Theatre: Ray Quinn ready to charm Brum in Sleeping Beauty panto
HE has been a TV star, a singer with a platinum disc to his name, skated his way to glory on ice and starred in the West End, and Ray Quinn has still only just turned 21.
“I’m getting hairs on my chest now,” says the ebullient Liverpudlian. “I had a big party at my gaff. I had bar men flicking bottles on the dance floor. It was boss.”
No one can accuse Ray of lacking ambition. Even when he gets knocked by job loss (after Brookside ended, in which he played bullying victim Anthony Murray, he had to go back to school to take his GCSEs) or being beaten by Leona Lewis on The X Factor, he just picks himself up and tries another entertainment genre.
“I love working in theatre,” says Ray, now in rehearsals playing Prince Charming in Sleeping Beauty at Birmingham Hippodrome. “I love a live audience. But there are loads of different avenues I want to take. I’d love to get into TV a bit more.”
There might also be a return to his music career. Simon Cowell was so impressed by his swing style that he offered him a record deal. The subsequent album, Doing It My Way, went to number one, but Ray was dropped by the record label a few months later.
“I would have carried on if the choice hadn’t been made for me. Obviously Simon moved on from my project so I had to find other things I wanted to do.
“Him giving me that chance was a big stepping stone in my career and gave me a little name for myself.
“But I want to find my own avenue music-wise. It is not easy to find your own niche, I have just got to be clever and take my time. There is stuff in the pipeline.”
He has just finished a run as Danny in Grease, the show where he met girlfriend Emma Stephens, whom he describes as “the love of my life”.
Now he is preparing for his first major panto, looking forward to his five nephews and nieces seeing him on stage and to exploring Birmingham.
“I’ve done nearly four tours but I have always spent less than a week in Birmingham. It will be nice to get to know the city.”
