Spanish inspiration

SINGER Shaun Foster-Conley didn’t think too much of it when a man came up after seeing him perform in a Benidorm nightclub and told him what a great singer he was.

“Not to sound too confident, I’d get that sort of comment regularly from the people watching me every night. I thought, ‘another one’. I just smiled and said thank you,” he says.

But the same man returned several more times to the club, eventually asking if he could buy the Sunderland-born singer a drink and have a chat with him Then he reiterated his admiration for his “fantastic talent” and revealed that he was the writer of Benidorm, the comedy series that’s become a big hit for ITV.

Creator and writer Derren Litten was so impressed by the singer that he wrote him into the third series, which ends its run tonight.

Foster-Conley has been playing a singer in a bar, the Neptune, where regular characters from the Spanish-set series congregate.

He even had a little scene with wheelchair- occupying Madge after she mistook him for Tom Jones.

Being in a show seen by six million viewers has had a big effect on his career.

“The phone hasn’t stopped ringing,” he says, back in the North-East now at the home he shares with his partner, Angela, and children Robyn, 12, and Fraser, eight.

“Back home, I’ve actually had people look at me in the street and recognise me,” he says.

“I was on a train down to London the other day and people were coming up asking for my autograph and wanting my picture.

“And I’ve had some fantastic emails of support from around the world.”

The 36-year-old former shipyard and oil rig worker couldn’t be more pleased with this success. His only previous TV experience was on Tyne Tees regional shows.

He’s been spending the winter season performing in Benidorm clubs in recent years. That’s when Derren Litten spotted him, during a recce for the series. Foster- Conley had seen him in the audience several times but had no idea he was a writer on a mission.

There was a chance he could have made a brief appearance in the second series but he believes fate stepped in to prevent it. He was already at Benidorm airport ready to fly home when the call came, meaning he couldn’t take up the offer.

“I believe in things happening for a reason.

I couldn’t do that small part in the second series, which gave him time to write me in on a bigger scale in the third series,” he explains.

BROUGHT up in Red House, in Sunderland, he began singing when he was five and used to tape himself singing on a small portable tape deck. He says he grew up with the music of Elvis Presley and country scene artists such as Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins.

His earliest performances were as a youngster performing with his father Peter’s band, The Apaches.

Later, he used to entertain his mates at Austin and Pickersgill’s shipyards in Sunderland and, after a spell working on oilrigs, turned to singing in clubs and pubs in the North-East for a living.

He was named North-East male vocalist of the year in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

He recently headlined a touring stage show, One Night In Vegas, featuring songs made famous by stars such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Frankie Lane and Elvis Presley.

Now there’s talk of releasing a CD of songs he sang on screen in Benidorm.

When we speak he’s just had a text from Johnny Vegas, one of the stars of the series, offering to endorse the CD when it’s finalised.

“The exposure of being on the show hasn’t really sunk in yet,” he says. “I’ve been told before, ‘why is this man not famous?’ and ‘I could listen to you all day’.

I’ve done the usual X Factor and never got anywhere.

“I’m hoping Benidorm will help change things for me and opportunities will open up to me because TV is such a massive medium.”