MEET the father and son duo who are impressing crowds with their Beatles act.
Father and son, both called Henrique Machado, or the Henrys, 24 and 53, have hit the road making a living out of their love for music.
The Portuguese duo started busking when they first arrived in Southampton and have impressed crowds with their voice and guitar.
Henrique started busking in Lisbon when he finished secondary school, where he would play for hours while tourists walked by.
He said: “It was just me, I was 18 and had just finished high school, and I felt the freedom to do this.”
In 2017 after attending a professional fair where he heard about Southampton’s Solent university, Henrique decided to apply to study music and move to the UK to pursue his dream.
It was at this point that his dad, Henrique, began considering his move to the UK.
Henrique senior said: “I was hearing about the money he was earning working in sales compared to me working as a music teacher in Portugal and I thought to myself, why not move there, it’ll be a new adventure.”
The two began performing on Above Bar Street, quickly attracting crowds.
Henrique the son said: "After a month of doing it, we quickly started making a nice amount of money so we gradually did fewer shifts with our agency and started taking busking full time.”
In December 2019 they reached the final in an Open Mic competition hosted in the Indigo at the O2.
Henrique the son said: “The whole experience was very overwhelming, we were feeling quite nervous, feeling insecure.
"The rest of the family was there which added to the nerves. It was a great experience nevertheless.”
They found the public began to share their enjoyment with their Beatles covers particularly how similar they sounded to the band.
On one occasion they were mistaken for a recording of the Beatles because of "how closely they sounded".
Henrique junior said: "We do find people say the same thing to us when we play covers from the Beatles, which is that we sound just like them.”
The two share a smile when saying: “We’re living the dream, we love what we do.”
The Henrys continue to have a packed schedule as they travel to various places across the country to play, sharing the hope that they will continue to play music the crowds enjoy.
Their vision is to write their own songs and start to share them with their fanbase.
The Henrys can be booked via their Facebook page 'The Henrys'.
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