AN AWARD winning magician has shared how his life has been turned around as a result of magic.

Stephen Simmons is a 31-year-old magician based in Eastleigh, who in the past was known as ‘The Nightclub Magician’ to residents of Southampton.

This year, he has been forced to adapt his work slightly as a result of lockdown, turning it into more of a digital business whilst restrictions are in place.

Despite this though, over the last two months he still managed to pick up the Most Entertaining Stage and Close up Magician - South East England at the SME UK enterprise awards and also the Close up Magician of the Year UK at the Corporate Global Awards.

Stephen said: “They’re both really nice awards to have, and especially considering all we’ve been through this year.

“It’s nice to be recognised for my hard work, the awards are also proof for me that I’ve turned my life around.”

Stephen claims he has loved magic from a young age, but when he was about 16 he got in with the wrong crowd, started drinking and taking drugs, and by the age of 23 he was homeless sleeping on sofas.

About seven years ago he was using magic in order to hustle to just earn some money to live off of, but then he realised he could turn it into a career.

He said: “I have been performing for as long as I can remember really.

“It’s that old cliche of having a magic set when I was a kid, and carrying on and I ended up falling in love with it.

“When I was 16 I was coming off the back of various addiction and alcohol problems and I was going down the wrong route in life, so magic was almost like a saviour for me.”

A lot of the magic Stephen performs is to do with psychology and hypnosis.

He now attends various events from corporate meetings and staff parties, to weddings and anniversaries, locally, as well as across the country and Europe.

The magician says he has a lot of ideas and events coming up in the future and is just happy to be recognised for all his hard work.