Latest news with #LauraRoy
BBC News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bruce Springsteen performs harmonica duet with Carfin 12-year-old
A young Bruce Springsteen fan from North Lanarkshire became the envy of millions when she got to play a harmonica duet with the star during his gig at Anfield Roy, 12, from Carfin, was at the Liverpool concert with her mum Laura on Wednesday when her harmonica-playing caught the eye of the 75-year-old had been near the front of the standing section when "The Boss" saw her as he went on a walkabout in front of the stage during his song The Promised Land. As she sat on a fellow fan's shoulders, they played the harmonica section together before Springsteen gave Holly his harmonica. Holly, who has only been playing harmonica for about a year, told BBC Radio Scotland's Mornings programme she felt "amazing"."It was really good as he was walking by and singing to me and then he came back and we played together," she said. "Then he gave me his harmonica after that and just hi-fived." Holly's mother Laura told the programme Holly had been practising on the pitch as they waited for Springsteen to come on."A few people noticed and a lovely man from Japan said that when Bruce was playing The Promised Land, Holly should go up on his shoulders."However, Holly's encounter with the New Jersey singer almost didn't happen as security staff told Laura to take Holly off the man's shoulders and they followed the said: "Bruce started to approach the area where we were standing and he caught her eye so we put her back up on the man's shoulders and they played together."It was just amazing. I've been a mega fan since Covid when I watched all the concerts during lockdown while Holly has become a fan in the past year." Bruce Springsteen has sold more than 71 million albums in the US and over 140 million worldwide and along with his E Street band he has frequently appeared in lists ranking the best live acts of all is renowned for pulling people out of the audience to perform or dance with him on famously got young actress Courtney Cox (who played Monica in Friends) dancing on stage during a concert in the 1980s which was featured in his video for Dancing in the he had been told who to choose, Springsteen assumed she was just a fan, however it later emerged that she had been chosen by the video director from a casting that, Springsteen got someone from the audience to dance with him to the same song throughout his Born in the USA tour of 1984-85.
CBC
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
How basketball prepared this Grammy-nominated N.S. musician for the biggest stages
Musician Laura Roy has performed in front of crowds of as many as tens of thousands of people, but it's the hardwood basketball courts of Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley that helped ready her for those moments. Roy, who grew up in Canning, N.S., said her first love was sports, not music. The five-foot-two former point guard won a Division 2 provincial basketball title at Northeast Kings Education Centre. She said sports helped teach her to battle adversity, something that's been common in her music career. Situations like driving to the hoop with seconds remaining with the game on the line, only to be fouled and then have a chance to win it at the free throw line have all been good lessons for her. "Am I gonna trust that all the practice I've put in is going to work in my benefit now?" said Roy. "Do I believe I'm going to make the shot?" Last year, Roy provided backing vocals for pop star Sabrina Carpenter at Wembley Stadium in London. She did it without a rehearsal or proper sound check. Other highlights from last year include backing up Carpenter for a BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge performance, as well as a Live Lounge performance with pop star Dua Lipa, in addition to doing a world tour with British musician JP Cooper. After years of making a name for herself backing other musicians, Roy is again looking to be centre stage. "I think after doing a lot of that work last year, it's definitely allowed me to come back to myself and say, 'OK, I'm really ready to be seen now and be heard," said Roy, who recently won the East Coast Music Award for Vocal Release of the Year for her song Lucy. Roy, whose music is classified as alternative R&B, has previously released three EPs. Musician Nicole Ariana has been friends with Roy since they first crossed paths studying music at Nova Scotia Community College more than a decade ago. She said it would be easy for Roy to just focus on being a backing vocalist. "But she's most passionate about her artist stuff, which I think is incredible because she could make a whole career just travelling the world with celebrities and I really admire that she wants to focus on her art because that's what she really believes in," said Ariana. Roy was recently home in Nova Scotia recording a new album with local musicians. The album is finished and no release date has been established. Roy's journey to where she is today has included living in Halifax, Toronto and London, and countless hospitality jobs, paired with her budding music career. Roy remembers working at a restaurant in the Halifax casino where one night, she had to beg her manager to let her off early because she had a gig backing Asia & NuGruv in another part of the casino. Her restaurant uniform was formal, including wearing a dress shirt and dress pants. Once off work, she changed into some high heels and a dress and strutted over to the performance room for the show. Roy moved to Toronto in 2014 to further her music career, but said she didn't feel fulfilled creatively or personally, so she moved to London in 2017. "There was such an energy that I hadn't experienced before," she said. "And it just quite quickly felt like, 'OK, this is where I'm meant to be.'" Roy said through open mic night and jam nights, she met people in the music community who have become lifelong friends and collaborators, which led to doing session vocalist work. "It ended up kind of pulling me out of that hospitality, minimum wage world where … you're kind of working to live and then you're so tired it's hard to put energy into your creativity, into yourself, so that struggle is very difficult to balance," she said. Pandemic pause to music career After a European tour with artist Anne-Marie in early 2020, the plan was to then tour the world, but the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to that. Lockdowns shut down live music, so Roy returned to hospitality, working at a café. "It's a little setback, but I'll get back to where I was," she said. "And eventually, eventually I did." It was while working at this café that Roy learned she'd received two Grammy nominations for her contributions to artist Doja Cat's 2021 album Planet Her. "I like to always kind of maintain my perspective on things because I just know how quickly the opportunities can come and go," she said.
