Leonn Meade was just two-and-a-half when he last met the Queen, when his dad brought him on stage at a gig to celebrate her 60th birthday – then wished he hadn’t.
The toddler, whose father Bazil founded the London Community Gospel Choir, took an interest in the monarch’s shiny turquoise dress at 1986 event at the Royal Festival Hall, and still remembers pulling the sequins off her expensive gown one by one.
Thirty-six years later, he’s now in charge of the choir, which is looking forward to one of the biggest weeks in its history.
Not only are the 45-singer group semi-finalists on the first live semi-final of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent tomorrow night, they’re also playing a central role in the forthcoming Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The choir sang on Jubilee anthem, EIIR: The Platinum Record, released last month. And they’re set to help bring the celebrations to a close at the grand finale as the Jubilee Pageant concludes with a rousing rendition of the National Anthem sung by Ed Sheeran and the choir.
Remembering his first royal encounter, Leonn says: “It was the Royal Family who requested that I come on stage.
“I remember being there on the stage, touching people’s hands and when we got to meet the Queen being fascinated by her shiny dress.
“As a kid you don’t realise that she’s the Queen, for you it’s just a person wearing sequins. My dad was really embarrassed, trying to stop me, but I was so into those sequins, trying to get them off the Queen one by one.
“I don’t know if we’re going to get to meet her again during the Jubilee celebrations, at the Royal Variety if we win, but if I do I’ll definitely say to her, ‘Do you remember me? I took the sequins off your dress 36 years ago!’”
Back then the choir was just starting out. It had been formed just four years earlier but went on to take the world by storm, performing at the biggest arenas and with stars such as Madonna, Sting and Elton John.
Now younger audiences are getting to know LCGC thanks to their Britain’s Got Talent appearances.
But despite their four decades of global success, members were still worried about whether head judge Simon Cowell would like them.
Leonn says: “They were also afraid of Simon being harsh with his response. But I said to them, we’ve done this a million times, Simon’s not going to say anything bad about us. We’re good.”
The choir began in 1982, with Leonn’s dad Bazil holding rehearsals in his home in Leyton, East London. His idea was to put on a one-off concert but the event was such a success, newly married Bazil quit his day job as an engineer, even though he had three young children.
There was also some tutting from his church, which thought singers should only perform in services.
Leonn says: “It was a big risk, but he believed in what he was doing. It was the very traditional, Caribbean way, you had to dress in a certain way for church, and you weren’t allowed to listen to secular music.
“He got a bit of a grilling for it. Only when he started to succeed did he really began to be accepted back into the church community, and was praised for taking a risk.”
The choir would go on to perform with some of music’s biggest stars, and in 2018 Bazil received an MBE.
In 1992 they joined George Michael for his performance at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, and four years later they performed for Nelson Mandela during his first visit to London.
They backed Madonna in London’s Hyde Park in 2005, and performed the traditional pre-match hymn Abide With Me at the 2009 FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.
The choir has also sung three times at the Brit Awards, with Kylie Minogue in 2012, Justin Timberlake in 2018 and Pink two years later. But his dad being the boss didn’t give Leonn a free pass to stardom. He says: “My dad was a big believer in having to work for it, so I spent most of early years just carrying the equipment around.”
This year though, founder Bazil – who the group know as Rev – will be handing over the reins to Leonn.
Leonn says: “My dad is 71. We sat down and had a long talk about how we’re going to move the choir forward for another 40 years, give us a youthful touch, possibly chart again.”
There’s some stiff competition to overcome at BGT though. Tonight the choir is up against Mel Day, the 77-year-old who rocked BGT with a rendition of Land of 1,000 Dances, and Born to Perform, the dance group for people with disabilities.
Also performing are magician The Witch, impersonator Suzi Wild, South Korean magician Junwoo, schoolboy ventriloquist Jamie Leahey and busker Maxwell Thorpe. Despite this opposition, the choir think their medley of popular songs with a traditional gospel sound could triumph.
Leonn says: “We haven’t had the mindset that we’re going to win it But we’ve got something that’s very unique and different from everyone else, and we’ve got a lot of support behind us.
“Fingers crossed, hearts crossed, I think we’ve got a good chance.”
- The Britain’s Got Talent live semi-finals start tomorrow at 8pm and continue each night this week on ITV.
