Rod's Surprise

With The One Show's

One Big Thank You

         Rod jokingly said' I heard you didn't want to sing one of my song's'

I said, 'I wish I could but the key is too high for me'

It was a Thursday evening at around 5:30 on October 27th 2022, and I was closing up after a day’s business of haircuts and shaves. When I walked outside to bring in my sign, a man approached me. He said that he was from the local Brighton and Hove TV and knew I was performing a show on the Saturday, so he asked if it would be okay with me if they came along and filmed a bit. “Sure,” I said. “That would be great.” 

The following day he messaged me and asked if I could sing a Rod Stewart song. I thought, ‘that’s an unusual request.’ I racked my brain to try and figure out a solution for this. I had been preparing my show ‘Matt and Me’ (songs of the legend Matt Monro) for about two months, and with one day left it was ready to go. One of the songs I was singing was called ‘The Nearness of You’, which Rod had covered on his American Songbook album. Despite this unusual request, nothing roused any suspicion with me! I offered this to the cameraman and he replied, “Actually, can you sing Rod’s song ‘You’re in my Heart’?” I thought about it very briefly, but with less than one day to go and the song in a very difficult vocal key for me I had to say no. I was a little disappointed as I thought they wouldn’t come now. To my surprise, he said “No problem, see you tomorrow!” 

 The show was due to start at 6pm and the cameramen arrived at 4pm - with at least another two big cameras - and got into their positions. I was very impressed; for a local TV station they had a lot of equipment, and also miked me up ( I still didn’t have a clue what was about to happen!) That night the weather was excellently mild and the audience was huge and electric. 

 I was about halfway through my set when I heard a massive cheer from the audience. I looked over my balcony to see what was going on - sometimes when a newly-wedded couple or a party go past there’s extra excitement. I didn’t see anything, though. I carried on singing. 

A little later I could hear a commotion going on on behind me and the gold velvet curtain. The noise was interfering with my show, since I was now singing a quiet ballad! I thought, ‘what to do?’ I’d have to tell the cameraman to keep the noise down, but at the same time I was a bit embarrassed in having to do so. I discreetly leant through the curtain and quickly gestured to keep the noise down, while not looking at any of their faces to avoid any further embarrassment. (I guess Rod was making the commotion but I still didn’t see him 😂.) 

One minute later, while I was singing ‘A Stranger in Paradise,’ I felt someone next to me. I was thinking, ‘it’s the cameraman, why is he so close?’ I looked around, and in my confusion I saw this man that looked like Rod Stewart! He began to sing with me and that’s when I realised it was him! People often laugh and ask me how I managed to carry on singing. The truth is, I did carry on but forgot the words so I kept repeating them at the end! 😂

 He was very warm and friendly. We walked together from my shop to a big screen set up by The One Show with lovely messages from family, friends and more celebrities. To my further amazement my family and friends had known all along and I heard their touching messages on the big screen. There were also lovely messages from Ronan Keeting, Micheal Ball and Alfie Boe. 

 Rod asked me if I had any idea this was going to happen. I said I didn’t have a clue. He also asked me how long I’d been performing from my window. He knew about my previous heart scare and asked me about my ticker. He also jokingly said, “I heard you didn’t want to sing one of my songs.” I laughed and tried to explain”