From Longhill Primary to Buckingham
Palace TODAY WE FEATURE THE CAREER OF LEROY VICKERS
LEROY Vickers was born in Hull in 1982, to parents Susan Gilchrist and Fredrick Vickers. “I was raised with my older brother and sister Sharon Busby and John Gilchrist,” but, with a broad smile he added “I have now discovered two more sisters Terrie and Tianna and two more brothers Joshua and Tyrone, a surprise courtesy of my dad”.
Leroy attended Longhill primary and Andrew Marvel secondary school before moving on to study at Hull college to gain qualifications in catering.
Leroy’s love for singing first started after watching the Ritchie Valens film La Bamba, he said: “It completely blew me away and it proved to be a huge inspiration which has stayed with me to this day.
“I always had a passion for music, which almost certainly was inherited from my grandad Jack Gilchrist who, in the day, was a well-respected singer on the music scene.
“Many will remember him by his stage name Mark Conrad and he was one of the popular singers in the heyday of clubland.
“He encouraged me and was a huge influence on my career and I went on to study for my musical theatre diploma with a local academy which was ran, at the time, by the Hull City Council and local musician Johnny Pat”.
His first opportunity to sing on stage came when established local singers Lee Kamen, Steve Lunn and Wes Freeman invited him to join the tribute outfit Westzone aged just 16 year-old.
It was the era when boybands ruled the charts and he, along with the rest of the guys in the band, had a brilliant time together.
“We sang together for a couple of years before I left to o form an outfit called Northern Beat with Steve Lunn and Danny Rogers and then formed Breakthrough with Richard Thomas, Steven Hemmerman and Danny Rogers.
“We came third in the Hull Daily Mail Star Search competition and in 2006 it led to me being asked by its founder member Lee Kamen to join the very popular classical-pop outfit Ti Amero”.
It was really a breakthrough moment when he discovered that opera and classical music was his forte and they quickly became popular not just locally, but countrywide, playing venues and theatre shows across the UK.
Due to personal commitments the group changed members over the years but during that time they went onto produced a couple of CDS and tour venues across the UK and abroad.
“Over the years the line-up progressively changed and new members included the late Mike Cane, but I’ll always be grateful to Lee for giving me the opportunity.
“On leaving Ti Amero I created my own group called Tre Amici with two brilliant singers, Martin Jackson and my old friend Richard Thomas.
“Again, we entered the Hull Daily Mail Star Search and we won the competition being the first ever classical act to take the title.
“We then went on to be the first classical act to win the Open Mic UK competition, held in Birmingham, and also the first act ever to win with maximum scores.
“One of my memorable moments was the TV coverage we got during the auditions for the X-factor UK where we reach the six-chair challenge, making it to the last seven groups of the whole competition and Simon Cowell trying his best to split up the band live on TV.
“I have some amazing memories of working with Joe Longthorne L
Boyband Northern Beat which led us to be invited to The London Palladium. Soon afterwards we did an amazing charity show called G-LIVE, where we appeared alongside the likes of Kiki Dee, Queen, Midge Ure, Madeline Bell and The Sweet and we then spent three years cruising across Europe and the rest of the world.
“Our greatest achievement as singers has be when as Tre Amici we were invited to Buckingham Palace, in recognition of the charity work we did for the Not forgotten association.”
Leroy added: “My family life has had its challenges, both good and not so good. My mum passed away aged 44 when I was aged just 21, when I met my wife Caroline, better known in clubland as singer Caroline Seymore.
“We have a beautiful son who we called Shaquille who we have raised alongside Caroline’s son, professional boxer Connor Seymour and we also adopted my little brother and semi-pro footballer Joshua Vickers and his brother Curtis.
“I presently live in Spain and plan to perform as a solo artiste as Leroy Morales until the pandemic is over.
“I’ve been assured that the cruise industry are still very interested and I hope to continue to create memories on my musical journey when the time comes”.