Move over Susan Boyle, Jamie Pugh stunned judges with his Les Miserables rendition
Saturday night saw Britain’s Got Talent head to Cardiff and one man waiting backstage was more nervous than most of the acts.
Jamie Pugh, a 37 year old warehouse worker and pizza delivery driver from Gwent, hadn’t slept in three nights and was worried his nerves might just prove too much.
As he explained, “I suffer from severe stage fright, it has totally crippled me, and I’ve come today to see if I can get through 3 minutes.”
Nerves can often affect the voice producing an uncontrolled sound that would certainly not impress the judges. Did Jamie get his nerves under control for long enough to impress?
Performing in front of the live audience and Judges is miles away from Jamie’s day to day job, “in the day time I work three days a week driving a van and in the evenings I deliver pizza. I’m just a simple bloke from the Valleys, but my dream is to sing at the Royal Variety in front of a live orchestra”. But Jamie’s biggest worry was walking out on stage and freezing, but with partner Donna watching on helplessly in the audience it was time to see if Jamie could finally conquer his stage fright.
Singing Bring Him Home from Les Miserables, Donna, his proud partner was up on her feet in the audience looking emotional as Jamie started his faultless and emotional performance.
All three judges looked spellbound and, at the end of the song, the whole theatre was on its feet, bringing tears and a look of shock to Jamie’s face, reminiscent of the scenes we saw when Susan Boyle performed.
The Judges gave their verdict: Amanda, “it is a beautiful song and that was amazing.” Piers added “I wasn’t expecting that kind of performance from you. You deliver pizzas at night for goodness sake and you come on this stage - one of the biggest talent shows in the world - and do a performance like that, I thought it was incredible.” And Simon added, “I think I just got how important the last three minutes of your life just were, and to get the reaction you just got from the audience must be unbelievable. It’s people like you, the reason why we come to Wales every year, I think you could be a special talent, but you have to start believing in yourself”
A shell-shocked and emotional Jamie walked off stage saying, “for this brief moment I feel complete”.
Last updated: 20 May 2009, 14:42
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