Winner of Channel 4’s smash-hit The Piano reveals major career update months after scooping the crown
BRAD Kella has revealed an exciting career update just months after winning the second series of the Channel 4 show.
Liverpool lad Brad has landed an exciting musical opportunity collaborating with Rosie Danvers, who has worked with world class musicians like Noel Gallagher, Adele and Michael Kiwanuka.
Brad, 23, who wowed The Piano judges Mika and Lang Lang, host Claudia Winkeman, and viewers at home when he performed his original song New Beginnings in Liverpool Lime Street Station, and he ultimately went on to win the show.
Now his career has reached new heights as he has been signed to a Liverpool-based record label Modern Sky, which is home to artists such as Miles Kane, The Coral, Jamie Webster and Lottery Winners.
Brad is releasing his debut single, Eve & Frank, which is a love letter to his foster parents and has recorded his first album, which is due to be released in 2025.
“They sent me down to RAK Studios in London to record an album,” he revealed.
“Some of the best string players in the world were there, reading through pages of manuscript, but I managed to get through the whole session – eight hours – just remembering it off the top of my head, because I can’t read music. I was thirteen when I first saw a piano, now I’m twenty-three, so I feel like I was born to do it,” he added, reflecting on his journey over the last ten years.
The album is full of depth and steeped in emotion as Brad draws on events from his childhood. Having faced adversity in his young life, Brad and his brother were eventually put into foster care.
The song Eve & Frank released today, named after the foster parents who took in Brad and his brother, is a recorded version of the piece performed by Brad on the finale of The Piano.
It is arranged by Rosie who called Brad “a refreshingly modern voice in classical music.”
“Self-taught, he transcends traditional technique, playing with a natural, fluid, and lyrical style. His subtle phrasing lends emotional depth, creating music that speaks directly to the heart. His gift for melody—catchy, infectious, and timeless—brings classical music firmly into the 21st century. It’s a true joy to collaborate with him!” she gushed.
Brad’s foster parents, Eve and Frank, are responsible for nurturing Brad’s love of music.
“After seeing that teacher play piano in high school, I went home and asked my foster parents – Eve and Frank – if I could have a piano, which just seemed like a pipe dream,” he explained.
But Eve and Frank got him the next best thing.
“They got me a keyboard, and I picked it up really quickly. Then there was this government grant available to kids who’d been fostered, which funded an electric piano for me,” he added.
After walking out of his GCSE exams, but earning a scholarship to the Liverpool School of Performing Arts (LIPA), Brad’s world was again turned upside down, after turning eighteen, when the death of his mother led to a spiral in which he was effectively homeless for a period. Brad and his long-time girlfriend drifted around Liverpool.
Channel 4's best competition shows
Channel 4 boasts a number impressive competition shows, but which ones are really the best?
Four in a Bed
- Reality competition show Four in a Bed has been airing on Channel 4 since 2010. It follows four couples as they take turns to stay at each others B&Bs and hotels, rating their stays along the way. The couple with the establishment voted best value for money are the winners.
Come Dine With Me
- Come Dine With Me has been staple British viewing since 2005, providing some outrageous telly moments over the years. Like Four in a Bed, the series moves around to different properties as it follows four contestants as they each host a (supposedly) gourmet dinner party for each other. After each dinner the guests score the host out of 10, will the winner being revealed on the final evening.
The Great British Bake Off
- Another national treasure, The Great British Bake Off welcomes a group of 12 amateur bakers to put their culinary skills to the test with Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith judging their efforts. One contestant is eliminated each week until the final three face off in the last week.
Bake Off: The Professionals
- Bake Off: The Professionals puts a twist on GBBO, pitting two teams of professional pastry chefs against each other in every episode. It’s up to judges Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden to determine who has what it takes to make it through to the final.
By chance, he was filmed playing one of the public pianos in Liverpool One shopping centre. The video went viral, pricking the ears of the producers of a new, classical music-based talent show on Channel 4 called The Piano. Somehow, they found him and urged him to audition.
“I just applied for the show, expecting nothing to come of it. I went into the Manchester audition wearing a tracksuit… not looking like a piano player at all. But they were blown away, they said.
“I played one of my own songs. Everyone was advising me not to, because other contestants were playing classical standards, and it was a risk. But Lang Lang and Mika, the judges, they loved it.”
His own songs reflect the sense of somebody telling their lived experiences through sounds and the feeling of sound – a real-life story.
Brad ended up winning the second series of the hit Channel 4 music show.