Leeds singer who won BBC competition Let It Shine looking to restart in music after 'harrowing' experience

Curtis Thewlis, 29, was flying high when he and four other young men were named the winners of Let It Shine in 2017, a talent competition to find a group to star in a new stage musical called ‘The Band’ featuring the music of Take That.

Gary Barlow had been an idol of Curtis’s while growing up in the likes of Harehills and Seacroft, so performing in front of him – as well as the millions watching on television – was a special moment for the budding musician.

The subsequent relentless touring and performances as part of ‘The Band’ took its toll though, with Curtis saying it “warps your sense of reality”.

After taking some time off to recalibrate and take stock, Curtis is now looking to relaunch his music career under the name of Kuill, kicking off with a show at Seven Arts in Chapel Allerton on June 3.

Curtis said that his success was particularly “humbling” having – as he jokingly puts it – grown up in “every rough area of Leeds”.

Part of a big family that included five siblings, Curtis said growing up he would get to David Young Community Academy early to practice in the music rooms. He was given a chance to throw himself into his dreams (and stay out of trouble) when his school provided him some recording equipment to focus on producing music in his spare time.

He said: “That got me started onto composing and then I started getting more into performing because of that.”

Curtis went to De Montfort University in Leicester to do a music degree but left after just three months, saying: “It was the best thing I ever did because two weeks later I got a publishing deal with some really famous writers that sent me all around the world.”

The writers in question were John Beck and Steve Chrisanthou, who co-wrote the song ‘Put Your Records On’ by Leeds’-own Corinne Bailey Rae, and Curtis said that his role saw him work with the likes of Leona Lewis and Matt Cardle.

Curtis said that musically he’s inspired by the likes of The Killers and Eliza Doolittle but it was the story of Gary Barlow, who himself came to prominence through adversity, that really drove him.

He said: “I saw myself in him and everything he did so when an advert came up on BBC2 for a TV show called ‘Let It Shine’ I jumped at the chance to audition in front of Gary and hopefully work with him.

"Growing up where I did it seemed like having a career in song writing was a wishy washy dream but seeing Gary come through a similar route to me in working men’s clubs made me think ‘I can do this as well’.”

For his first performance on ‘Let It Shine’, Curtis paid homage to his former publishers by performing ‘Put Your Records On’ and blew Gary and the other two judges – Dannii Minogue and Martin Kemp – away.

He said: “It became a crazy train from that moment on. Before I knew it we were performing live before 5.5 million people.”

He said that the days of filming and rehearsing leading up to the shows were “gruelling” and that after he and the other four contestants were chosen as winners “everything went berserk”.

“The very next day we were filming a TV advert with Take That for this show we were going to do.

"It was just mind-blowing being stood their talking to Robbie Williams about Brandon Flowers who’s another one of my favourite artists.”

As part of the show Curtis would also go to Cannes to perform in front of a select audience, adding: “It was so surreal and not like normal life. It was very overwhelming for someone from my upbringing.”

‘The Band’ would go on to become the fastest selling UK musical of all time, though performing “10 or 11 shows a week” for the next two and a half years to sold out crowds of adoring crowds boarded on the “chaotic”.

He said: “There’s definitely a point when you’re doing something that’s not you that you start asking ‘am I going to be able to be my own singer again?’

"I spent so much time doing that that I fell out of love with music and stopped writing and performing which had a domino effect.

"There’s this aspect of being seen as not-human and as a minor celebrity which can be a harrowing experience. It’s extreme highs and extreme lows.”

Though there were plenty of “superb” memories, Curtis opted not to travel to Germany to perform and instead went back to writing his own stuff.

After also having some time working in Sweden – which he described as the “best place in the world for song writers” – Curtis finally realised his other dream of starting a family when he and his partner adopted a one-year-old boy.

He said: “He’s now three-and-a-half and going to nursery so it feels like now is the time to have a second wind.”

Having written and released a selection of new music, Curtis has decided to rebrand himself as ‘Kuill’ to put his past behind him.

"Other people have seen me perform in musicals and shows and now I want the chance just to start afresh and perform as a contemporary pop singer-songwriter."

Kuill’s first show will see him telling stories about his time in the music industry in between performances, saying: “It’s about how this whole process blew my mind and ruined my self-confidence and how I’ve had to build myself up again as something different. It’s going to be a very warts and all telling of my experience.”