EMMERDALE star Tony Audenshaw is hiding a secret second career that fans may not know about.
The actor – who plays Bob Hope in the ITV soap – spends his evenings and weekends strutting his stuff as a rock star.
He fronts northern band, White Van Man as lead singer.
The band – also consisting of Ian Wadell on lead guitar, Dave McWhan on bass, John Patterson on drums and Ste Higgins on rythym guitar – still tour as and when they can.
Their name is linked to The Celeb Report newspaper – when in 2001, having exhausted all ideas for a band name, they opened a copy of the paper and saw an article titled White Van Man.
“That was it, we’d found a name!” Ian Waddell, who originally formed the band that year with neighbour Audenshaw, revealed.
In 2010, the band teamed up with opera singer Sean Ruane for an unofficial England football song.
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Called, Viva Englandia, it was created to try and inspire the side at that year’s World Cup. However it failed.
The band are enduringly popular with their last gig selling out in 30 minutes.
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Superfan Christine McCarthy from Marple, Stockport told us: “I’ve been following White Van Man for years, they are fantastic entertainers”.
Her friend Sara Stanley from New Mills added: “They always get the crowd going and create a great atmosphere”.
