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Tony Lewis, amateur footballer and Robbie Williams look-alike and sound-alike scored a hit with the Dilmun Club audience on Thursday night.
‘Let Me Entertain You’ was the obvious opening number and this seasoned club performer knew exactly how to deliver a fun-filled show, even bringing on four stalwart members of the club on stage to audition for parts in his version of reunited boy-band Take That.
Tony, 31, has been on the road with his Robbie Show for 10 years. The former plumber was playing for his local side Leigh Athletic, who play just under the professional level in one of English football’s lower leagues, when his teammates asked him to entertain them on the team bus.
“They were always going on about me looking like one of the members of a boy-band who appeared on the Des O’Connor TV show and getting me to sing,” he explained. “I didn’t take any notice at the time because boy-bands were full of poofs as far as I was concerned and I was only interested in football.”
But one thing led to another and Tony entered a ‘Pub Stars’ singing contest in Blackpool and walked away with the £1,000 first prize and a contract to perform on stage at a group of leisure parks.
Before he could step out to entertain the hoards of Lancashire caravan holidaymakers an agent snatched him up to take part in a touring ‘legends show’.
In 2003 he reached the final of BBC TV’s The One & Only talent series and attracted a huge national following.
The TV show was won by a Dusty Springfield act and although he may not have picked up the first prize he did – in true Robbie-style – manage to pull one of the show’s dancers, Shelina, 33, and become a winner in love. The happy couple are soon to wed.
Tony remains in big demand for his Robbie Show at home and abroad. His most memorable gig was stepping out in front of 20,000 fans in Amsterdam – and he is also in a Take That tribute act Back For Good currently playing to sell-out crowds in theatres across the UK.
In 2005 he met the singer himself before a TV show and he said: “Robbie was fantastic and we ended up talking about football and women for ages.”
He also uncovered that the hit recording star was a secret Manchester United fan, although the English press have made a big song and dance about Robbie supporting his lowly home town team, Port Vale. Tony said: “Like me, he’s a United fan and told me he had even named his dog Rude after former star striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.”
They may share the same football team and strikingly familiar looks, but Robbie still outshines him when it comes to singing, although the sound system didn’t appear to cater for crisp vocals on the night.
However, Tony can work an audience like the best of them thanks to his immense stage presence and he can deliver a fair ballad too … none more so than Robbie’s global hit, Angels.
A version of a Take That hit with punk overtures was a strange episode part way through the show in what otherwise was a perfect night of entertainment.
Tony is a winner in more ways than one. His earnings from his Robbie act has allowed him to become joint club sponsor of his local football team. However, he refuses to have his name emblazoned over Leigh Athletic’s first team shirts.
“Whenever I play I get kicked enough for just looking like Robbie,” he said. “I couldn’t risk it!”
But one thing is for sure, Tony will never get kicked off the stage performing as Robbie.
