CHART-smashing hip-hop star Professor Green will hit Southampton for a major performance tonight – but one rising Hampshire artist will realise a dream by sharing a stage with him.
Professor Green, who reached stardom in the UK with hits like Read All About It and Need You Tonight, will appear at the University of Southampton’s Students’ Union on Monday night as part of his country-wide tour.
And for 18-year-old Shane Long, from Eastleigh, it will be a dream come true when he takes to the stage for the very first time on the same night.
Just months the ago the teenager attended a talk held by fundraiser James Hilling at Eastleigh College on how troubled young adults can turn their lives around.
Shane had spent time in a young offenders’ institution and was looking for something to focus on in life.
Shane Long
James saw Shane’s potential as a young musician and quickly signed him up on the First Steps Recordings label, which is a development programme for young and aspiring musicians looking for guidance.
Now just over two months from that chance meeting, Shane is ready to perform in front of a large crowd for the first time under his new artist name Realness.
He said: “I have never performed live before. It’s natural to be nervous, but I’m more looking forward to getting out there and performing now.
“I never thought this would happen, it’s like a dream come true.
“I rap about things that I have been through.”
Professor Green
James, who runs the WuWu charity and is a former Daily Echo Hampshire Hero, said: “What I like to do is get young people to stay in college. His deal is as long as he stays in college, my team will produce music for him.
“The idea of First Steps Recordings is we will take Shane by the scruff of the neck, if he stays in college and doesn’t get angry.
“His interest is UK hip hop, and we are trying to release music for Shane from this point of view, but the music we are working on with him of cross genres.
“When I met Shane he was one of the only ones interested in what I had to say. You can be a young offender as a child but there is life after that – there is life other than in jail.”
There will be collection buckets on the night for the WuWu charity, which will go towards supporting the homeless in Southampton and funding the First Steps Recordings project.
Professor Green, who achieved success with his albums At Your Inconvenience and Growing Up in Public, will appear in Garden Court at the university’s students’ union.
Tickets are priced at £15 and are selling out quickly.
Visit boxoffice.susu.org.
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