Britain’s "Boogie Woogie Queen" Jean Martyn plays Middleton date
Dubbed Britain’s Boogie Woogie Queen, Jean Martyn heads to West Sussex for a concert at Bognor MelodyTimes, where everyone is welcome to come and join the friendly atmosphere.
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely this
00:06afternoon to speak to Jean Martin. Now Jean, you are heading to give a concert in Middleton
00:11on September the 29th. And Jean, what a career you've had. You were one of the finalists
00:18in Britain's Got Talent. And you are a pianist, an organ player. Tell me about Britain's Got
00:26Talent. What was that experience like? Britain's Got Talent was exciting, a bit nerve-wracking.
00:3316 million people watching, was that? That was at the final, 16 million, yes. And
00:43my heart was going something, something, because I thought, good gracious me, there are such a lot
00:47of talent here. And I never thought that I would go through, but I did. And that opened doors to
00:55appearing at all the major arenas in the UK. On the Britain's Got Talent tour? On the Britain's
01:01Got Talent show, yes. We toured for 22 nights, two nights off. And I've played at Wembley, the O2,
01:10the NIA, Cardiff, the Edinburgh Playhouse. Yes, a lot of lovely arenas. Places I've never played
01:20at or dreamt of even playing at. And you've kept the momentum up ever since, but you had a real
01:26boost during the pandemic when you were live streaming every day for 18... I was, yes. 18
01:33months of music for an hour every night. What made you do that then? How did I do that? What
01:39made you do that? Oh, well, we were in Holland and I was with Hans and he said, you know,
01:46why don't you play and do an hour of music? So he says, because I'm sure some people are lonely
01:53and at home alone. So if you play, it'll sort of cheer them up a bit. And even now people are
02:02saying, oh, Jean, you know, we don't know what we would have done without you. You know, it was just
02:08so wonderful hearing you play and me smile because everybody keeps talking about my smile.
02:15Fantastic. Well, Michael Mackintyre said, your smile is infectious.
02:19But to sustain that for 18 months, that was quite something, wasn't it?
02:23It was a fait accompli, definitely, yes. And even now I hop on occasionally and do an hour and
02:30I've got a complete following on social media, on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
02:36So my followers are really, there's 13,000. And TikTok too, you're down with the kids, clearly.
02:42I'm down with the kids and I've got a lot of young followers on there.
02:45I think they think that I'm like their aunt.
02:50Fantastic. But it is lovely. And I'm still recognised.
02:53You know, even though I've changed my hair or I'm really short or whatever,
02:58they still can tell it's me. Yeah.
03:01Anyway, you're playing in Middleton on September the 29th. Jean, lovely to speak to you. Thank you.
03:08It's lovely to speak to you too, Phil. And I hope all your listeners will come.
03:13Absolutely. Thank you.
03:14Thank you. Thanks.