HE might have dazzled one of the harshest talent judges on television and wooed thousands of viewers with his voice – not to mention having recently embarked on a debut album – but singing plumber Andrew Muir's feet are staying firmly on the ground.
Except, that is, when he's lying flat on his back fixing a U-bend. The 24-year-old Britain's Got Talent star has been back in his home village of Fauldhouse this week on a break from recording his first album in London with the help of PR guru Max C
lifford. But rather than relaxing and regaling drinkers in his mum's pub, the Commercial Inn, with tales of celebrity encounters, he's been grafting with his former workmates at FM Plumbing & Heating, installing toilets and sinks in a new house.
"Well, it keeps me in the good books and there's no point in me sitting about the house doing nothing when I can be out doing a bit of graft," explains Andrew, with a laugh. "It keeps my feet on the ground.
"If the guys at work think I'm getting above myself they would give me a wee slap and say I'm still their boy! Folk always make a joke of it, one week I'm away down in the studio – Girls Aloud were filming in the same studio as me on my first week recording two months ago – and the next week I'm coming back to the grind. The guys at work said 'I bet you wish you were still down there with Girl's Aloud'!"
But such is his modesty – he's constantly reminding himself he's "only a guy from a small village" – it's hard to tell which he really would prefer.
It was back in May when Andrew wowed TV judges Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden with his rendition of Paolo Nutini's Rewind. But what Andrew remembers mostly was his nerves: "When I first walked out on the stage, it was scary.
"Everybody before me was getting booed and people were shouting 'off, off, off'! I was trying to psyche myself up when I could hear people getting booed which was quite hard. But the crowd were amazing and just got behind me, which just lifts you up.
"I started off a wee bit dodgy because the nerves were coming through. I just thought it's make or break, I've got to go for it and get right into it. The crowd stood up and starting singing along and clapping. That was probably the best feeling I've had in my life – it was something else!"
Although Andrew reached the final of the talent show his version of Imagine failed to impress judges and voters, who instead opted for teenage dancer George Sampson as this year's winner.
Andrew returned to working as a plumber following the Britain's Got Talent tour, believing his childhood dream of becoming a singer to be over.
"I went back to work because I needed to get my hands dirty. I wanted to do a wee bit of graft. People were saying 'why are you going back to work, you're crazy' but I'm still the same guy – I don't mind a bit of hard work."
However Andrew's luck changed when he was invited down to London to meet Max Clifford after sending an e-mail to the media mogul – who appeared as a guest on the show – thanking him for his help.
Before long Osman Kent, of Songphonic Records, Peter Jamieson, former chairman of the record industry's trade body, the British Phonographic Industry, and Nick Fleming, owner of radio and TV PR firm Fleming Connolly were involved and over the last two months Andrew has been in London working with them on his debut album – which will be released next year – in the studio where Roxy Music recorded their hits.
"When Max got in touch I was stuttering on the phone. It's just been amazing working on the album. It's going well, I've got a lot of input. We have written our own material and there are some covers too. The original songs have got a wee bit of soul and the covers we are doing are all classics.
"There might be one Paolo Nutini song in there, that's the trademark now. I will maybe have to put one in so people recognise who I am!"
However, Andrew's budding singing career hasn't been without heartache. His six-year-old cousin Lori Callaghan died from a brain tumour during the tour – just eight days after the final of the show. And towards the end of the show he was to-ing and fro-ing between London and Fauldhouse, seeing as much of Lori and her mum and dad, Loraine Hamilton and John Callaghan, as he could.
He says: "I was going down to London and trying to keep my spirits up and I was coming back to a total nightmare, seeing my wee cousin fading away to nothing. I never really spoke about it much on television. I didn't feel I had to. At one point I was just going to quit, my heart wasn't in it. But Lori's mum and dad had said: 'She wants you to keep going for it. This could be your big chance'. My mum always said Lori was holding off to see me on TV.
"It's made me realise that life's too short. If you have got any dreams or anything you've wanted to do all your life, go for it because you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow."
He adds: "As soon as the show finished my family told me my cousin had taken a bad turn so it was just a case of going straight home."
And in memory of his cousin, Andrew has organised and performed at various charity nights, raising funds for children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent.
During his two-week break, Andrew has been renovating his house at Langrigg in Fauldhouse which he moved into after the talent tour ended in June and catching up with family – mum Marion Callaghan, her fiancé Tommy Murphy, brother Ross, 21, and sister Demi, 12, in Fauldhouse. Dad Andrew lives in Northern Ireland with his other sister, nine-year-old Saoirse. And of course, he's been continuing his plumbing apprenticeship at FM Plumbing & Heating and studying at the Nationwide Training College in Livingston.
Both have kept his place open, a gesture which Andrew says he is very grateful for.
"It took me years to get an apprenticeship so I don't want to lose it. People say it's only plumbing but it's quite sentimental to me. It means a lot to me to finish it. It's very hard to get an apprenticeship in plumbing.
"Even if the album makes it or if I won the lottery, I would still finish my apprenticeship. It would be stupid not to."
But that doesn't mean he's not going to give his singing career his best shot. "I've been given this chance and if I don't go for it, I'll never know."
