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Singing Priest From 'Britain's Got Talent' Has Already Released Two Albums

Singing Priest From 'Britain's Got Talent' Has Already Released Two Albums

Turns out he's not a nervous amateur after all.

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

A nervous priest who won the hearts of the audience and the judges on Britain's Got Talent has had a previous career in music and released two albums before his appearance on the ITV talent show.

Father Ray Kelly was signed to Universal and released a platinum album called 'Where I Belong' that sold more than 40,000 copies as well as a 13 track Christmas album.

In fact, the song he sang on the show - a rendition of REM's 'Everybody Hurts' - featured on his album, which was released by Universal Music.

He received four 'yes' votes from the judges and Simon Cowell even went as far as to say that it was one of his "favourite ever auditions".

Fans would be right to feel a bit short changed by these revelations as it was put across on the show that the Irish priest was an amateur.

ITV

A show source told The Sun: "Viewers were led to believe Father Ray was an amateur. But he's a star in his own right. It seems producers are running out of talent so have turned to people who've already made it."

A spokesperson for Britain's Got Talent said: "Father Ray's recording deal ended in 2015."

This is far from the first time that someone who makes a living out of their act has appeared on the show.

Last year a Russian acrobatics act called 'Angara Contortion' claimed that they had found out about the show by watching it from their home back in Russia. It turned out that they were performers in Cirque du Soleil.

Cirque du Soleil is the largest theatrical production in the world and they have performed in front of 160 million people worldwide - hardly amateurs then.

A spokesperson said at the time: "Anyone can apply whether pro or amateur."

ITV

In fact, even Lee Ripley - also known as 'Lost Voice Guy' is a professional comedian. He has recently supported fellow Geordie comic Ross Noble at several of his shows.

To be fair to Father Ray, he is actually a parish priest, so it's not all made up. The 64 year old comes from County Meath in Ireland and was told that he should audition for the show by his family.

Aside from him recording career, this isn't his first brush with stardom anyway as a version of him singing Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' went viral back across the Republic of Ireland back in 2014.

Featured Image Credit: ITV

Topics: Ireland, Music, Britain's Got Talent, ITV, TV, UK