Hollie Steel

Here’s a lovely reminder of Hollie’s performances since Britain’s got Talent. Hollie’s had a lovely year and this week she has started rehearsing for her new Christmas single. Watch this space!!

Mayor and Mayoress of Hyndburn Council, Councillor Malcolm Pritchard and Mrs Irene Pritchard, with Hollie Steel

I was fortunate enough to attend the final leg of Hollie Steel’s tour at Oswaldtwistle Civic Theatre yesterday evening, and I was treated to a spectacular performance by our favourite little star.

Hollie opened the show by singing three songs from her album: “I Could Have Danced All Night”, “When She Loved Me” and “O Mio Babbino Caro”. She was wearing the cute white and rose petal dress which appears on her album cover. It was amazing listening to Hollie’s voice, and the fact that this diminutive little 12 year old girl was singing live in front of a packed audience, and was doing so with such confidence, charisma and skill. And speaking of charisma, it would be appropriate here to mention Hollie’s brother, Josh, who MC’d the entire event with such fluency and charm that it belied the fact that he too is just 16 years old. Regular visitors to this site will know that Josh has been offered a place at the Italia Conti Stage School and will be starting there in September.

After Hollie’s opening songs, we were treated to some performances by the Basics Theatre School, which both Hollie and Josh attend. It must be easy for other talented children who attend this theatre group to be overlooked when two such talented siblings are present, but a special mention must be given to Nicole Talmer, who sang “Your Song” in the first half and “Over the Rainbow” in the second half, who is clearly a talented and accomplished singer in her own right. I must also mention Josh’s performance as Fagin, singing “You’ve Got To Pick a Pocket or Two” from Oliver. He sings, he dances, he acts, he presents, and I’m sure the teenage girls in the audience would have a plethora of further favourable adjectives to describe this talented young man.

Josh also sang two further songs in the first half – “She’s Out of My Life”, originally sung by Michael Jackson, and “Everything”, originally sung by Michael Bublé. The first half was finished off by Hollie singing three more songs from her album, “These Eyes of Mine”, the song that Jason and Hollie wrote together, “Come to My Garden” and “Ave Maria”.

After the interval, Hollie appeared in a teal blue dress, with a sparkly sequinned bodice and pleated skirt. She sang a further three songs from her album:  “Edelweiss”, “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” and “The Music of the Night” with brother, Josh. There were further performances by Josh and Basics Theatre School, then Hollie and Josh sang another duet – “Together at Last” from Annie. I found Hollie’s performance again quite astonishing. She had switched from operatic to musical theatre in an instant, complete with an authentic American accent!

Hollie finished the show with three more performances of songs from her album – “Hushabye Mountain”, “God Help the Outcasts” and the finale, “Nessun Dorma”.

After Hollie’s performance I took the opportunity to speak with the Mayor of Hyndburn, Councillor Malcolm Pritchard, who is pictured with his wife, the Mayoress Mrs Irene Pritchard, and Hollie, in the photo top left. He told me that he had met Hollie when she was leading the recent Hyndburn recycling rally for Hyndburn Council, and said it was great that such a talented little girl lived in the area. He also told me that chart topper Diana Vickers of X Factor fame, is also from the Hyndburn Council area. Councillor Pritchard also added that he would like Hollie to appear and perform at further events within the region in the future.

I’d like to finish this review by saying a quick hello to some of Hollie’s biggest fans, some of whom had travelled all the way from America to see her perform. So hello to Mick, Robert, Jennifer, John, David, Sean, Margaret and Agata, it was lovely to meet you!

Hollie Steel will be performing at a charity garden party at Hillcroft House, Surbiton, Surrey, on the 24th July. Also performing at the event is Julian Smith, the saxophonist who came third in Britain’s Got Talent, 2009.

The evening event starts at 7:00 pm but the doors open at 6:00 pm and there is a whole programme of events during the day – click here for full details.

Tickets can be purchased from Seetickets.

Click here to download a leaflet (in pdf format) promoting the event.

Hollie Steel will be singing songs from her album at a special show for children on Wednesday June 30th at Hyndburn Town Hall, for the Hyndburn Schools recycling rally.

Over a thousand school children from local schools will march through Accrington to the Town Hall to encourage everyone to recycle.

Hollie will be performing at a special show at the Town Hall, hosted by DJ Pep of local radio station 107 The Bee. Click here for full details.

Hollie and Josh had a brilliant show in Exeter and the following day (Sunday) they spent some family time on the beach.

See the photos in the gallery.

Hollie was delighted to attend Little Miss True Beauty in Cardiff over the weekend. This  was the first beauty competition for Hollie and she was overjoyed to win Best Smile 2010. Congratulations to all the girls that entered and to Chloe Valentine for a wonderful event. www.misstruebeautyuk.com

Hollie with Chloe Valentine

Hollie Steel was interviewed by ITN about the launch of her album at the Roundhouse Theatre on Wednesday.

You can view the interview here.

Hollie received good luck messages from Britain’s Got Talent judges Piers Morgan and Simon Cowell, although they were not present at the launch.

My copy of the album (and beautiful signed photo of Hollie) that I pre-ordered from the store arrived yesterday

Hollie Steel’s launch party for her album, named “Hollie”, took place at the Roundhouse Theatre in London yesterday evening, and I was fortunate enough to attend.

Hollie treated us to three songs, including a song written by her dad, Jason, These Eyes of Mine. The other two songs Hollie sang were Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again and Nessun Dorma. Hollie’s voice rang out like a bell across the theatre and her performance was greeted with a standing ovation from all the attendees. Hollie wore her pretty white lace princess dress, complete with tiara and rose petals and she looked like such a beautiful little girl. I am still astonished when she sings at the voice that comes out of that cute little face!

The occasion was MC’d by Josh, Hollie’s brother, who did a great job. Josh is a natural on stage – he is likeable, handsome and very charming. He will be starting at the Italia Conti Stage School in September and I expect we shall see great things from him too.

Speaking from a personal viewpoint, I had an absolutely fabulous time at the event. It was lovely to meet so many fans with whom I have corresponded, but never actually met before. The canapés and drinks flowed and, as they say, a good time was had by all!

Also in attendance at the event were fellow Britain’s Got Talent contestants 2 Grand – John Neill and Sallie Lax, and DJ Talent “I Say Britain, You Say Talent”, real name Anthony Ghosh.

We have created a photo album of the occasion in the gallery. There are also some lovely photos of Hollie on the Zimbio website here.

Don’t forget – Hollie’s album is available online from the store and also from HMV.

The lovely photo below left was taken by Dieter, the manager of our forum and chatroom.