Robbie Williams has asked Pop Idol winner Michelle McManus to perform a duet with him during one of the stops of his forthcoming tour.
The ‘Rock DJ’ hitmaker is set to embark on a massive tour across the UK, Ireland and Europe starting this summer with the first date of the run taking place in Edinburgh on May 31.
While appearing as a guest on McManus’ Afternoons show on BBC Radio Scotland, Williams surprised the Scottish Pop Idol winner by inviting her to perform with him during the first stop of his string of live dates.
“Would you like to come and sing with me in Edinburgh?,” Williams asked, to which McManus replied: “What, sorry? What was that?”. The ‘Angels’ singer then repeated the question, with McManus responding: “Is this a joke? For goodness sake, yes!” Williams then replied to the former singing show winner (she won Pop Idol back in 2003) “Let’s do it. We’ll sort out what song later.”
McManus appeared on BBC Radio Scotland’s Drivetime programme and opened up about Williams’ invitation, telling the hosts that she was certain the singer was going to ask her for food recommendations in Edinburgh.
“At no point ever in my wildest dreams did I think he was about to ask me what he did,” she said. “I cried a lot after it happened. It’s the enormity of being onstage in Murrayfield in front of about 70,000 people with Robbie Williams.
“But it’s also the magnitude of the kindness. Robbie has been so incredibly kind to me on so many different occasions even though he’s such a megastar.”
She also revealed that she got to know Williams back in the early 00s after winning Pop Idol as they were both dealing with hate from the press. She said that he had reached out to her, offering advice on how to handle all the negativity.
“I cried a lot with him at the time and it never left me because he gave me some great advice and it really helped me get through that initial period,” she said.
McManus was also asked what she would like to sing with him and she responded with, “That man could hand me the phone book and I’d sing it for him, I don’t care because it’s Robbie Williams. Obviously I want to Lulu it right up – but I don’t think he’ll do Relight My Fire because why would he? With the back catalogue that man’s got, I’m not going to ask him to whip out a Take That number. I’ll give it my best shot. He knows I’m a big belter.”
She added that it was meaningful to sing in front of a Scottish crowd with someone who has been “really important to me throughout all of my career”.
In other news, Guy Pearce recently discussed his recent encounter with Williams at the AACTA Awards, sharing that they had a “good old laugh” together.
Williams previously secured his 15th Number One album with the Better Man soundtrack, which has tied him with The Beatles.
Williams currently holds the record as the solo artist with the most UK Number One albums. Now, with his 15th Number One record, he is in the same range as The Beatles’ record.
In a three-star review of Williams’ biopic – which was directed by Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) and sees the singer depicted as a CGI monkey and tells his life story – NME shared: “This is ‘Rudebox’ on film: some of it good, some of it very bad, all of it a bit of a mess. Still, the monkey musical is a big swing that no-one else would have taken. You can’t fault the chutzpah or the ambition. If it makes back its reported budget, we’ll eat $110m worth of bananas.”