Nick puts on festival show for kids – and dad
ONE of the country’s leading children’s entertainers will perform at this weekend’s Southport Festival.
Nick Cope will bring his unique family songs to the Atkinson this Saturday, where he perform songs such as The Pirate’s Breakfast and The Baby’s Done A Poo.
Those songs have racked up tens of thousands of views on YouTube and his show is recommended by such stars as comedians Stewart Lee and Lucy Porter.
Nick, son of acting and comedy star Kenneth Cope, says the success of his shows is down to offering something for the whole family.
“I write and perform songs for families,” he explained. “I’ve been doing it for eight years now.
“The songs are all just things that come into my head, it’s pretty random really.
“A lot of acts for kids will slip in jokes for the adults that are inappropriate and I don’t like that. I just try to do things the whole family enjoy.”
Nick was previously a singer in Britpop band the Candyskins, before they disbanded in the late 90s.
The band released five albums and singles, one of which reached the top 40 in the UK charts.
When the band broke up, the father-of-three was suddenly left looking for a new career.
“There is something about me that I have to entertain people. We’d been successful and then I was left twiddling my thumbs but knowing that I needed to be creative.
“I was asked by a friend to come into a nursery and entertain the kids and just played some songs and made them laugh.
“I remember driving away and thinking: ‘ This is great, I could do this for a living.”
He now spends his time performing his shows at festivals and touring the country, as well as creating YouTube videos.
“I do the animations now. It started out as a project with my son, Burt, when he was eight or nine.
“He would draw pictures and animate them and I said: ‘Why don’t we do my songs with your videos?’ That continued for the first few videos but then he turned in to a teenager and it was a lot harder then!”
Following a lengthy and successful career, his dad, Kenneth, retired to Southport and will be in the audience at The Atkinson this weekend.
Nick’s brother, Mark, was also in the Candyskins, while sister Mar- tha is an actress and Nick says their dad, who starred in Carry On films and Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased), has always been an inspiration.
“I suppose that’s the thing that inspired us to do something creative because it was always encouraged. If your dad’s a doctor, you tend to veer towards medicine, I suppose.
“He’s never seen this show. He has a great history in comedy and a lot of comedy has come into my show over the years, especially in between the songs to keep the kids entertained, so it’s a bit more nervy for me this time.”
The Nick Cope Show, The Atkinson, 1-2pm on Saturday, May 6. Tickets £3 plus booking fee.