SINGER PETER CORRY AND THE ‘LOVE OF HIS LIFE’ FLEUR TIE THE KNOT IN ITALY
HE may once have starred in a West End musical called Les Miserables, but Belfast singer Peter Corry was in a happy frame of mind yesterday as he revealed that he’d married a girl he described as “the love of his life”.
Corry and his fiancee Fleur Mellor wed in Italy over the weekend surrounded by close friends and family.
And in a Facebook message yesterday Corry — who’s also a much in-demand director and producer — said: “What an incredible day, in a stunning place. I really couldn’t have asked for more. Thank you for all your messages.”
He also sent a series of pictures of him and Fleur and he later tweeted that it was a day he would remember for the rest of his life.
Dozens of friends and colleagues sent congratulatory messages to the happy couple and complimented the bride on her wedding attire.
She wore a shoestring-strapped bodice dress with a chiffon multi-layered skirt and a trailing floor length lilac veil, embossed with flowers.
Peter wore a white suit with a dark pinstripe and a vibrant blue shirt and tan shoes.
An Italian band, whose members were resplendent in white shirts, dark trousers and braces, played for the couple with instruments ranging from a clarinet to a tuba.
It’s Peter’s second marriage. He and his first wife Karen met during rehearsals for a production of Grease in the amateur musical world with a company called First Act in the early 1990s.
News of their split emerged in 2009.
The couple have three children.
Peter proposed to Fleur, a dancer and choreographer, during his 50th birthday trip to Paris in 2015.
She had, just months earlier, featured in a TV advertisement for Lunn’s Jewellers in Belfast with a message on a beach that urged her fictional other half to ‘Marry Me’.
But Peter said it wasn’t the commercial that inspired him to pop the question down on one knee over a romantic dinner in a Parisian restaurant.
Fleur is from Liverpool and four years ago she said she was dividing her time between Belfast and London.
She and Peter produced the Music Box show in Belfast’s Waterfront Hall for a number of years and the production featured a number of celebrity performers, along with primary school choirs.
Peter (52) has recently been touring with a new Irish-Scottish production The Call Of The Celts, which played in Northern Ireland before touring Holland.
He also starred in the Ulster-Scots musical On Eagle’s Wing, which was cancelled in America in 2004 after running into financial problems before
returning to the Odyssey Arena for two performances.
He was a civil servant and part-time musician when he was spotted by First Act’s producer Peter Kennedy, who thrust him into the limelight as a singer.
He won a TV talent competition called Go For It before starring in 1999 as Inspector Javert in the West End production of Les Miserables and a UK tour of the hit musical. He famously sang Bring Him Home and The Long And Winding Road at George Best’s funeral in 2005 and the following year performed at a St Patrick’s Day function in Washington.
In recent times he has produced a number of youth musicals in Northern Ireland.
He is the artistic director of the Belfast School of Performing Arts, which sent him and Fleur an online message on their wedding day.
It quoted a line from Les Miserables: “To love another person is to see the face of God.”
The message went on to wish the couple many years of happiness, adding, “You both look wonderful”, accompanied by the hashtag #All you need is Love.
Members of Belfast School of Performing Arts also recorded video messages for Peter and Fleur, which the singer said they received just before their wedding.
He added: “It really means so much to both of us. This has made a couple of brilliant days even better. See you all soon.”
The youngsters won’t have to wait long — Peter is the headline act at the People’s Concert in Lisburn’s Wallace Park next Saturday.
In a recent interview for a magazine Peter said that he and Fleur had been living in a detached house “in the Comber direction” for two years.
He said their home was in the countryside, adding: “It’s pretty near civilisation but not right on top of people.”
❝ An incredible day, in a stunning place, I couldn’t have asked for more, thanks for the messages