A Coatbridge student will experience an unforgettable moment when she shares a stage with Scottish singing superstar Lewis Capaldi.
Lauren Kelly will join a group of her New College Lanarkshire (NCL) music colleagues at the Someone You Loved musician's gig at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro next week.
Former St Andrew's High School pupil Lauren, who will be playing keys and singing backing vocals, is no stranger to mixing it up with famous faces as she performed with Jack Whitehall as part of the funnyman's Stood Up comedy show at the Hydro in November 2019.
As Lanarkshire Live reported last week, NCL student Broghan Showell, who goes by the stage name of Broghan, will join Lauren in supporting Capaldi at next Tuesday's much-anticipated concert.
Broghan will head up a backing band consisting of Lauren and NCL's Ryan Fyffe on drums, Connor Frame on guitar and Rhys Walker on bass.
Singer-songwriter Lauren has been playing gigs since she was 14-year-old and shared the moment she was told she would be backing up one of Scotland's biggest musical icons with Lanarkshire Live.
She said: "I got a message from my lecturer, Scott Cowie, asking if I was available to chat so I came on the Zoom call expecting nothing other than talking about my upcoming single.
"He then asked if I was free on January 24 so I said yeah and he said, 'aw great because you’re going to be supporting Lewis Capaldi'.
"I immediately felt my heart start racing and I tried to keep myself under control and responded with, ‘oh, okay’.
"I was keeping it cool on the outside but on the inside I was immediately nervous and so so excited beyond belief.
"Lewis had came in to the college for a guest lecture last September as he was a student here on the music courses, which was such a fun and exciting experience.
"When asked by a student if any of us could support him at his next gig, he seemed really up for that idea and now here we are.
"I’m going to be playing keys and singing the backing vocals alongside Ryan on drums, Rhys on bass guitar, Connor on lead guitar and Broghan who will be singing lead.
"We’re going to be performing a mix of Broghan’s original songs and some covers we’ve been working on.
"We’re all so excited and can’t thank Lewis Capaldi or New College Lanarkshire enough for this opportunity."
Lauren has always had a "deep passion" for music and takes inspiration from artists including Taylor Swift, Christine McVie, Elton John and Ariana Grande.
She released her debut single, Give Me Your Love , in November 2021 and her demo Can’t Wake Up earlier this month.
Lauren is continuing to create original material for her debut EP which will be released later this year.
You can find out more about her music and work by heading online.
And any prospective students looking to follow in Capaldi or Lauren’s footsteps can find all they need to apply for NCL courses here.
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