North Wales Eurovision hopeful through to telly final

Jan 28 2009 by Justine Bailey, Denbigh Visitor

A EUROVISION Song contest hopeful is one step closer to his dream after being selected for the final of the BBC talent show Your Country Needs You on Saturday night.

Mark Evans from Llanrhaeadr near Denbigh will be in next weekend’s show with fellow contestants The Twins and Jade after Emperors of Soul were voted out in the semi-final.

All four acts had sung two different tunes to be in with a chance of representing the UK at this year's Eurovision Song Contest – one a ballad, the other a more uptempo number.

Mark sang Justin Timberlake’s Rock Your Body and I Don’t Wanna Talk About It – made famous by Rod Stewart.

He told host Graham Norton: “When you walk out (into the TV studio) it’s terrifying but it makes you feel like a pop star.”

Lord Webber told Mark after the Justin cover: “You can dance and you can sing. It was extremely good. I’m just waiting for the genie to pop out of the bottle.”

Studio guest and Spice Girl Emma Bunton also liked Mark’s performance.

She said: “Singing and dancing is hard to put together. I thought your vocals were brilliant. You should sit back more and relax. You’d make it cooler.”

Mark’s second tune also went well. Lord Webber said: “I was looking to see you connect with the audience tonight. That was the best performance you’ve given.”

Different Mr Bartley

THE Visitor wishes to point out that the Raymond Bartley referred to in a court case on page 4 of last week’s paper was not County Councillor Raymond Bartley of Denbigh.