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12 June 2018, 15:10
Salesman and karaoke enthusiast by day, tenor megastar by night. Is this pub singer a star in the making?
At a pub karaoke night in Worcester, sales manager Luke Swatman belted out a storming version of Puccini’s ‘Nessun Dorma’ – and the video went viral overnight.
Who sang the high note in ‘Nessun Dorma’ the best?
But the performance was actually a dare – a woman in the Eagle Vaults pub on Friar Street dared Luke to perform after he told her he’d been having singing lessons for 18 months.
Although he had never performed in public before, Luke brought the house down. One woman – called Norma – even proposed.
“I adore the song and must have sung it dozens of times at home, but never in public before,” Luke told The Sun.
“I was on a bit of a pub crawl with my mum Antoinette and sister Danielle and there just happened to be a karaoke on. I got chatting to a few of the locals and mentioned I’d been having opera lessons and they dared me to try ‘Nessun Dorma’.
“A lady asked, ‘Have you had training?’ I said yes and she asked what I like singing, so I told her opera is my real love. Then, unbeknown to me, she submitted a ticket for me to perform Dorma and the DJ said I was going to sing it.
“It was a really fun night and I can’t believe the attention that has come since.”
Luke has been taking singing lessons at the Elgar School of Music in Worcester, where he lives. Set on singing as a career, he is planning to enter Britain’s Got Talent 2019.
“I’d love to sing professionally but it’s hard to get a break,” he said.
The video now has 15,000 views on Facebook. On the post, Mike Carroll, the landlord of the pub, said:
“I had hairs on the back of my neck stand up, he was just brilliant. It was phenomenal.”