Up the Steps for a unique bedtime story
STEPS singer Faye Tozer is adding some star appeal to bedtime in lockdown with storybook readings for young ones.
The singer, and former Strictly Come Dancing finalist, has launched a series of live readings from her home in West Boldon and fans of all ages are loving it.
And this Saturday and Sunday evenings, she will be following up with the next instalments for kids.
The dance-pop band star, who is also an actress, is reading CS Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as part of a Home Festival Online initiative to keep families entertained in lockdown.
And she is set to win over a whole new set of fans with her at-home storytimes which she launched this week from a cosy-looking room at her South Tyneside home and which will continue four times a week.
Tozer tweeted her 99,000 fans on Twitter about her 7pm readings – which can be seen live on Facebook and Instagram – and followed up with an invitation for listeners to join her afterwards at 7.30pm on her own Instagram account, which has 160,000 followers, for questions.
And during her readings she engages with her viewers, asking about their own day under lockdown; telling them her own had included being in the garden – and even unblocking a drain – and adding: “I’ve just finished my tea” before saying it was time to “chill down”.
She also invited messages, followed viewers’ comments simultaneously on Facebook and Instagram and did shoutouts, showing delight at one point when she spotted a message from her own mother.
Viewers loved it, responding with comments such as “you did a great job” and “I love your storytelling, love you to bits” while there were clearly some of her band fans among them too, with one viewer writing: “I am a big fan of Steps and I love your songs.”
Faye’s next reading will be tonight, then Tuesday and Thursday.