Interview

Lee Mead

Lee Mead

added: 19 Nov 2007
interviewed by: Nicola York

Lee Mead has bags of confidence when he’s on stage performing as the leading man in hit west end show Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat but when it comes to his new self-titled album, he is nervous as to how it will be received.

"Doing shows or plays you are in character but with this, this is me putting myself out there," says Lee. "In a way, this is more nerve-wracking than doing Joseph because I’ve been doing musicals for about four or five years now."

The leading man looks relaxed and remarkably well considering he has been doing eight shows a week on top of squeezing seven hours of recording a day, five days a week while he was making the album.

After winning the part of Joseph over 10,000 other wannabe Josephs in the TV programme Any Dream Will Do, Polydor approached him with a record deal that Lee says he was 'over the moon’ about.

"We all sat down and worked out the best way of doing it and the direction to go in. I’m a strong believer that you need to do something that is right for you and not just any album. But I’m really happy with it – it’s not too dark and it's not too cheesy either," he says.

Lee says the album has a live band feel to it, describing it as quite edgy but still commercial.

"I’m really excited about the whole thing, I just hope it is received well. At the end of the day, it’s not in my hands," he says.

The album includes a cover of the single Gonna make you a Star, originally a number one hit back in 1974 for David Essex, which will be released in early December – presumably carefully timed to have a shot at the Christmas number one spot.

As well as a number of covers, there are a few new songs on the album - most notably one written by Take That legend Gary Barlow who went to see Joseph earlier this year. He was so impressed by Lee’s performance that he agreed to write When I Need You The Most for his album.

None of the songs are written by Lee – this was mainly due to the short timescale involved he explains - but he has songwriting aspirations and is writing at the moment as well as learning to play the guitar.

Lee is signed up to play Joseph until next October so it is going to be tricky to fit in any live gigs.

He says: "The idea is to see how the album is received, and a potential second album will go ahead towards the end of my run at Joseph. There will be some TV appearances of gigs hopefully but depending on how the album does and the second album, then I’ll do a tour. It would be great to do that. We’ll see how it goes."

The album, released November 19th, is something Lee has always wanted to do but where does it fit in with his career in musical theatre?

"I started off in cabaret and pantos and it was my dream to work my way up to be a leading man in the West End and I’m doing that now. I love musicals and that will always be a big part of my life but I want to go down new avenues and show what else I can do," he says.

I ask what his musical influences are.

"I think there’s no one particular artist that I have followed or person that I’ve wanted to be. I think it’s important that I stand on my own but I like to have an eclectic field of music and I think that’s what’s made me who I am really. It’s just about finding your own sound. I like Indie, rock, band music, I like Keane and the Kooks. Not the too heavy thrash-metal stuff. But I also like Michael Bublé and more contemporary stuff as well."

He doesn’t get phased by meeting the great and the good of the music world though.

"No I don’t really get star struck. There are people I respect but to get star struck is not really me. I met Tom Jones and Take That and they are all nice people."

So has he had time to process how quickly his life has changed since he won the part of Joseph?

"I haven’t fully had time to take it all in. I’m going to Thailand for two weeks in January and I can’t wait. Two whole weeks on a beach. I can sit back and reflect what’s happened and go, oh my god, I’ve done an album. I’m a leading man in the west end, I’ve done a concert at Wembley, I’m opening Children in Need this year as well, which is just huge."

Reality TV shows such as X Factor have come in for a lot of stick from people who believe they offer an easy route for talentless wannabe’s to have their five minutes of fame.

Lee says: "I wouldn’t blame them because that is their opinion and I can see why they may think that as well because people on those type of programmes aren’t always very good. But at the same time, good people can come off these programmes and I’d like to think of myself as one of them. For me, it was a platform to show what I could do really. It was a risk for me, putting myself out there, you know, it’s live each week. I just wanted to show people what I could do and I’m quite lucky it paid off, it was a big risk."

So how is his voice holding out?

"It’s the interviews as well as the singing. I had to do a four-hour interview the other day for regional TV. The tricky thing has been because I’m doing Children in Need there’s the show for that, promotion for Joseph, the album and then there’s all the interviews for that. I’ve got two shows today so it’s tiring for the voice but I’m just having early nights during this period with not much going out unfortunately. I’m looking forward to going out for a drink or two after the album is out."

He is philosophical about whether the album will launch his career as an artist.

"The older I’ve got, the more I’ve thought you’ve got to take risks and do what you want to do and not worry too much about what people think. The big thing is to be yourself really and be proud of what you’ve achieved and always be open to learning and trying out new things. And that is kind of what I’m doing with the album. I’ve worked hard on it and I hope it will be received well. And if it’s not, well, then I’ll move on and see what else comes along."

Lee’s debut album Lee Mead is out on November 19th and his first single Gonna Make You a Star is released on December 3rd.

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