BGT’S 60-YEAR-OLD
With Hirfa after tying the knot and right, couple with daughters BY JULIE MCCAFFREY he thinks it’s hilarious people think it is about wine. He says: “Wine is a Jamaican word for dancing.
“It’s a patois term meaning winding up your body. When I wiggle, my shoulders are going, legs are going, waist is going. And when I wine I’m rocking my body and feeling completely energised.
“But if people think the words are about letting loose, dancing and drinking a nice glass of wine, then why not? If it makes people happy, then do it.”
Since showing off his moves in his first audition, women have stopped Donchez in the street, gyrating and thrusting. Being Donchez, he stops whatever he’s doing and joins in.
Hirfa, his wife of 35 years, understands it’s all innocent fun.
But Donchez reveals how on their first date he worried he had blown his chances because of his urge to dance.
Donchez, from Wolverhampton, West Mids, says: “On our first date I took Hirfa to a club. As soon as we go there and I heard the music, I just had to dance. So I asked her on to the floor and she said, ‘No thanks, but you go ahead. I can see you want to dance’.
“As soon as I hit the floor and felt the vibrations of the music I started busting some moves. And I don’t know where this other girl came from, but she just appeared, danced right in front of me and was really getting down.
“After about 20 minutes, I thought, ‘Hold on. What are you doing? You’re on a date’. So I went back to Hirfa and thought I was going to get a good slap.
“But she had a big smile on her face and said, ‘It’s fun just to see you enjoying music so much’. That’s the moment I thought, ‘I’m going to marry this lady’.”
Donchez was born Herrol Dacres in Nottingham and moved to Jamaica aged three, then returned at 18 to train as a motor mechanic.
For the last 30 years he’s worked as a breakdown technician for the AA while singing his own songs in small clubs at night. Donchez says: “I call my day job my second
gig, because fixing cars and entertaining both make people happy. “On my first callout 30 years ago, a man was very stressed because he had an important appointment when his car broke down. I fixed his carburettor and he was so happy he had a huge smile, looked me in the eye and shook my hand. I’ve been tripping on that for years and that’s why I keep doing my job. “I always sing in the breakdown vehicle and ask customers to sing with me to make them even happier. I do a little shimmy in the seat too. “Whenever I’ve answered a breakdown call since my audition show, people see me and say, ‘Donchez. You the man’ Then they start wiggle wining.” Donchez has four daughters Maxine, 40, a solicitor, Anneka, 33, a musical theatre performer, Rachael, 29, a mental health nurse, and Leannah, 20, who is on a gap year. Are they embarrassed by his dad dancing?
“No chance,” he says. “When Leannah had her 20th birthday, she had a big barbecue at home with all her friends and was begging me to dance and sing. So I did a performance of I Like To Move It and everyone joined in.”
Donchez has picked out his special shirt for tomorrow’s BGT grand final. He says: “I like shirts with a bit of snazz and shine – they give me an extra zest for life.”
If he wins he hopes to see a few VIPs dancing along to his Royal Variety Performance. “Seeing the Queen wiggle wine would be amazing. And maybe it could help loosen Prince Philip’s hip.”
He says: “Hopefully people will enjoy themselves. Seeing people smiling is the ultimate happiness for me. That’s all I ever wanted.”
Britain’s Got Talent Final, ITV, tomorrow, 7.30pm.
When I wiggle, my shoulders are going, legs & waist are going DONCHEZ DACRES FINALIST ON BGT