25 December 2023 , 10:40
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A British plumber has landed a Hollywood deal after he was overheard singing while fitting a bathroom.
Kev Crane, 51, says he is fitting his last bathroom in January before his dreams come true and he begins touring. He was offered a recording deal after he was overheard singing by the owner of a record label. Record producer Paul Conneally was "amazed" by Kev's "shell suit perfect '80s" voice.
After his first single was released, Hollywood screenwriters heard about his story in the Washington Post. Kev has since been flown to LA for meetings with director Billy Ray, who wrote the screenplay for 2012 blockbuster The Hunger Games and Captain Phillips (2013) starring Tom Hanks.
Kev told Sky News: "I was singing in the bathroom, the next door neighbour heard me singing away, he said to Paul who owns News Reality Records 'who's that guy singing in your bathroom?' he says 'the plumber.' We get chatting and he tells me he has a record label - I say 'actually I've just built a recording studio in my loft and reignited an album I started 25 years ago.'"
Billy said the movie would be called "The Music Inside" and that they would get "someone spectacular" for the starring role. Speaking to BBC Radio Leicester, Kev's wife Karen said: "I hadn't heard much of his signing to be honest, it was only during lockdown that he began to ignite his passion and that's what the movie is about - second chances."
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Paul and Kev in the recording studioPaul was a vocalist in a post-punk band in the late 1970s but pursued a career in education instead, working as a physics teacher for 15 years and then as a health education adviser. After the pandemic, he decided to continue his music dream and launch his record label. He runs his label as a collective, intending to help lesser-known musicians with any profits earned shared between him and the artists.
Kev Crane secured a life-changing music deal (SWNS)"What I loved about this story was it was about these two men, Kevin and Paul, for whom music had been everything and then they lost that thread for about, you know, 20 years of their life", Billy told Sky News. He continued: "And then they found that thread again and saved one another, even though neither of them knew they needed to be saved. I just thought that was beautiful."
Paul believes Kev's story resonates with people because "he is an ordinary working man. He is not pretending to be something that he’s not. He is exactly what he is: a guy that fixes bathrooms and writes brilliant songs at the same time."