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Pop twins tuning up for a tilt at Eurovision stardom
SATURDAY night super stardom beckons for pop singing twins from Dronfield, who are competing to represent Britain in this year's Eurovision Song Contest.
Francine and Nicola Gleadall, both students at Sheffield Hallam University, will perform tomorrow night on BBC One as part of Andrew Lloyd Webber's project Your Country Needs You, in which he will audition acts to sing a song he has written for the contest.
The BBC encouraged him write Song for Europe as a bid to rescue Britain from another year of failure in the arguably kitsch musical competition. The programme will be hosted by Graham Norton. It starts at 6.45pm and will allow the public to vote for their favourite act.
The twins have been committed to pop singing for several years. At school they created their own group, Major Franix, with three boys and also did gigs in local clubs as Franix.
As teenagers they recorded a demo at Sheffield's G2 Studios and, calling themselves Twin, opened on the Hallam FM stage for Simon Webbe before the After Dark bonfire night crowd at Don Valley Bowl.
They performed a cover of Slade's Cum on Feel the Noize in front of 28,000 at Hillsborough football ground but hit the headlines for the wrong reason. Their angry response to being jeered by Barnsley fans earned them an 80 fixed penalty for obscene gestures. They also once appeared on X Factor Boot Camp.
The now 20-year-old identical twins are both trained singers who live at home with their parents in Dronfield. Born and bred in Sheffield they went to Henry Fanshawe School together and now are on the same English degree course at Hallam.
They also have the same part-time jobs in a pub at at Morrisons supermarket and both started going out with their current boyfriends on the same day. In fact the only way most people can tell them apart is that Fran has a fringe…
They were first referred to the local amateur operatic society when a neighbour heard them singing whilst riding their bikes outside their house.
They believe their musical ability comes from their grandad Eric who played piano and sang on the pubs/clubs circuit with his brother.
"It's totally amazing to be part of the final six and it's great for us to be following our dreams," says Nicola.
Francine, the elder by 35 minutes, adds: "We think that all the acts are very different and think they will all bring something fresh and fun to the competition."
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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