Birmingham ArenaFrontman Ricky Wilson is a very watchable fusion of indie rocker, Elvis impersonator and Blackpool compere who has the audience eating from his hands
In 2012, Kaiser Chiefs singer Ricky Wilson bought himself a house on the Cornish coast, preparing for retirement. Accountants had once told him not to expect the band’s success to last longer than four years – and it already had. Drummer Nick Hodgson – who had written all their hits – was leaving the band and their last album with him, The Future Is Medieval, was their lowest charting to date.
Fast forward just over seven years and that house is on the market; the Kaisers’ latest, Duck, has become their sixth Top Five album and the Leeds band have become an enduring and entertaining arena staple. In between, they have proved that they can write perfectly decent songs without Hodgson. Meanwhile, and perhaps more crucially, a stint as a judge on TV talent contest The Voice transformed the frontman from chubby, scruffy indie kid to sharply dressed, gym-toned, immaculately coiffured household name and mainstream entertainer.