John Galea who has supported McFly on their UK tour

A Norfolk singer/songwriter who battled cancer as a teenager stepped into the spotlight and supported McFly on their UK tour.

John Galea, from Caister, performed to more than 1,000 when he supported the band on Friday at the Hexagon in Reading.

The 24-year-old said: “It was amazing, it was absolutely fantastic. I was on for 20 minutes. It was great to see the fans’ reaction and see them all singing along. I can’t wait to do more tours.”

Mr Galea, who is unsigned, was chosen to support McFly after fans voted for him in an online Battle of the Bands contest.

“It was all down to my fans, friends and family who voted for me,” he said. “The support has been fantastic.”

The former Caister High School pupil was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymph gland cancer non-Hodgkins disease when he was 15.

He was playing the role of Parchester in the Dusmagrik theatre group production Me and My Girl at Gorleston’s Pavilion Theatre when he began to feel unwell. He was admitted to the James Paget Hospital, Gorleston, and had to undergo a gruelling stint of chemotherapy.

At 19 he headed to London to pursue a music career and won a national singer/songwriter award judged by Charlotte Church’s ex-manager Jonathan Shalit and a panel of industry insiders.