By Leicester Mercury | Posted: 24 August, 2015
There will be no rest for The Voice star Sally Barker for the next two months as she embarks on two very different tours.
Sally, of Lutterworth, who was the runner up in the BBC One talent show last year, begins her UK tour on September 13 to promote her new EP, Love Rat.
But before that, between September 1 and September 12, she will be performing 30 half-hour sets at locations around Leicestershire to help the LOROS hospice in Groby Road, Leicester, to mark its 30th birthday.
Sally, 55, who has supported acts including Bob Dylan, Robert Plant and Tom Jones in the past, lost her husband, Chris, to cancer 12 years ago and since then she has been a supported of the hospice, where he passed away.
She said: "My husband died in the hospice 12 years ago and so I wanted to do something.
"When they called me I thought of doing 30 gigs lasting 30 minutes and I've got a wide range of places I'll be playing.
"As well as doing sets at places like The Donkey and Duffy's Bar, I'm doing gigs at people's house parties and at all sorts of weird places."
The main tour starts at Bush Hall in London and continues to Aldershot, Birmingham, Newbury, Leicester, Holmfirth, Nottingham, Croydon, Bristol and Matlock Bath.
Sally said: "The good thing is that after the 30 gigs for LOROS I shouldn't have my usual problem of forgetting the words on stage.
"But I expect I'll be feeling pretty exhausted."
Sally recently turned down a £75,000 advance from Universal to record a covers album because she wanted to do her own thing.
She said: "It's going to be a very personal tour because it's all about my new EP, Love Rat, which is a new, more mature direction for me.
"There is bit more jazz and blues than I used to do."
The Leicester gig will take place on Sunday, September 20, at the Y Theatre in East Street.
Tickets are available by calling 0116 255 6507 or visiting www.leicesterymca.co.uk
