Blackwood man wows Britain's Got Talent (From South Wales Argus)

Blackwood man wows Britain's Got Talent

4:40pm Wednesday 6th May 2009 in Search

JAMIE Pugh was thrust under the media spotlight since he wowed judges on Britain's Got Talent on Saturday night, but come the end of the week he'll resume his job of delivering pizzas.

The 38-year-old's performance has already racked up more than 50,000 hits on You Tube and he's appeared in the nationals over the weekend.

Yesterday afternoon, the Argus caught up with the dad from Blackwood while he was on the train to London, where he will appear on GMTV this morning.

Mr Pugh said the reaction to his emotional performance of 'Bring Him Home' from Les Miserables left him “feeling complete for a brief moment”.

But he also admitted that the audition which left judge Simon Cowell hailing him a “special talent” almost didn’t happen.

He said: “I hadn’t slept in three nights and was worried that nerves would prove too much for me.

"I also suffer from severe stage fright that totally cripples me and just went to see if I could get through three minutes.”

The father-of-three said that he was ready to leave the audition before taking the stage. “Singing means so much to me, it is almost like a phobia,” he said.

“I came out in a cold sweat and think I would have coped better if I’d fallen apart.”

Mr Pugh’s partner Donna Davies, 35, urged him to continue.

The performance in front of 1,500 people and judges Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden was only the eighth time he had sung to an audience.

He said he had “fallen apart” on most of his other perofrmances.

Other appearances include a friend’s wedding and during the interval at a ballroom dancing night at the Tredegar Ironsides club.

There, he sang through a bingo caller’s microphone to around 20 people.

He fell in love with Les Miserables as a 10-year-old when his parents took him “kicking and screaming” to see the original West End performance.

He said: “It was the last thing I wanted to see, but I was totally mesmerised by it and didn’t move for the whole performance.”

The former Pontllanfraith Comprehensive pupil, who also works as a van driver for Vale Supplies, received singing lessons for 18 months seven years ago. He said singing is about proving to himself he can do it.

“I was blessed by my reaction from the crowd in Cardiff,” he said. “But it wasn’t about the judges, it was about just proving I could do it. My ambition is simply to sing in front of people at whatever level.”

The show was recorded at The New Theatre in February.

Millions of viewers watched the performance on Saturday, with Mr Pugh now a hot favourite to win the talent contest alongside Glasgow’s Susan Boyle and Shaheen Jafargholi from Swansea.

The next round of the competition takes place in a month’s time and Mr Pugh said he hasn’t even thought about what he will sing.

“I’m just a simple bloke from the valleys,” he added. “It has been weird all these people wanting to speak to me. But I’m just going to take it one step at a time.”

Judge Simon Cowell said after the performance: “I think I just got how important the last three minutes of your life just were, and to get the reaction you just got from the audience must be unbelievable. It’s people like you the reason why we come to Wales every year, I think you could be a special talent, but you have to start believing in yourself."