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It wasn’t a figment of ‘pure imagination’ when theatre fans spotted a familiar character on the streets of Birmingham. Gareth Snook who plays the iconic role of Willy Wonka, came together with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – The Musical cast members Isaac Sugden and Jessie-Lou Harvie, who both play the role of Charlie Bucket, outside of Birmingham Hippodrome to mark the productions arrival in the city.

The rising UK soul star Mega is making waves in all the right way as she prepares to release her third EP. Her recent tracks ‘Don’t Get Too Close’ and ‘Let You Down’ have put her back in the spotlight, while her live performances have included a European headline tour (featuring an upgraded and sold-out London show at Hoxton Hall) as well as a full UK and Ireland tour as special guest to Self Esteem.
 
Mega now takes the next step as she shares her brand new single ‘Moment For You’. It’s a paean for stepping outside of life’s stresses - the pressures, the deadlines, the seemingly endless notifications and niggly demands upon your time - and to take the time to recharge.

Appropriately enough, ‘Moment For You’ feels like a soothing moment of meditation, with Mega’s reassuring vocal style bringing a moment to solemnity to your day with the assistance of warm gospel backing vocals, gentle acoustic guitar, and pianos twinkling away deep in the production. Ultimately ‘Moment For You’ provides three minutes of serene salvation from the world around us. 
 
Mega says: “‘Moment For You’ is about giving ourselves permission to pause - especially when life gets a little overwhelming.

“It can be difficult to find stillness in a world of chaos, but it is so important to take time for ourselves: to find clarity, to take a deep breath and to remember what that is for you. You deserve stillness (a little break).”
 
Mega wrote and co-produced ‘Moment For You’ with its producer, Tom Fuller (Tom Walker), and Joel Baker. It was mixed by Nathan Boddy (PinkPantheress, Priya Ragu).
 
She co-wrote all five songs that will feature on her upcoming EP, a project that’s united by themes of celebrating where you are at this moment in your life. It features further collaborators in the shape of Ed Riches (Bilal), Alex Davies (Galantis), Jez Ashurst (Maisie Peters), Jonny Hockings (Mimi Webb), Jojo Mukeza (Stormzy), Adam Argyle (Becky Hill) and Martin Brammer (James Bay).
 
Mega’s previous EPs, ‘Future Me’ and ‘Colour My World’, instigated a first wave of attention for the north London artist, leading to airplay at Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 5 and most recently a live performance on Radio 4. She has also played shows with further major names such as Angèle, Hozier and Nathaniel Rateliff.
 
And yet Mega’s career in music was almost over before it began. At the very outset she started to experience troubles with her voice and despite going from doctor-to-doctor, a cure proved to be elusive. Instead she went to university to study psychology, during which time extensive rest as well as steady recuperation with the help of a voice therapist got her back on track.
 
Mega’s early musical passions were two-fold: on one hand the vibrant sounds of her parents’ Ugandan heritage; and on the other, artists such as Amy Winehouse, Aretha Franklin and Lauryn Hill who all demonstrated that exemplary talent, unguarded vulnerabilities and pure authenticity could be so inspiring. She joined a gospel choir at the local youth club St. Mary’s, before collaborating with producers on her own music in her teens.  

Now it’s Mega’s moment!

As the first Black artist making History by having a No.1 hit in the UK Singles Chart, in its history, Winifred Atwell still holds the record as the only female instrumentalist to do so, to date. Bornin in Trinidad & Tobago, she played the piano from a young age and achieved considerable popularity locally, especially playing for American servicemen at the Air Force base on the islands, before enjoying great popularity in Britain and Australia with a series of boogie-woogie and ragtime hits, selling over 20 million records.

It was while playing at the Servicemen's Club at Piarco that someone bet her that she couldn’t play something in the boogie-woogie style that was popular back home in the United States. She went away and wrote ‘Piarco Boogie’, which was later renamed ‘Five Finger Boogie’.

In 1945, Atwell left for England where she would broadcast for the BBC. Whilst in London, she gained a place at the Royal Academy of Music where she completed her musical studies, becoming the first female pianist to be awarded the academy's highest grading for musicianship. She then went on to top the bill at the London Palladium, after which she said: "I started in a garret to get onto concert stages."

By 1952, her popularity had spread internationally and her hands were insured with Lloyd's of London for £40,000 - with the policy stipulating that she was never to wash dishes. Atwell signed a record contract with Decca, as her sales soon rising to 30,000 discs a week. She was by far the biggest-selling pianist of her time, with her 1954 hit, ‘Let's Have Another Party’, being the first piano instrumental to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart.

With a growing popularity, in 1955, Atwell went to Australia, where she was greeted as an international celebrity, as her tour broke box-office records on the Tivoli circuit, bringing in receipts of £600,000. She was paid AUS$5,000 a week (the equivalent of around $50,000 today), making her the highest-paid star from a Commonwealth country to visit Australia up to that time. She would tour Australia many times after that!

Championed by popular disc jockey Jack Jackson, who introduced her to Decca Records promotions manager Hugh Mendl, a complex arrangement called ‘Cross Hands Boogie’ was released to show her virtuoso rhythmic technique, but it was the B-side, a 1900s tune written by George Botsford called ‘Black and White Rag’, that was to become a radio standard.

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