When Newbury musician Fiona met Simon Cowell
10-minute personal audition was a 'dream come true'
NEWBURY musician and composer Fiona Bennett recently bagged herself a 10-minute private audition with Simon Cowell.
Fiona was listening to Classic FM one evening last summer, when she heard Aled Jones talking about the Global Radio ‘Make Some Noise’ charity which had created an emergency fund in order to help those struggling during lockdown.
She went to her computer to make a donation but then realised it was possible to bid for some exciting auction lots as part of the fundraising. Scrolling down through the many prizes on offer, she came across something she’d been wanting for many years – a 10-minute private online audition with Simon Cowell.
“I began bidding, never thinking I’d stand a chance because it was such a sought-after prize,” said Fiona.
But at just 10 seconds to the 7pm deadline, she decided to throw caution to the wind and bid a much higher amount.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes when the flashing sign ‘AUCTION OVER – YOU’VE BEEN OUTBID’ appeared on the screen, so I went back to the lounge and told my husband John that I hadn’t won.
“He was going to pay for the prize as my fifth wedding anniversary present and was terribly disappointed because he knew just how important it was to me.”
Fiona put her own disappointment to the back of her mind but one week later, she received an email from the Make Some Noise team, saying that the winning bid had not been received, so they were offering it to the second highest bidder.
“I think the winner must have got cold feet at the thought of performing for the highest profile impresario on the planet,” said Fiona, “but this was the luckiest thing ever to have happened to me, so I began to prepare my songs for the audition.”
When Simon suffered a serious accident coming off his electric bike, her audition that had been scheduled for August 28 was postponed, but it finally took place on Friday, February 5.
“I was delighted to see Simon looking so well when he appeared on my computer screen – he seems to have made a full recovery which is great news. He was funny and charming and my 10-minute audition eventually lasted almost 40 minutes.”
Fiona sang a variety of songs for Simon, but cheekily decided to ask whether he would listen to one of her classical piano pieces before ending the call. He replied: “It’s your audition, you can play me anything you like” so she launched into her Classic FM Hall of Fame hit The Landscape and as the final notes died away, she looked up to see him applauding and smiling.
“It really was a very special moment, one I’ll never forget and I’ve sent Simon a copy of A Country Suite so he can enjoy the other movements too.”
Fiona’s father Des, who encouraged her to play the piano from the age of four, has always said “it’s better to be born lucky than rich” and this is one lucky Newbury musician whose dream came true when she finally got to perform her music for Simon Cowell.
TRISH LEE
