Hertfordshire singer-songwriter Kelly Oliver made her first live national television appearance yesterday on BBC One’s Sunday Morning Live.
Introduced by soon-to-be Strictly Come Dancing 2016 contestant Naga Munchetty, the Stevenage acoustic singer-guitarist performed her latest single RIO to close the BBC One show.
The programme weaved wonderful footage clips of Team GB’s Olympic medal winners into Kelly’s performance.
“It was a surreal experience performing on BBC Sunday Morning Live for the first time,” said Kelly.
“I’d been to the studios before to perform on BBC London radio so it was very familiar, but when they took me into the green room which is also used for The One Show, it finally hit me just what I was about to do.
“I arrived for 7am fully made up – naïvely I didn’t realise they would ask me to go into make-up before I went on!”
Kelly added: “The team were absolutely lovely there and really made me feel at ease.
“I feel so lucky to have had my first national TV appearance on the BBC’s Sunday Morning Live and the opportunity to play ‘RIO’ on the show during the Olympics, especially as I wrote the song after my time travelling there.”
• To see Kelly perform on Sunday Morning Live, visit the BBC’s website here.
Social media went mad for the day as BBC 6 Music presenter Chris Hawkins urged his listeners to tune in to Kelly’s historic first national TV performance.
Photographer Rob Bridge tweeted: “It was very cool seeing @KellyOliverUK on the telly this morning. Representin’ the UK folk scene!”
Local radio presenters also showed support with BBC and Mix96 producer/presenter Nia Visser tweeting a pic of her and Ian Morcher from local band April Blue excitedly watching the show.
This experience follows hot on the heels of Kelly’s debut on ITV.
The Anglia regional news team came to Stevenage to film a chat with the artist at the start of the Olympics and showed a clip of her video for the single RIO.
Sunday also saw the third play of Kelly’s latest single on BBC Radio 2, on Clare Balding’s Good Morning Sunday.
This play joins those by Alex Lester and ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris.
Local radio listeners will have also heard Kelly interviewed at Standon Calling on Bob FM and BBC Three Counties Radio recently.
Kelly’s song RIO was co-written and produced with celebrated musician Nigel Stonier, who invited acclaimed singer Thea Gilmore to sing backing vocals on the track.
The song was released on independent label Folkstock Records at the end of July and is available at all the usual digital outlets.
It is also on Kelly’s second CD Bedlam, which is available from www.kellyoliver.co.uk
Earlier in the summer Kelly appeared on the second stage at the Folk by the Oak music festival in the grounds of Hatfield House.
Backstage she told the Welwyn Hatfield Times about the remixed version of the song inspired by Rio de Janeiro.
She said: “We actually released it first last year.
“But the producer had another version of it, a summer mix, and we thought we’d release it.”
Kelly also performed at the inaugural Kimpton Folk Festival in the county last month.
The next chance to see Kelly in Herts is at Dacorum Folk Festival on Sunday, September 10.
• To find out more about Kelly Oliver’s career as followed by Welwyn Hatfield Times, visit her topic page here.
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