80s pop legend Nik Kershaw headlines Telford charity gig - with pictures

He played at a charity concert at Oakengates Theatre in aid of the Ben Corfield Football Fund, which is supporting Cure Leukaemia.

Shooting to fame in the 1980s, his songs include Wouldn’t It Be Good, Dancing Girls, Human Racing and The Riddle.

His 62 weeks on the UK singles chart through 1984 and 1985 beat all other solo artists and he has also penned a number of hits for other artists – including UK number-one The One and Only, sung by Chesney Hawkes.

The 59-year-old Bristol-born singer-songwriter met young Ben Corfield at the Let’s Rock concert in Shrewsbury earlier this year.

Kershaw and his band played for over an hour at the gig on Saturday. Other bands to star in the show included The Goldroom, TT4, Rhi & Ed, Ralph Porrett and The Acoustic Underdogs.

Ben Corfield, from Little Wenlock, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in February 2015 at the age of seven. Despite the gruelling treatment Ben was positive from the start and determined to get well.

Being passionate about football, from playing to watching, Ben was adamant that illness would not stop him enjoying the game he loves.

The Ben Corfield Football Fund was born out of that love of football and a desire to help raise money for sick children like Ben, the charities that support them and the hospitals that treat them.

So far, it has given more than £40,000 to good causes and proceeds from the concert will be given to Cure Leukaemia, which is working to expand the centre for clinical haematology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

Ben, who is now nine, is currently on a three-and-a-half year treatment plan, which is due to finish next July, and has regular check-ups at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital.

Last year, Go West headlined a charity concert for the Ben Corfield Football Fund at Oakengates Theatre and it raised £6,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital.