year. Okay. Yeah. Was that actually around

00:14:58.500 --> 00:15:00.379
the Caribbean or was it around one of the other

00:15:00.379 --> 00:15:02.340
parts of the world they go round? It was around

00:15:02.340 --> 00:15:04.700
the Caribbean, yes. I've been on one of their

00:15:04.700 --> 00:15:09.340
cruises round there. Quite something. The ships

00:15:09.340 --> 00:15:12.639
are so snazzy aren't they? I had the most fun.

00:15:12.940 --> 00:15:18.259
It was the best thing ever. Absolutely. okay

00:15:18.259 --> 00:15:20.559
let's do your social media so people can take

00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:22.820
another look at you and uh what's available so

00:15:22.820 --> 00:15:25.580
you know youtube channels websites for facebook

00:15:25.580 --> 00:15:28.480
whatever platforms you got chuck it out yes so

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the two main platforms i have right now are instagram

00:15:31.539 --> 00:15:33.340
and tiktok those are the ones that everyone's

00:15:33.340 --> 00:15:37.379
using the most so on both of them the handles

00:15:37.379 --> 00:15:42.360
are mazza bemi so mazza mazza and then bemi b

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-e -m -i and that's where you find me Brilliant,

00:15:46.309 --> 00:15:47.789
because I was having a look around and trying

00:15:47.789 --> 00:15:49.649
to find you, that's why. I kept finding a man

00:15:49.649 --> 00:15:51.090
called Mazza and that definitely wasn't you.

00:15:51.669 --> 00:15:54.090
No, it was not me. And I was tapping in, female

00:15:54.090 --> 00:15:58.490
singer, UK female singer. But that's how we get

00:15:58.490 --> 00:16:01.730
there, brilliant. Obviously every success with

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your part of this album, your 112th of it, it

00:16:04.529 --> 00:16:06.970
sounds a great project and I'm glad you're involved

00:16:06.970 --> 00:16:08.669
with whatever Chris does next. Well, you will

00:16:08.669 --> 00:16:11.129
be. I know people stick with him, don't they?

00:16:11.149 --> 00:16:13.250
He has the same ones time to go in. He's a great

00:16:13.250 --> 00:16:17.320
guy, what he does is amazing. is a natural. Yeah,

00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:20.539
he's absolutely incredible. I love him and he

00:16:20.539 --> 00:16:23.559
just brings out the best in people. Yeah. Yeah.

00:16:24.200 --> 00:16:26.679
No, no. Almost saying what he touches turns to

00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:29.159
gold. That's what he does, isn't it? It's what

00:16:29.159 --> 00:16:30.740
he does for a living. That's why he's where he

00:16:30.740 --> 00:16:35.139
is. Every success with the new single and all

00:16:35.139 --> 00:16:37.460
your other projects. And let's do it again sometime,

00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:39.399
Mazza. But in the meantime, it's been lovely

00:16:39.399 --> 00:16:42.659
meeting you. Andrew, thank you so much. Thanks

00:16:42.659 --> 00:16:44.340
for coming on Chatterbox. Take care. Bye -bye.

00:19:15.910 --> 00:19:20.470
This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox giving you

00:19:20.470 --> 00:19:24.789
all you need to know about musical entertainment

00:19:24.789 --> 00:19:29.250
Oh yeah Chatterbox