The Piano winner Brad Kella has admitted that he ‘doesn’t know what the keys mean’ and his extraordinary talent is based purely on listening and comparing sounds.
The amateur pianist, 22, from Liverpool was declared season two’s champion during Sunday’s heart-wrenching finale at the Aviva Studios in Manchester.
But on Tuesday’s episode of This Morning, he revealed that not only is he self-taught, but the way he plays is through sound only because he cannot read or write music.
Brad explained that he doesn’t know what each key means, and each time he plays a song, it turns out differently because it is based on memory.
Chatting to Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley, the musician said: ‘When I’m playing music I could create a piece, like the Ev and Frank piece, but when you hear me play that piece again, parts of it will be slightly different.
The Piano winner Brad Kella has admitted that he ‘doesn’t know what the keys mean’ and his extraordinary talent is based purely on listening and comparing sounds
On Tuesday’s episode of This Morning, he revealed that not only is he self-taught, but the way he plays is through sound only because he cannot read or write music
‘And that is purely because I actually don’t know what I am playing, I don’t know what the keys mean I just understand the sound distance in between each key.’
His candid interview comes just days after Brad left viewers in tears during his winning performance on Sunday as he reached the final alongside other hopefuls including fellow fan favourite Duncan, 80, who suffers from Dementia.
The Channel 4 show sees a range of musicians play the piano in train stations across the UK in a bid to impress passersby with their music.
Brad took to the stage to perform a song he had written in honour of his beloved foster parents Ev and Frank, who wiped away tears as they watched from the audience.
After impressing judges Mika and Lang Lang, as well as host Claudia Winkleman, and being declared the winner, he made an impassioned speech.
He said: ‘I just want to show that us care kids can still do stuff, we just need to be around the right people. Thank you so much for appreciating my music’.
Viewers were left in bits and took to X writing: ‘Watched the Piano the final and I have probably wept through the entire programme’
‘Well done brad! So utterly deserved, I have just cried ugly tears from start to finish’
The amateur pianist, 22, from Liverpool was declared season two’s champion during Sunday’s heart-wrenching finale at the Aviva Studios in Manchester
Brad explained that he doesn’t know what each key means, and each time he plays a song, it turns out differently because it is based on memory
Brad pictured during his first ever piano lesson which was headed by Chinese superstar pianist Lang Lang
It comes just days after Brad left viewers in tears during his winning performance on Sunday as he reached the final alongside other hopefuls including fellow fan favourite Duncan
‘Well Done Brad on the thepiano may have cried a few tears’.
While others said: ‘Wow #ThePiano !! All were brilliant – I had tears streaming down my face listening to the music and the stories of these talented musicians! Brad was inspirational what an amazing man to write such a wonderful piece for his foster parents ( cue tears again !)’.
Brad previously spoke about his childhood and credited his foster parents with turning his life around.
Saying: ‘I got put in foster care when I was seven years old with my twin brother. I was so confused. I remember hanging onto the railings outside my foster parents’ [house] and I didn’t want to go in.’
‘What they did for me and my brother was absolutely everything. They’d make sure we were up to start in school, routine, getting up early, going to bed early. They gave me absolutely everything and more.’
Brad took to the stage to perform a song he had written in honour of his beloved foster parents Ev and Frank, who wiped away tears as they watched from the audience
The Channel 4 show sees a range of musicians play the piano in train stations across the UK in a bid to impress passersby with their music (Duncan pictured with his wife)
After impressing judges Mika and Lang Lang, as well as host Claudia Winkleman, and being declared the winner he made an impassioned speech
He said: ‘I just want to show that us care kids can still do stuff, we just need to be around the right people. Thank you so much for appreciating my music’
Brad previously spoke about his childhood and credited his foster parents with turning his life around
Explaining how his parents helped him develop his love for music he said: ‘I never started playing piano until I was 14. I can’t read music, I’ve never had a lesson in my life. But when I hear music, it’s something about it. I feel it differently than normal people’
Emotional fans took to social media to praise Brad’s talents
Explaining how his parents helped him develop his love for music he said: ‘I never started playing piano until I was 14.
‘I can’t read music, I’ve never had a lesson in my life. But when I hear music, it’s something about it. I feel it differently than normal people.
Before adding: ‘Ev put some money in to get a piano. From that moment, my life changed.’
Last year, fans were left captivated by the victorious performance on the show’s debut from then-13-year-old blind and autistic girl, Lucy Illingworth, who won the show.
The teenager from Halifax in West Yorkshire moved viewers to tears with an awe-inspiring recital of Debussy’s Arabesque, leading judges Lang Land and Mika to call her a ‘genius’.
One year on and the moment was nominated for a BAFTA, in a category with scenes from Doctor Who, Succession and Happy Valley.
Also since her amazing performance on the Channel 4 talent show, Lucy has performed to a packed Royal Albert Hall, and left the King and Queen speechless as King Charles III’s Coronation concert.
So, where is Lucy now, as The Piano returns to find another hidden musical star?
Viewers of Channel 4 ‘s The Piano were left captivated by the victorious performance on the show’s debut from 13-year-old blind and autistic girl, Lucy in the show’s 2023 debut
She went on to put in the ‘best performance’ at the show’s concert finale at the Royal Festival Hall
In the months after the programme aired, Lucy left the newly-crowned King and Queen speechless during a performance at their Coronation concert (pictured)
On her way to The Piano’s final, Lucy wowed passers by at Leeds train station with her rendition of Chopin’s Nocturne in B-flat minor, with the video being viewed over five million times online.
The pianist, who was born with cancerous tumours in her eyes and is largely non-verbal, was put forward by her mother Candice forward for the competition as she wanted to show others how ‘amazing’ she was and raise awareness of her condition.
Her performance has landed her and the programme in the Best Moment category at the BAFTA Television Awards – which take place on May 12.
Other nominees in the category are: David Beckham teasing Victoria about her ‘working class’ upbringing in their Netflix documentary, Ncuti Gatwa being revealed as the 15th Doctor in Doctor Who, Catherine Cawood and Tommy Lee Royce’s final showdown on BBC One’s Happy Valley, Bill and Frank’s Story in Sky Atlantic series The Last Of Us and Logan Roy’s death in Succession on the same channel.
Since recording the show, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, Lucy has been learning more and more pieces by artists including Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and Stevie Wonder.
Less than two months after her win aired, Lucy wowed the newly-crowned King and Queen, as well as tens of thousands more spectators, at Charles’ Coronation concert in Windsor.
She was on the bill alongside world-renowned artists like Lionel Richie and Nicole Scherzinger.
