Chart success for Brit boys (From Croydon Guardian)

Chart success for Brit boys

1:28pm Wednesday 21st June 2006

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Members of two bands riding high in the UK's album charts are the latest graduates from Croydon's Brit school to taste success.

Members of The Kooks and The Feeling are the latest in a stream of successful artists who went to the country's only free performing arts school.

Three members of The Kooks - lead singer and guitarist Luke Pritchard, lead guitarist Hugh Harris and drummer Paul Garred - all left the Brit in 2003 while The Feeling's lead singer Dan Gillespie Sells, bassist Richard Jones and drummer Paul Stewart left in 1997 and 1998.

Luke Pritchard, 19, met his ex-girlfriend and former fellow Brit school chart-topper Katie Melua in Croydon.

Arthur Boulton, the Brit School's arts industry liaison and sponsorship manager, remembers him as a hard-working musician.

He said: "Luke was incredibly focused, he always knew what he wanted to do so I'm not surprised.

"The Kooks were formed in Brighton but some of them met at the Brit School. Luke also used to go out with Katie Melua, another former Brit School student.

"Obviously we're very proud but the bands' success would not have been overnight. In The Kooks' case they played a lot of small venues and it would have been the same for The Feeling.

"These days it's much more difficult than in the 60s and 70s to get regular gigs in local pubs but the recent popularity in live music has helped.

"At the Brit School we try and equip the students the best we can as, essentially, it's a business they are getting into. We teach them skills they can use for work while they're working on their craft."

The Feeling are currently number three in the official album chart with their debut album Twelve Stops and Home, which reached number two when it was released on June 5.

And The Kooks' debut album Inside In/Inside Out - released in January - has spent the last 16 weeks in the album chart, this week moving up from 11 to seven.

Both bands have made television appearances and have been booked to play in the UK's summer festival calendar.

The Kooks played at the Isle of Wight Festival last weekend and have just announced they will support the Rolling Stones in Cardiff, while The Feeling will perform at this year's V Festival and have already supported The Charlatans and Richard Ashcroft this year.

Former Brit School students include Athlete, Katie Melua, Amy Winehouse and Floetry.

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