A SINGER who honed her skills in the North-East is looking forward to bringing her work back home this weekend.

Hayley McKay, who was born in Durham and went to school in Hurworth, near Darlington, is bringing her unique mix of pop, electro and country to the Gala Theatre in Durham on Saturday, May 13, where she hopes to get people up on their feet and dancing.

She said: “To have a headline gig at Gala is amazing as it’s such a great venue.

“I performed there at the premiere of the feature film Harrigan starring Stephen Tomkinson in 2013 as I sang on the soundtrack.

“I spend about half of my time in London, but I always love coming back home to catch up with friends and family. It’s even better when I have an opportunity to perform for them as they’ve been so supportive of me.”

After achieving one of the ten highest grades in the UK in her drama GCSE, Hayley went on to study performing arts, drama, drama theatre and music tech at Queen Elizabeth College in Darlington.

"She later graduated to an artist development course in London with Access to Music, where alumni include Rita Ora and Ed Sheeran.

Hayley has recently released her second single The Bottom Of My Heart and has played a number of high-profile gigs including Northumberland Live, Cornbury Festival and Glastonbury.

Tickets for the show, at 7.30pm, cost £12 or £10 for concessions and can be bought by visiting www.galadurham.co.uk or contacting the box office on 03000 266 600.