They were the buskers whose perfectly entwined harmonies brought passers-by to a standstill on a wintry George Street last Friday.
The subsequent video of Hester & Elmore’s cover of Kodaline’s All I Want has since been watched by nearly 25,000 people – and counting.
But while it may sound as if their Simon and Garfunkel-esque tones were the product of years of practice, we can now reveal that Reuben Hester, 19, and Oliver Elmore, 22, had not sung a note together until four months ago.
“Literally the first time we sang together was in September,” says Elmore, “and we had that sound straight away.”
From Wexford in south east Ireland, the pair seem intent on taking the fast track to stardom.
Hester moved to the UK three years ago, holding down a series of jobs including an uninspiring spell in the Convergys call centre in Broadheath.
His passion lay in music however – he’d grown up playing the cello for an orchestra in Wexford – and he was now focusing on the guitar and dedicated to a career as a singer songwriter.
After a trip back across the Irish Sea last summer, Hester met up with Elmore, an old schoolfriend, and invited him to come back to England with him. Elmore accepted the offer, and so followed a spontaneous “tour” around Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne and Amsterdam.
Below: Reuben Hester (left) and Oliver Elmore
Their sound – “modern folk, with a vintage pop spin”, caught the attention of Manchester label Boxx Records, who gave them their first record deal. They’ve spent the last few days recording their first co-written single, Don’t Drop Me, and will soon record an EP and go out on tour.
“We’re trying to bring back the old sound but with a new spin on it,” says Elmore, who was working in garages and as a freelance graphic designer before deciding to go full-time as a singer. “In our eyes that’s the best music,” adds Hester. “Nowadays it’s all Auto-Tune and fake music – we’re trying to get into the mainstream with a different sound.”
The question is whether their new record label will keep up. “The music industry says you’ve got to have a lot of patience,” says Elmore, “but we’ve got too much drive. Every day we’re like ‘let’s write a song’, or ‘let’s record a song’.”
“The main ambition is to have a solid fanbase where we can sell out a show, have a really stable living off it and have songs that are on the radio continuously,” Hester adds, “but the ultimate goal is to be up there with the greats”.
And as for that video, what effect did it have? They returned the next day and sold out of CDs. “It seemed like half the town stopped us on Saturday,” said Hester, “it was crazy”. Watch this space.
Below: Hester and Elmore on the spot where they busked on George Street
Below: Hester and Elmore’s cover of Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel
