Music was my first love….
People who know nothing about motorsport may still have heard the name Perry Cooke. As a multi-talented musician (he plays guitar and piano) and singer, the teenager won numerous talent-show competitions before reaching the semi-final stages of The Voice Kids in 2017.
He explains: “My school advised me to learn an instrument and I decided on the guitar. I didn’t have a great voice, but my grandad Kenny loved to hear me sing. Unfortunately he got cancer and passed away when I was eight. I decided to raise some money for the cancer charity (Norfolk & Norwich Cancer Trust) because they were brilliant and must have extended his life by more than a year. That developed into an annual fundraiser in his memory and so far we’ve raised over £35,000 for the trust.
“I still love my music just not quite as much, my passion now is racing and you can’t do both. But having gone through The Voice, it was a case of, been there and done that. I was very happy to get on as more than 25,000 kids auditioned, whittled down to
200, then the last 12. I was mentored by will.i.am and he invited us to work in his studio to record a song from scratch, although it was never released. It was a great experience.
“I don’t plan to take it any more seriously. In the music industry you can sacrifice your whole life to make it and get a lot of money or you disappear and no-one ever hears of you again.”