Over-50s band audition will sort out men from the boys

PROMOTERS creating a pop band made up of men aged over 50 have been inundated by so many hopefuls they are to run an open audition.

PR guru Kizzi Nkwocha, the Svengali behind ManBand, has received more than 5,000 demo tapes from fame-hungry fiftysomethings all over the world. Offers have come in from as far away as California, Thailand, Qatar, Canada and Australia.

Speaking in his Baker Street office, which is crammed full of mail and tapes, he said: "This could be the most important band launch since the Beatles.

"We've been inundated.

Everyone has been working flat out. It's phenomenal, and just goes to show men over 50 believe they have much to offer the music industry."

Ads were placed at the end of last month appealing for five talented men to join the world's first boyband for the older generation.

Workers at 15 Minutes, the company behind the launch, have been painstakingly ploughing through each photo and demo tape.

But today Mr Nkwocha revealed to the Standard

that he has decided to hold open auditions in London, to be filmed for a Popstars-style documentary, after the flood of applications.

"Everyone who has applied is being contacted by phone and asked to come along to the auditions," Mr Nkwocha said. "We are asking people not to send any more demos.

Anyone interested should just turn up."

The lure of being a mature chart-topper has been too much for the likes of Cambridge law graduate Stephen Llewellyn, 54, from California. He will be flying into London on Friday.

An experienced solicitor and barrister, six months ago he gave in to his rock 'n' roll dream and became a full-time musician. "This is a daunting prospect, given my age, and that I neither dance like Michael Jackson nor have the obvious attributes of Britney Spears," he said.

Albie Morgan, 57, has already flown in from Zurich and taken a flat in Hastings until the audition. Born and bred in south London, the former print industry worker calls himself a "song and dance" man.

The ManBand audition will be held at 10am on Saturday, 21 April, at Spectaphonics Studio, 169-171 Queens Terrace in Camden. Mr Nkwocha said: "We are hoping a forgotten Elton John, passed over Mick Jagger or neglected Tom Jones will walk in and make it all worthwhile."

Copyright 2001
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.