In July, Limelight was all set to talk with Michael Ball for the My Music column in our September issue, when news broke that he had caught COVID, again, having first been hit with the virus in March 2020.

He and his regular collaborator Alfie Boe were nearing the end of a UK tour, when Ball began coughing, despite having had his jabs. When he began to feel progressively unwell, he did a RAT test “and up popped the big black line”, as he puts it, so to their great disappointment – and that of their fans – they had to cancel the final concert.

Michael Ball

Michael Ball. Photo © James Hole

With a Zoom interview planned for first thing in the morning UK time, I fully expected it to be cancelled or postponed. But no, word came through that Ball was happy to go ahead.

After a slightly delayed start (he overslept; quite understandable given the circumstances), he appeared on screen looking somewhat unkempt but surprisingly cheery, and was charm itself as he chatted away in entertaining fashion, coughing as he went.

For the My Music column, Limelight asks people to tell...