Ivy and Ellie: Conor Maynard

Just another U.K. newcomer. “It’s almost like a family of artists. It’s really cool.” Conor says about his fellow friends in the music world like Rita Ora, Ed Sheeran, One Direction and The Wanted.
“U.K. artists do seem to see each other quite a lot. … I see Rita Ora about all the time. I’ve been a close friend of Rita’s for some time, since before both of us released our singles,” Maynard says, of Ora, who also appears on his album. “It was really cool for us to release almost at the same time in the U.K.
“Ed Sheeran, he’s a really, really cool guy. He’d been tweeting me before I even got the chance to meet him about music and stuff, and then we finally got to meet and he was really cool. I met one-fifth of One Direction. I met Louis and he was a really cool guy. The Wanted? I see them about all the time. Funny enough, we got the same plane to the U.S. the last time I came here.”

Conor is only 19.

Shake, shake like you’re famous, girl
Head back, lay it down like a Vegas girl
Bass coming down so hard
That little dress breaking every heart
Shake, shake like you’re famous, girl
Head back, lay it down like a Vegas girl

HOW IT ALL BEGAN: “I was singing and messing around with some friends and a girl from school heard me,” he recalls. “She asked me to sing something else, and the look on her face made me realize that singing was something I should take further. I taped two SingStar microphones together and then taped them to my bedpost, and that’s how I first began recording covers. Initially they were watched by literally three people, me, my mum, and my nan.”