West End and Broadway star is heading for Chesterfield to share greatest showtunes and career highlights in live show

The musical star will be performing some of her greatest showtunes at the Winding Wheel Theatre on October 19, 2024. There’s a new book of stories, too, as well as a four-track CD of new songs.

Kerry has featured in the most iconic roles of the past 25 years, while also making a name for herself on Broadway. She’s also toured extensively with Queen’s Brian May while dazzling fans around the world with solo tours.

It all began when Kerry was about three or four and went to dance classes in a church hall. Dancing grabbed Kerry and made her feel alive.

She wanted to be a pop star, as well as a star of musical theatre, and looked up to Elaine Paige, in whose shoes she has since trod.

Kerry said: “I didn’t really have any singing lessons. I guess I had a couple when I was about 12, when my dad took me to a teacher called Olive, who was actually a choir singer. She kind of tapped into this classical singing thing that I didn’t even know existed. I’d always been a big ‘belty’ singer before I went to see her, screaming in my bedroom to Queen, Meatloaf, or Bonnie Tyler. But Olive opened up a whole new soprano thing.”

Les Miserables was hugely influential on Kerry. She had a double cassette of the show and would sing along to the numbers. It was the same with Miss Saigon and she grew to love the nation’s biggest shows.

Kerry was a dreamer as a kid and her parents were incredibly supportive. They brought into her goal of performing in Broadway and on the West End.

At 19, Kerry got a job singing on a nine-month cruise round the Caribbean and she never looked back.

On returning from the cruise, she did a quick tour of Magic of the Musicals, with Marti Webb and Dave Willetts, and then went into My Fair Lady. She was the understudy for Eliza Doolittle, which was played by Martine McCutcheon. When Martine became unwell, Kerry stepped up and her life changed forever. Brian May and the casting director for We Will Rock You were in the audience and asked her to audition for the role of Meat in the Queen jukebox musical. They put her through several auditions before giving her the role. Kerry said: “Brian always says he knew I was going to be in the show, he knew I was the one, so I ask him why he made me go through seven auditions if he was so sure about me.”

Beyonce, Britney Spears, Pink, Liza Minnelli, Emma Thompson and members of the Royal Family were among audiences who watched Kerry in We Will Rock You.

Kerry moved onto MIss Saigon and then Les Miserables, the latter she had seen as an impressionable 13-year-old. She said: “I’d come full circle. I was doing all of those iconic songs that I’d always wanted to sing.”

Wicked was a game-changer – the show that took Kerry to Broadway and helped her fulfill another big ambition. She said: ““The Broadway gig came up and I literally finished the show in London on the Saturday, flew on the Sunday, then was in rehearsals on the Monday. Two days later, I was opening the show on Broadway and I was absolutely knackered. I was there for six months, and it was wonderful, it was absolutely a dream come true.”

*Standard tickets to see Kerry Ellis – Queen of the West End cost £33,20, VIP (best seats, goodie bag) £53.20, Meet and Greet (meet Kerry, front row seats, goody bag) £78.20. Book online at www.chesterfieldtheatres.co.uk