Soul Man Andy joins BBC TV talent show
A SOUL singer from Burbage is to be a judge on BBC One’s new Saturday night talent show All Together Now.
The Soul Man, aka 33-year-old Andy Pierce, will be one of The 100 music industry experts, led by former Spice Girl Geri Horner helping to decide which acts go forward to compete for a £50,000 prize at the end of the six-week series.
Hosted by comedian Rob Beckett, the first episode is due to be broadcast at 7.15pm on Saturday (January 27).
Competing singers take to the stage and the more judges they can get standing up and singing along, the more points they score.
Andy said: “It’s different from normal talent shows where you have a panel of maybe up to five people.
“We are The 100 and if we like what we hear, we get up and join in .
“From one person singing, potentially you can have 100 more people joining in.
“It’s absolutely amazing.
“The atmosphere in the studio was electric.”
Geri Horner says the show is about “celebrating talent, uniting peple from all walks of life, feeling good and singing”.
“It’s a whole lot of joy standing up together on a Saturday night.”
Veteran performer Andy, who has toured the UK and Europe performing the soul hits of his heroes Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye and others, first heard about the show when he received an email from one of the producers.
“I thought it was a bit of a wind-up at first but I went to London and met up with the rest of them and then spent several weeks filming.
“In this day and age when there is so much sadness in the world, it’s bringing fun back to Saturday nights.
“There’s no record deal at the end of it but the winner gets a cheque for £50,000 which is a lifechanging amount of money.”
Show host Rob Beckett says: “If, like me, you’re the sort of person who likes to belt out a tune in the shower then I’m pretty sure this is the show for you.”
The TV show airs just weeks before Andy is due to marry his make-up artist fiancee Jenny Ellis and ahead of a planned tour with London’s O2 Arena VIP resident band Fairvue.
Follow him at The Soul Man Live on Facebook.