MEGAN MCKENNA TO JOIN LIONEL RICHIE ON THE HELLO! SUMMER 2020 TOUR
26/02/2020
Megan McKenna, the winner of The X-Factor: Celebrity, has been announced as the special guest to Lionel Richie at both of his Welsh dates on his Hello! Summer 2020 Tour. The two dates will take place at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham on Thursday 4 June and Cardiff Castle on Sunday 2 August. Tickets are still available for the Wrexham show from Ticketmaster.co.uk after the Cardiff Castle sold out within 30 minutes.
First and foremost a singer-songwriter, Megan’s journey to music has been slightly more unconventional than most would predict. After starting her early career as an English television personality, making appearances on Ex on the Beach, Celebrity Big Brother and The Only Way Is Essex, Megan McKenna left this all behind to pursue a deeper passion – music. Inspired by her deep-routed love for all things country, the first step in Megan’s musical journey saw her travelling to Nashville to experience first-hand the music she’d always loved, documenting her travels for the public in a three-part series There’s Something About Megan. Releasing her debut album Story of Me in 2018, Megan’s story has come to be viewed as one of growth, determination, and evolution. Fighting off stereotypes and refusing to be categorised into just one box.
It was Megan’s fiery determination and willingness to stop at nothing to reach her dreams that pushed her to join the group of contestants competing in The X Factor: Celebrity. Megan was one of two contestants in X Factor history to perform original songs and week-by-week she took the nation by storm and was crowned X Factor: Celebrity winner. Her stunning vocals, always perfectly pitched yet full of emotion and her alluring stage presence saw her sail through the competition with ease. Megan has a big year ahead in 2020 as she is set to release more original music.
Lionel Richie has also been busy since the initial tour announcement, returning to the ‘Judge’s’ chair for the 2019-20 season for American Idol and performing for The Pope at the annual Vatican Christmas Concert in December 2019.
His music is part of the fabric of pop music; in fact, Richie is one of only two songwriters in history to achieve the honour of having #1 records for nine consecutive years. Richie has sold more than 100 million albums sold worldwide, as well as being the recipient of an Oscar®, a Golden Globe®, four Grammy Awards®, the distinction of MusicCares Person of the Year in 2016, and Kennedy Center Honoree in 2017. In March 2018, Richie put his handprints and footprints in cement at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX in Hollywood, one of the oldest awards in Hollywood. He recently received the Ivor Novello PRS for Music Special International Award. The Tuskegee, Alabama native is a true music icon.
Lionel Richie is known for his mega-hits such as Endless Love, Lady, Truly, All Night Long, Easy, Stuck on You, Hello, Say You, Say Me, Dancing on the Ceiling, and co-wrote one of the most important pop songs in history, We Are the World, for ‘USA for Africa’. His song catalogue also includes his early work with The Commodores, where he developed a ground-breaking style that defied genre categories, penning smashes such as Three Times a Lady, and Still.
