On Friday evening, Nick Lynch played a gig with his band at the Johnny Pye bar in Heswall. In itself, this is hardly a newsworthy event, but much to the audience’s surprise, one of the customers took the mic and performed a perfect rendition of ‘Rappers Delight’ by the Sugarhill Gang.
As can be seen in the video of the performance, the performer was none other than former Liverpool FC superstar John Barnes who didn’t ‘skip’ a beat throughout the song.
Nick, who plays drums in the band, StereoFever 
, said, “Our bassist is good friends with John Barnes’ brother-in-law and they got talking at a Circa Waves gig a few weeks back and mentioned to John that we were playing at the Johnny Pye and he said he would come down.
“John had a quick word with our bassist and opened up our second set. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, the whole place stood up to watch and cheer.
“I didn’t expect him to turn up and not only that but perform Rapper’s Delight so flawlessly. We just laid down the backbeat and let him go with it.”, Nick said.
One person at the gig said, “We were lucky enough to be there, it was a great night. The band was amazing and John Barnes was a nice surprise!”
John Barnes is no stranger to rapping and will be forever remembered for performing the rap section of New Order’s ‘World in Motion’ as well as appearing on the track ‘Anfield Rap’, a Liverpool FC FA Cup Final song, rapping the lyrics “Liverpool FC is hard as hell/ United, Tottenham, Arsenal”, and performing lead rap in Liverpool’s ’96 cup final song ‘Pass & Move (It’s the Liverpool Groove)’.
“World in Motion” reached number one in the charts and spent 18 weeks in the UK top 75. Barnes was only paid a flat rate of £200 and received no royalties. “Anfield Rap” reached number 3 and spent 6 weeks in the top 75.
You can catch StereoFever at Woolton Village Club, 23 Allerton Road, Liverpool L25 7RA from 8:30pm on Saturday 11 September. Free entry.
To keep up to date with StereoFever, please visit their Facebook page .
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