A star of Grantham’s music scene, Kelly Borkertas has built up quite a reputation as the frontman of dance tribute show Ultra 90s.
The group has performed at a number of high profile events in recent months, including glamour model Katie Price’s wedding reception in March.
Now, the bookings are flooding in.
Was it a great experience to perform at Katie Price’s reception?
It was crazy. When we arrived there was security everywhere and we weren’t allowed in until they’d cleared the room because they had thrones and giant sweets...the theme was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Rylan was there, he was lovely. He was raving it up. I dedicated Groove is in the Heart to him because he sang that on X Factor. Oh, and Celina from the Honeyz was there.
It was all top secret and we were not allowed to talk about it as they wanted to keep the location and date private for their photo deal. However, someone leaked it to the press so they had to change the date and location. We had already had to cancel a gig so we were quite worried we wouldn’t be available for the new date but it all turned out great as we had a gig booked just 15 minutes away so we were able to do the show for Katie and Kieran and their guests.
We had to surrender our mobile phones while in the venue, no pictures or tweets.
We played just after midnight and Katie and Kieran were up dancing for the whole show. We gave out glow sticks for the guests and got everyone up dancing and singing along.
Did you speak to any of the celebrities?
Rylan commented on how much he enjoyed the show and Katie and Kieran both said how much they were looking forward to it and how they had a great time and need an
excuse to have another party and book us again.
What’s coming up for Ultra 90s?
Well, we haven’t got any available Fridays and Saturdays for the whole of this year. We’ve already got 17 bookings for next year and two for 2015.
We’re really pleased, big-time. It’s awesome. It’s been such a struggle with Ultra 90s up until now because people just don’t get it, they don’t get what we do. Punters get it when they see us, but people don’t get it.
People are now booking well in advance and we’ve got lots of festivals coming up.
Where do you see yourself in the music world in 10 years’ time?
We want Ultra 90s to expand and play more high profile gigs, and we ‘d like to see two, three, four set-ups of Ultra 90s.
Plus, me and Chris are doing our own music and starting to build the Borkertas brand. We’ve got a logo together and an EP together. We’re looking to go down the reggae, dubstep road.
Have you always had a passion for music?
I’ve always enjoyed music. I’ve always loved it and so has Chris. In fact, we both met in a band 14 years ago. We just love it. There have been times when you get down about being on the road and not being at home, and vans breaking down and people breaking down! But I wouldn’t change it for the world. People say they would get sick of it but I think it’s amazing.
Things are going really well. We’ve got 1,200 fans on Facebook, 700-800 followers on Twitter...people are just loving the ‘90s!