79-year-old participant of ‘The Voice’ sees dream come true during duet with Tom Jones | TV

Stan Urban honestly admitted to viewers: he doesn’t know all the coaches he was going to audition for in the first episode of the twelfth season of ‘The Voice UK’. These are pop stars Olly Murs (39) and Anne-Marie (32), rapper Will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas and Tom Jones. “I definitely know that one,” he said of the latter. As a pianist, Urban played in all kinds of bands in the 1960s and with big names such as Chuck Berry, British media write. The love for the instrument is still alive. “No piano is safe,” he said. “When I see one, I’m like a child again.”

With his version of Chuck Berry’s ‘Little Queenie’ from 1959, he indeed got the entire audience involved, including 39-year-old Olly Murs. He was the only one to play for the singing pianist and asked why he was participating. “Tom Jones is here,” he replied. “He was rock ‘n’ roll, he is rock ‘n’ roll and will always be rock ‘n’ roll, even when he’s singing a ballad.” Murs suggested he perform with his hero. “Can you play ‘Great balls of fire’?”, Tom Jones referred to the Jerry Lee Lewis song from 1957. Stan could do that, and so his dream came true.

_{(Continue reading below the video.)}

Will.i.am, who has been a coach on various versions of “The Voice” for more than a decade, called it one of his all-time favorite moments on the show earlier this week. “Because something magical happened,” he said. And that even though it almost didn’t happen.

Stan Urban was asked to audition by the makers, possibly because he previously went viral with a video of himself playing the piano in a train station. “I had never heard of it,” he says about the program to ‘The Courier’. “I’ve never seen it, we can’t watch it in Denmark (where he lives with his wife, ed.). I said ‘no, no thank you. I don’t do auditions’.”

The artist doesn’t think he’s going to win. “Deep inside I know that a man of my age will not go through to the final,” says Stan, who turns 80 in January. “They’re not going to give a 79-year-old record deal for ten years, are they?” But actually he has already won. After his audition, he was asked what he is most happy with: that he got through, or with the performance afterwards. The answer was easy: “With the duet with Tom Jones.”

Neighbor complains about loud Tom Jones music, but does not realize that the singer is singing live

The new concert trend is not harmless: “Stop throwing things at artists!” (+)

Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!

Log in or create an account and never miss anything from the stars.

Yes, I want free unlimited access