Marcus Collins proved he had serious star quality, and a wonderfully soulful voice, the very first time he stepped on to the X-Factor stage and now he’s set to embark on his first solo tour of the UK to give audiences the chance to hear him live. During a break in rehearsals I asked him about his concert tour, and his up-coming role in Worthing’s Christmas show.
So Marcus, what can we expect from your live concerts?
Well, my first UK tour is going to be so exciting. I just can’t wait to get it up and running and on-the-road. We’re going to cover a wide range of musical genres and different numbers that have really touched me as I was growing up. It full of songs that ignite that feel-good energy and, basically, that’s it – it’s just loads of songs that really make me feel good and ones that I know will make the audience feel good too.
I really love to perform and, in these concerts, we’ve got a bit of everything. We’ve got George Michael, Stevie Wonder, Anita Baker, Chaka Khan, Luther Vandross and more modern numbers by the White Stripes and Sam Smith too.
On the X-Factor you only get 90 seconds or so to perform, what do you think, and hope, it will be like to do a full concert?
You know I’m actually really looking forward to it. It will be a chance to prove myself to people who, maybe, don’t know what I’m about. It’s going to be so nice to get out there and tell my story, to tell the full story of what I’m doing, where I came from and why I chose to do these songs – I really want people to understand me and to come on the journey with me.
And a live band instead of backing tracks…
Absolutely, my favourite! I’m not too fond of performing to backing tracks, I much prefer to work with a live band because there is something about it, an energy, that you just don’t get with a track. It’s a whole different mood and a whole different feeling and it just sounds so much better. I’m really excited about it and the band are really looking forward to it as well. We’ve got a really heavy horn section with brass and my favourite instrument, the saxophone, so we’re making the most of that and making it a real feature of the tour.
With a live band, is it easier to improvise?
As long as you do it within reason, yeah, improvisation is allowed and it’s usually welcomed. I’ve been working with the band for a number of years now and I think we know each other well enough now that we’re very interactive on stage so we will be jamming together and they will come up with ways that we can change and improve and that just adds to the energy.
As well as touring to the area with your concerts, you’re also starring in one of Worthing’s Christmas shows, Jack Frost’s Frozen Christmas.
Yes I am. Obviously, I haven’t gone into rehearsals for that yet because I’m concentrating on the tour first so I can’t really tell you too much about the show but I do know that it carries on the story from where last year’s show, Santa Claus the Musical finished and I can tell you that I’m not playing Jack Frost, my character is Billy, he’s in charge of the elves.
I am really excited to be doing the show and being in Worthing is going to be really great because I’ve never been there before but I’ve heard that it’s a great place to be, especially at Christmas, because they have two special festive shows going on and I love a bit of competition.
After dashing round the country on tour it might be nice to stay in the same place for a few weeks.
Yes and as my partner only lives an hour away it will be great that we’ll be able to see each other over Christmas even though I’ll be working doing two, and sometimes three, shows a day and we only have Christmas Day off.
Talking of your partner, what was it like for you to “come out” in such a public arena?
It was quite scary for me to come out on X-Factor but it was something that I made sure I did because I didn’t want to be one of these artists that goes on the show, builds up all the hype and gets everyone excited and then says, “Oh, by the way, I’m gay”. I would feel then that maybe I have cheated people to make them vote for me and to believe in me.
It’s very important to me, and I was raised, to be honest from the get-go, to be honest up front, and I wouldn’t want to feel like I had pulled the wool over anyone’s eyes. I wanted to know that I had done all that I did as me and not pretended to be somebody else and so it was very important to me that everyone knew the real me.
Do you know, I just like to pretend, and to think, that’s it’s not actually an issue to most other people because, mostly, it’s not but when I have to face someone who wants to confront me about it, or who is not OK with homosexuality at all, then I just have to deal with each case delicately and carefully.
I wouldn’t change what I did for the world. I love who I am and I love being an “out” gay man and, hopefully, there will be more people who will have the confidence to do it, and to be that comfortable in their own skin, because, when I was younger, there were not many celebrities who were out in the public eye. I didn’t have people to look up to and say “He’s gay and he’s successful” or “She’s gay and she’s famous” and if I can be someone like that, even if it’s just for one person, it would be enough for me.
Marcus Collins launches his first national tour at the Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells on Friday 12th September and visits the Sussex coast to play at Worthing’s Pavilion Theatre on Wednesday 1st October. He then returns to Worthing to star in Jack Frost’s Frozen Christmas, again at the Pavilion Theatre, from Friday 12th December to Thursday 1st January 2015. Tickets are on sale for all of the above events with more details available from the individual venue’s websites.