In Conversation With... Joe McElderry | Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat | Interview

Joe McElderry rose to fame when he became the winner of X Factor back in 2009 and since then has had a wide and varied career. He is currently playing the lead role of Joseph in UK tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. We sat down to chat about Joseph, his career and tour life...

Have you always wanted to be a performer or did you have a different dream when you were younger?

I always wanted to be a paramedic actually when I was younger, or a nurse. I was always kind of really interested and fascinated in medicine and medical stuff and hospitals so yeah I wanted to be a paramedic before a singer.

Have you got any hidden passions that you'd like to pursue?

I dunno you know? ....I mean, I love sports and I love exercising and stuff so maybe something around that? What that is I don't know but I'm passionate about work outs and exercise kind of things.

You went from being a solo performer to TV and now to musical theatre. How were those transitions for you? Did you find them easy?

I think the transition from performing like my own material to then musical theatre was kind of a big transition. A lot of the other ones have obviously stemmed from TV shows so they've been kind of different transitions if that makes sense?

Your album Saturday Night at the Movies recently came out. How was the recording process for that and how have your fans reacted?

It was great! I mean it was quite a quick process recording the album. We're doing 10 shows of Joseph a week so recording and finding the time to fit that in was pretty intense but the reaction was great! It went to the top 10 and we went on the tour and it was amazing to kind of take the album on the road and be able to see first hand the reactions. You see the reaction as people are watching the show so its brilliant.

As you say, you recently toured with the album and are now touring with Joseph, so how do you find the tour life?

I love it! It can be very intense and very tiring at times but its kind of my favourite thing to be able to perform in front of an audience and like I was saying with the album, have that first hand response. I prefer being on tour more that I do recording and being in the studio and I just kind of enjoy the routine of it as well.

What drew you to the role of Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamboat?

Well I was asked to do it about three or four times and I said no originally... well I didn't actually say no but I didn't really have the time and it just didn't fit into the schedule of what I was doing at each moment. But I was also quite apprehensive about taking on such a big role. I didn't want to be bad at it, I wanted to be good so when I was asked for the final time they said "we'll fit it around you, lets make it work", I was really nervous cause I wanted to do a good job of it.

What do you think people will be saying as they leave the show?

I hope they leave first of all feeling great and energised and happy and I hope we explain the story well through the emotion of it all.

How do you keep your voice healthy enough to do 10 shows a week?

I don't drink a lot of alcohol, that's certainly one. I get lots of sleep. I do lots of exercise and it's just about respecting your body and no going out after the shows and shouting in clubs and things like that. You've got to be quite sensible and you've got to pace yourself over 10 shows -it's a lot!

Have you got any other dream roles?

At the minute I'm just kind of like "whatever will be, will be". I've experienced many things in my career, some things that I've never expected and some things that have given so much that I never expected. So I'm kind of of the opinion that we'll see what's round the corner and if it's something that I can have fun with and learn from and grow from then I'll be a part of it.

What's a fun fact people might not know about you?

A fun fact people might not know about me?? I don't know! I think people know a lot of things about me... one of the joys of living in the public eye!! I really don't know... I'm a bit of a wind up! I like to wind people up- a bit of a practical joker!

What is your best piece of advice for an aspiring performer?

Work hard and be respectful to people you work with and be prepared. There's many ups and downs and know that failure is probably one of the most beneficial things you could ever learn from!

Interview by Olivia Mitchell, Editor