Kids in England luck out with traveling High School Musical 2 Amusement Park

'High School Musical': Carrie and David Grant

By Miriam Zendle, Music Reporter
'High School Musical': Carrie and David Grant

Since their appearance on Fame Academy all those years ago, steering winner David Sneddon to a not-so-glittering pop career, but finding the talent of r'n'b star Lemar, married couple Carrie and David Grant have seen their careers as talent coaches expand into more and more television roles.

Whether it be taking the part of a talking head on a generic 'I Love' programme or championing a singer on a talent show, the couple are practically as famous as the judges they appear alongside these days. Digital Spy caught up with them to find out all about their latest venture, the High School Musical: You're A Star show.

Tell us a bit about your role on the programme?

David: Here’s what we’re doing. There’s a High School Musical tour and that’s what we’re doing [at the moment]. [The show's] called High School Musical: You're A Star. Through the summer holidays, kids will have a chance...to come down to a High School Musical bus to get loads of merchandise that isn’t available anywhere else, to play games, to sing, to play basketball, to do cheerleading, to do golf - for fans of High School Musical, that's a little clue as to some of the stuff that’s going on in High School Musical 2! To generally experience the High School Musical vibe!

So the premise of the show, which is on the Disney Channel, is that kids can win the chance to make their own High School Musical video?

David: The shooting of the video is open to anyone, not just people who come down to the tour. The search is part of what we’re doing here, all they have to do is make a video of themselves singing a song from High School Musical - if they’re not soloists, they can do a group thing when they’ve got it recorded. They send it to disneychannel.co.uk. Disney will then broadcast the best of them. The winner will get their own spin-off programme, be choreographed, produced and recorded properly then broadcast as part of a one-off programme. Any of the kids that love High School Musical or any of their programmes can take part in the competition

So why did you two get involved?

Carrie: I think there were two reasons. Firstly we love singing. It goes without saying! Mainly cos we’ve got 3 kids and the oldest two are 12 and 5 and are High School Musical mad. For the past six months or so all we’ve heard is the songs from the show non-stop. Our 12-year-old got to do the show as part of her stage school show. The music really appeals because the Spice Girls have gone, S Club have gone, Atomic Kitten have gone, there’s no music for young people.

What will you be doing in the show?

Carrie: We’re giving all our tips on how to make the best of your singing, that’s really our role in this!

David: Disney will in effect be making a star.

Kind of like how the Mickey Mouse club worked in the US?

David: Absolutely right - what I think is really interesting about that is that the Disney Channel and Disney viewers have had a history of finding and developing real talent. I expect...we’re going to get some great stuff in.

What will be a winning formula for you?

David: A lot of it with things like this is about being entertaining and being fun. I think if somebody’s a good singer they’re not necessarily going to look great on TV. If they have fun, then the viewers are having fun and they stand a far better chance of winning.

What are you doing after this show?

Carrie: We’re doing a new thirty part children’s series for the under-fives for CBBC. It's called Carrie and David’s Pop Shop. We’ve written thirty songs and we’ll be teaching them on the series - they’re like bhangra, hip-hop, r'n'b, Motown.

David: It’s like Pre-School Musical!

The tour bus will be visiting:
# Birmingham Victoria Square - August 4,5

# Bristol Balloon Fiesta - August 10-12

# Xscape, Castleford, Leeds - August 19

# Newcastle Metro Centre - August 23

# Edinburgh The Gyle - August 25,26