Singing for his Soccer

By PAUL GREGORY

Until now, the closest a New Zealander has come to showing any skills on the FA Cup final pitch was as a streaker.

But early tomorrow morning (NZ time) 30-year-old Wellingtonian Geoff Sewell will belt out the British National Anthem before the start of one of world's most-watched sporting events, at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

Sewell will sing the anthem and, as tradition demands, the hymn Abide With Me to set the scene for the 60,000 ticket-holders at the game and for the sleepy-eyed New Zealanders watching their tellies.

It is the latest glittering fixture for Sewell who, during six years of living in London, has performed for Sir Elton John and opened for Chuck Berry. He has sung his way into owning a performing arts company with an annual turnover of £250,000 ($825,000), an apartment in the heart of London's West End and a British entrepreneur award.

Sewell, who lives with his wife and business partner Simone, is still reeling about the cup final - which he calls "the cup gig". The call came out of the blue, a dream realised, but not in the way he anticipated as an 11-year-old kicking goals for Mana United in Wellington in 1982.

If how he ended up on the coiffed turf of Millennium Stadium is baffling, how he started on the road is simple. It's down to Elvis.

In 1996 Sewell qualified as an accountant. He'd done the odd bit of acting in New Zealand - on Cover Story and Skitz - and had sung in some decent choirs, but seemed set for a life of beancounting.

That was before he went to Graceland and had a genuine blue-suede revelation. "It just came to me - what the hell am I letting myself in for'?" So he decided instead to chase a career in music.

His first stop was the Boston Conservatory, a prestigious US Fame-style performing arts school, where he got a place through an abject plea to the school's chairman, and received a week's crash-course in acting from a drama teacher who'd helped Tim Balme.

The only New Zealander of 150 students, on what was supposed to be a four-year, NZ$160,000 course, he didn't have the time or money, so decided to skip to the chase.

"I was a bit creative with the experience section of my application, and ended up on the Masters course."

Sewell found himself among people who had done their four years at the conservatory. So he rose at 6am every day and worked hard. His first conservatory production was in the Sondheim musical Company, playing, somewhat ironically, Larry the merchant banker. "No matter what I did, I couldn't lose that suit and tie!"

He flew through end-of-year exams, departed with a good reference and headed to London, proposing to Simone en route while standing in a queue at that established mecca for the incurable romantic, EuroDisney.

"The day was great, we were kissing and the sun was shining on us. So I thought, 'Why not now'?"

It's that irresistible-force optimism that has fuelled many of Sewell's achievements - and all the effort required for them. He is fiercely upbeat, self-motivated, and consequently can be intense, although he manages to stop short of taking himself - or much of anything - too seriously.

In fact, his tongue gets so much exercise from being firmly planted in his cheek, it's little wonder it shapes notes so adroitly.

For example, when I asked Sewell to attempt a description of himself (physical portrayals usually being part of articles such as this), the emailed response was: "Pre-Raphaelite wavy hair, penetrating green eyes and a cheeky disposition". Yeah.

Although Sewell's hair is painstakingly groomed, care with his appearance doesn't mean self-obsession. Indeed, his first British public performance was a charity concert he set up in a matter of months, with a group of friends he dazzled and bullied into helping him, for a hospital outside London specialising in epilepsy. Motivated by the death of his sister, Julie, who died during a seizure, the concert featured Sewell plus cast members of various London musicals, and raised $3000 towards an epilepsy-assessment unit.

Thereafter, Sewell divided his time between working with a City accountancy firm and attending auditions. Then, last year, he and two friends began Tenors Incognito, the performing arts company he co-owns with Simone.

Tenors and its sister company, Divas Incognito, works by providing classically trained singers who pose as serving staff or members of the public at corporate or other private functions. Each impostor takes the microphone for an impromptu song, climaxing - as the perplexed audience gradually realises the trick - with the trio singing together.

In this way Sewell has performed for Sir Elton, Posh Spice and David Beckham and most of the Rolling Stones at venues as varied as Sir Elton's home and the Royal Albert Hall. He will be accompanied by two tenors at the FA Cup final.

"I sang at Elton's famous White Tie and Tiara Ball, in front of people like Kate Winslet and Mick Jagger, last June. Elton came up to us before his guests arrived and yakked away. He liked us so much that in October, he got me to come and pose as a merchant banker guest at a birthday party he was throwing for a sultan friend of his. I pretended to be drunk, took a microphone and started singing Love Me Tender really badly. The guests didn't know what to think, but I finished the song really strongly, then did a 15-minute set. What I didn't know was that Elton was following me with a few songs of his own - and then Chuck Berry came out!"

On the strength of that performance, Sewell was flown to Italy to sing for a corporate function in Venice at St Mark's Square. He was picked up from Venice's Marco Polo Airport in a lacquered gondola.

"Being asked to sing opera for the Italians - now that's a gig."

The Sewells' companies now have a core of about 30 professional singers, and their success - turnover last year was $825,000 - earned Sewell a runner-up prize for his entrepreneurism in the Daily Express People of Tomorrow awards last August.

Lately, Sewell has been practising his British anthem skills, singing at the half-time interval for Six Nations Rugby Championship fixtures between England, Ireland and Wales at Twickenham, preparing for his most important "gig" to date. An all-girl group called The Opera Babes did the same thing for last year's final, and scored a recording contract almost immediately.

So it's pleasingly karmic that, around the same time he heard about the FA Cup final, Sewell was invited to the opening of the epilepsy-assessment centre he helped to finance.

Outside one of its rooms was a plaque dedicated to sister Julie. Sewell hadn't known about that.

"The FA Cup was incredible news, but seeing Julie's name was pretty emotional," he says.

Sewell's ultimate goal is to play Marius in Les Miserables on the London stage. With his brand of ingenuous determination, you'd have to bet on him to do it.

Although he may not remember it, former Minister of Finance and Act party co-founder Sir Roger Douglas was one of the first to see Sewell in action. It was Anzac Day 1996 and Sewell, who was at the Boston Conservatory, went to the church across the road for an Anzac service attended by ex-pats, including Sir Roger.

"About 30 people were there, but the organ was broken. They didn't have any music, so I sang for them."

After the impromptu performance, Sir Roger approached Sewell, complimented him on his voice and asked him for tickets to his first concert.

"I said, 'You're on', but I haven't managed to offer him any yet," Sewell says. "I'm not sure if he'd have got on with Elton. And there's no way he can get into the FA Cup."