Olly Murs has paid an emotional tribute to Caroline Flack after he performed at the third Flackstock festival yesterday.
When the pair began hosting The Xtra Factor together back in 2011, sparks most definitely flew – and viewers up and down the country became convinced that they were romantically involved – a rumour which they both denied. They formed a close bond and soon became one of the nation’s favourite presenting duo. But, when Caroline sadly took her own life in February 2020 Olly, along with the entire nation, was left devastated.
Following her tragic death Caroline’s close friends and relatives thought up the concept of Flackstock, a festival to champion the TV star’s life with music, comedy and dance while raising cash for mental health charities. The idea came about after her loved ones felt that the first coronavirus lockdown in 2020, which was in place only 13 days after Caroline’s funeral, robbed them and her family of the chance to mourn together.
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In its inaugural year in 2022 Flackstock featured performances by the likes of Ronan Keating, Tom Grennan, Olly Murs, Natalie Imbruglia and more. The event was attended by thousands and raised an incredible £325k split equally between Choose Love, Mind, Samaritans and Charlie Waller Trust – four worthy outlets that held a special place in Caroline’s heart.
This year the festival took place at Englefield House, Pangbourne, in Berkshire and was attended by the likes of; Tom Walker, Olly Murs, Joe Wickes, Rebecca Ferguson, Gok Wan,Kate Lawler, Denise Van Outen and more.
Yesterday afternoon Olly shared a series of videos of him and the late TV star to mark Flackstock 2024. He captioned the post on Instagram, “Been reminiscing a lot these last few weeks knowing Flackstock is today!”, Olly began. “Caz loved singing, we did it so much, didn’t always capture those moments on camera but I did capture them as memories which I’ll never forget. So I thought I’d put some of these clips on here that I found of her beautiful voice! She sang more than me when I was around her.
“Today will be hard, it’s really odd feeling for me, I have this feeling of wanting to do this gig for her, for her family and for us to remember what a crazy funny kind mad hilarious woman she was but also feeling I’d rather this festival not be here, and that Caz was still here with us. I’ve never felt emotions like this before a gig!
“Although hard, this festival is a special event, which brings everyone together not just to celebrate her life but help those out there that are struggling too, the amazing charities that are involved in this can really help people. I’m honoured to be here and I know she will be drinking a pina colada tonight watching x miss ya caz.”
The comment section of the post, which has had over 100,000 likes, was inundated with messages of support from his fans.One wrote: “She’d be so proud of you and smiling at how your keeping her memory alive,” while another said: “What a voice, what a smile, what a laugh! Sending huge love to you all today.”
Some celebrities also took to the comment section with broadcaster Ashley James writing: “I miss her so much! ” and Pixie Lott leaving three heart emojis under Olly’s post.
Late yesterday evening Olly took to his Instagram stories to reflect on the emotional day. Fighting back the tears in the back of a car he said: “Wow, what a night tonight, I just wanted to come on here and say thank you to everyone that came to Flackstock.”
He thanked everyone for raising so much money for charity and for the love and support. He continued: “It was an emotional one tonight, the weirdest feeling this gig tonight, I’ve never had a feeling like it in all the years I’ve been performing. This is Caroline’s festival, it’s in her name, it’s f,or her and her family and all the incredible charities.”
He added: “I was very emotional going into it but I just think that you guys pulled through for me – the fans were incredible tonight, thank you for the love, the support- you guys singing.”
* Samaritans (116 123) operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year. If you prefer to write down how you’re feeling, or if you’re worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
