BGT’s Tokio Myers says pal Amy Winehouse gave him the confidence to make it as a musician
The semi-finalist revealed his close friendship with the pop icon spurred on his career
BRITAIN’s Got Talent pianist Tokio Myers has revealed pal Amy Winehouse gave him the confidence to make it as a musician.
The BGT semi-finalist, 32, supported Amy Winehouse on her 2007 tour with producer Mr Hudson’s band.
In an interview with The Sun’s Bizare TV column, Tokio revealed: “I was super young back then, so I was really quiet, shy and had a big afro.
“I remember she would bound up to me back then so she would bury her head in my hair, she had a lot of love to give.”
Tokio is a former session pianist who supported Kanye West and is set to appear on tonight’s semi-final.
MOST READ IN TV & SHOWBIZ
Speaking at the Novotel London Canary Wharf launch he added: “She was such a warm person. She was so warm to everyone, regardless of who you were. She taught me to live and breath music and that’s what I’ve taken away with me.
“I still think about her all the time and have the lanyards from the tour up in my room. Every now and then I have a moment and feel so blessed and lucky to have had that opportunity to have even been close to her. I hope I’m making her proud.”
Amy passed away in July 2011 from alcohol poisoning.
He said: “I was in the music room practising piano when the door gets kicked open and my teacher drags me off the stool.
“As I’m carried out I see my headmaster coming into the atrium next door.
“I see him collapsing, I see blood, and my music teacher is covering my eyes.
“He escorts me out the back and just says, ‘Just go home, go’.”
Mr Lawrence, 48, died of a single stab wound at St George’s School in Maida Vale, West London, in 1995.