KD: You see the dancers in the
background. Not so much of it now.
There’s a bit on X Factor and stuff but
it used to be every Saturday night. So,
that’s what I did. I worked for Brian
Rogers, Geoff Thacker and just started
to earn an income being a dancer. I then
thought, “right, okay. I need to buy a
property.” But being a self-employed
dancer with sporadic work meant getting
a mortgage was tricky. So, I thought,
“well, West End musicals are 12 month
contracts that will give some security.”
So, I auditioned for Starlight Express at
the time. My audition was with Arlene
Phillips … she’d known of me as a
dancer through circles and TV. I put my
roller skates on, auditioned, fell flat on my
backside. Right in front of Arlene Phillips,
and she said to me, she said, “Kevin,
come back and see me in two months.”
The London show was about to do a tour
in Japan and Australia, twelve months
in Australia and two months in Japan.
So, I thought, “that’s my goal. In two
months I’m going to audition for that.
What a great opportunity to see a bit
of the world.” Every day I went to Hyde
Park with a couple of friends and we
practised roller skating. Then I went back
and did the audition. I got the job but not
the part that I was going for, all I wanted
was the chorus part but Arlene said, “I
don’t want you to do a chorus. I want
you to play one of the main parts, one of
the Rockies, which is three box cars in
the show.” And I was absolutely chuffed.
So, off I went to Australia and Japan in
Starlight Express. At the time, I was in my
early 20s and I didn’t really appreciate
the culture of Australia. It was a great
time and I did that for about a year and
a half all in all. Arlene Phillips said to me,
“Kevin, when you get back to London, I’d
not only like you to join the London show
but I want you to be dance captain.” So,
I was dance captain in Starlight Express,
looking after the rehearsals, taking
auditions and that kind of thing and I was
in Starlight in London for nine years. It
was a long stint, eight shows a week.
It was tough… tough… tough on the
old body but enjoyable. I didn’t have the
guts to call it work because I was literally
going there to put my roller skates on
and skate around. Yeah, you have to
sing and dance and it’s energetic but it
certainly wasn’t work.
JE: That was nine years doing the same
thing eight shows a week. Did that not
just become tedious?
KD: It didn’t because the whole reason
for doing the musical was my goal was
to get some money behind me to get a
property. So, whenever I was tired on a
matinee day or whatever, I was thinking,
“this is just another brick in my house.”
It was a massive, massive goal for me.
But as the years kicked on my body was
saying, “you can’t do this forever.”
JE: So, what came after Starlight?
KD: I was at home one Sunday afternoon
and we had the television on. This thing
came up on Why TV. This was years ago
and it said “Can you talk about yourself
for two minutes? Would you like to be
our next presenter?” And I was sitting
there thinking, “I could do that. I’m sure
I could do that.” I got a video and then
talked about myself for two minutes on
film and sent it off. They sent a letter
back saying that I made it to final eleven.
So, off I went to Bristol, did my audition
and I was runner up which to me was a
massive achievement because I’ve never
done that before and I was up against
experienced presenters and I really
enjoyed that.
14