Zoe Birkett
Zoe was a student at Stagecoach Darlington for 5 years, mainly in Darlington Saturday Afternoon school but latterly in the Friday Darlington school. She danced and sang with STARE all around the region.
Zoe was still with us the week before she left, to go into the finals of the first series of “Pop Idol”. It is hard to imagine now how that first series dominated the whole country. It was the first really big reality talent contest and it captured the nation`s imagination. I needed a mortgage to pay my phone bill, after all the voting, week by week. Zoe was fantastic and was the last female singer left in the competition.
Since then, she has released a pop single “Treat Me Like a Lady” - see the Youtube clip below and can count as highlights - singing in Canterbury Cathedral, The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, at The Royal Albert Hall, London Palladium, Buckingham Palace and Houses of Parliament and even for Tony Blair`s son`s christening. See the links below for other news about her.
Nothing has changed Zoe. She is still the lovely girl she always was. She was always a team player and supportive of others but when she was performing in any kind of group, you could not help your eye being drawn to her. She was a born natural.
My abiding last memory of her, is of her sitting on the floor on her last Friday with us, encouraging and supporting all the Stage One students. Zoe returns to pantomime at the Civic this Christmas when she appears in “Snow White”. Pay her a visit. She`ll be great!
Zoe has recorded a film clip for our big anniversary show and sent us a message below.