© Em Cole
Hailing from Bury, Greater Manchester, Elliot James Reay is a 22-year-old artist who draws inspiration from 1950s music to create fresh sounds for a 2025 audience.
Organically amassing over 4.7 million followers and hundreds of millions of views across social media, Reay began by covering his favourite artists before releasing his own songs. The video for his debut single, I Think They Call This Love, has garnered 9.8 million views on YouTube, while recent follow-up, Boy In Love, achieved more than 550,000 streams on Spotify in its first week alone. Vintage Rock meets the affable young star, who is undoubtedly a name to look out for this year.
Can you tell us how and when you first started performing?
I was about seven when I got my first instrument, a ukulele. From that point on, I’ve always been performing. Around the age of 12, I started taking my music to the streets, busking in Bury. It’s in my blood, I guess... Both of my parents can sing, and they always joked that they were either going to have an Elvis Presley or a tone-deaf kid!