Singing plumber, Kevin Crane’s vocal talents have won him a record deal and he will soon be the subject of a new movie. Professional Builder’s Lee Jones talks to the tradesman about his sudden fame.
The quiet village of Quorn now has its very own recording star, and it’s all thanks to a chance encounter between a producer and a tradesman. Plumber and bathroom installer, Kevin Crane has been plying his trade since 2008 but has equally harboured a life-long love of music. “I was in a band in my youth, called Reprise and we played together for a good few years,” recalls the Leicestershire tradesman. “Eventually reality overtook my youthful ambitions and I left my album of original songs from that period unfinished.” After a hiatus of two decades, lockdown would provide the time and inspiration to take up his songwriter’s pen once again, but little did Kevin know where his musical talents would take him next.
“I wrote a couple more original tracks just to entertain the village when the pandemic first hit,” Kevin explains. When they enjoyed an equally positive reception on Facebook, Kevin was inspired to finish the album he’d begun 25 years earlier and utilised his skills as a tradesman to put together a sound-proofed recording studio in his cellar. “To be honest the reason I built it was because the empty house next door to us was sold and I couldn’t be singing and playing a keyboard with new neighbours to disturb. I’m far from being a sound engineer, and didn’t have a clue how to mix. I spent whatever time I could spare learning how to operate some of the equipment on YouTube and the result was my debut album, Why Can’t I Be You? Even then, I didn’t really have plans to do anything with it. My motivation was purely a personal satisfaction in finishing what I’d started so many years before.”
All that was destined to change in dramatic fashion. Some months later, when Kevin got the call to renovate three bathrooms in a Loughborough property, he had no inkling that it would be a step on the path to a record deal. “I’ve always had my radio on at work and will sing along when my apprentice isn’t around,” he recalls. “The client, Paul Conneally, had actually started up his own label, New Reality Records during lockdown, and he said he really liked my voice. I told him about my home studio and the album and I think there was a real synergy between up because we’d both turned to music as way to cope with the strange times we were all going through. Once he heard my songs Paul said he loved the sound I’d achieved and wanted me to sign for his record label.”
When a friend and journalism lecturer from Kevin’s village interviewed him, and then sent it to the BBC, interest in his story gathered momentum. “The media attention has been pretty crazy,” he admits. “I think the idea of an ordinary working man following a dream has caught the public imagination and featuring on the like of the Drew Barrymore Show, as well as appearances with Holly and Phil on This Morning, have been pretty surreal.”
The sudden notoriety is set to intensify, however, with a movie now planned that will tell Kevin’s fairy tale story on the silver screen. “I’ve now signed the official contract and – although I can’t tell you just yet who’s going to play me in the film – I can reveal that Ian le Frenais and Dick Clement have penned the script, it will be co-produced by Stacy Sherman and Billy Ray – who wrote the Hunger Games – and will be called The Music Inside. There’s been talk of the likes of Jude Law or Jason Statham starring and that’s when it will get very weird for me!”
Why Can’t I Be You? has been available to download since September of last year across multiple streaming platforms, and a number of singles have also been released from the album. In addition to that, Kevin has added to his repertoire with three more original tracks. “‘80s music has always been my biggest influence, and it’s a sound that dominates the album,” Kevin reveals. “At the same time I’ve brought my own style and take on the period.”
So, what’s next for a singing plumber who’s suddenly found fame? “We’re planning on getting out on the road with some live gigs and I would like to explore the idea of writing for other perfomers, as well as producing a second album. In truth, because it’s all streaming these days there’s not a lot of money to be made for the artist – you do it because you love it – and that’s why I’ll carry on regardless. If my songs are used in the movie there’s a chance that I could benefit financially from that but it’s not something I’m giving much thought to.”
Instead, Kevin is determined to enjoy the moment, and hopefully be given the licence to spend more of his time indulging in his first and abiding love. “I worked very hard in my twenties to try and make it in music and it never happened, so it’s not something you expect when you’re a 50 year old tradesman,” concludes Kevin. “Most of all I’m determined to just see where it all goes without any preconceptions. It was Paul’s idea for the Why Can’t I Be You? album cover to feature me sitting at the back of my van and it’s something that encapsulates the story quite nicely. I’m a pretty ordinary guy who’s been able to fulfil at least part of a dream I had as a much younger man.”
