Essex boy Olly Murs is, as we all know, a nice guy, so it’s no surprise that’s he on board with volunteering. With Volunteers Week at the start of June we grabbed some time with Olly to chat to him about his experiences.
Olly was the main act at the recent Young Scot Awards, “It was a great night to be there and it great to see the young Scots, its great to see what they are doing for Scotland. People perceive young people and children as to getting up to mischief and doing all these bad things but I think it was great to show what great Young Scots are doing at the moment. It was a great honour to be there and to be a part of it, it was fantastic.”
The ‘cheeky chappy’ reckons young people are being pretty unfairly represented these days too making events like the Young Scot Awards even more important in showing support for and rewarding activity and commitment, “It’s a great showcase … whilst there are a lot of kids that are getting up to mischief there are a lot of great young people doing great things for their families, for themselves and are making a change to their communities.”
If you skip over to YouTube you can see Mr Murs doing an extraordinarily good impression of Paolo Nutini, on Radio One after covering Paolo’s song ‘Candy’ in the Live Lounge, which he also preformed at the Young Scot Awards. He laughed when asked about this, “Do you know what, I have been a huge fan of Paolo’s for many, many, many years ever since he broke through. For me impersonating Paolo used to be a thing I used to do with my mates for a gag down the pub, or round the park or playing my guitar. Now I suppose when you are in the limelight and you have a microphone in front of you and you singing in front of thousands of people I thought it was quite appropriate, especially coming to Scotland for the craic I thought I would blast it out and see what everyone thought. So yeah, it’s good fun.”
Olly had a busy the week as ahead of the Young Scot Awards too, he was co-hosting the Radio 1 breakfast show with Chris Moyles, something he really enjoyed and used as an opportunity to talk up the Young Scot Awards while he was there, “You kind of forget sometimes you are obviously on the show and you are talking about it. Chris Moyles would ask me what I was up to and I told him and it was great to plug the Young Scot Awards as it is a big event in Scotland and probably not a lot of people down here in England know about it, it great what you guys do.”
But, being the kind hearted soul that he is, Olly’s not just been working on the Young Scot Awards, he also trekked across the Kenyan Desert for Comic Relief which he describes as “one of the best things I’ve ever done.” He was also incredibly modest about it all, “It was a great event and we had such a good time on it and I think we helped raise 1.3 or 1.4 million pounds which is pretty phenomenal really and a great achievement by all of us as a group”.
It wasn’t all smiles on the trek though, it was an eye opening experience for Olly too, “When you go to a country like Kenya which is so behind the times the poverty over there is really bad, a very poor country, and to go from that to this it really does waken you up what you have here and how lucky we really are. I just hope in the next 10-15 years it really does change over in Africa and Kenya and it does get better and people are able to live a healthy life without there being so many diseases and illnesses. Hopefully that will happen, we are raising lots of money every year and I hope that Kenya as well as Africa can see a change.”
There were some technical hitches along the way too, “I struggled with some chafing and I had some diarrhoea problems but they were just part and parcel of it. They are small things to what some of the families and kids go through over there. So I was able to get over them and get to the end and finish the challenge.”
Ever busy, Olly is also the patron of the children’s charity Brainwave back in his home town which helps children who suffer from developmental delay. Olly got involved after going down to visit one day and was blown away by what they did, “I was actually quite shocked at whilst how small it is the great work that they do and not many people know about it which I also found shocking. So being such a good charity and to help it get the recognition it deserves I am a patron of it and be a part of it and I am hoping to do a lot more events for them in the future and raise more money and also raise more awareness of the great work that they are doing.”
So with his new status as celebrity we asked Olly if he felt like it’s good to get something back through charity work and volunteering, “Completely, that’s probably the best thing about being famous and being given this opportunity you are able to help and support other people and make a difference. I think that was the key thing because music is such a powerful thing it gets across the country very quickly.”
As I said that’s probably one of the best things about being in this industry that I am able to do that and make a difference to people’ s lives and causes. I really enjoy what I do and don’t get me wrong I love singing and performing but also help people and make a difference is one of the best things as well.”
It wasn’t all talking about his commendable work when we sat down with Olly though, we also chatted about what he’s better known for, his music. His new single ‘Busy’ will be released on the 29th of May, a cute song with a quirky video, is definitely already a favourite with the fans but it’s also a favourite with Olly, “It’s great its one of my favourite songs on the album.”
“It’s just basically a song about a lazy day on a Sunday, getting busy with a partner or someone that you are very close to and you are happy to spend time with. You are not worried about what’s going on around you and the stresses of life and you are just enjoying life and getting busy doing nothing. So yeah I am really happy with the song and I can’t wait for it to come out.”
Olly’s already had a double platinum album, but being the modest bloke he is, he wasn’t expecting that at all, “You don’t know what to expect and you just enjoy the moments and once again I am enjoying them at the moment. To have a double platinum album is something I am very proud of and you want to keep selling more and it’s hopefully given me the platform to release and second album and hopefully that will be better than the first. I am always striving to do better things.”
Olly’s already been to Scotland twice in May now and in a few weeks it’ll be his hat trick, and he’s looking forward to it, “I have always had a great relationship with the Scottish fans and with the people up there and I love coming to Scotland I always have a good time and the Scots are always up for a party so I always enjoy myself and I look forward to coming up at the end of month.”
Looks like Olly’s got plenty to keep him busy at the moment so when volunteer week comes around, it might be an idea to get out to follow his lead and get involved? Volunteering can be fun, is really fulfilling and let’s face it, it looks great on your CV. If a double platinum artist like Olly can manage to be such an active volunteer and charity worker then why not join him.
