Twelve months ago, George Brindle was a dance student at Preston College funding his studies with a part-time job at Topman.

Now the 18-year-old, from Hoghton, near Preston, is touring major stadia with the boyband Billiam.

The four piece are supporting Girls Aloud on their Tangled Up tour and playing venues all over the UK and Ireland.

George, a former pupil at St Michael's CE High School in Chorley, is "living the dream".

He said: "The last four months since I joined has been amazing.

"Being on stage every night is a fantastic feeling, especially working with Girls Aloud.

"A few months ago I'd never really performed in front of a massive crowd and now I've sung in front of 20,000 people at the O2 Arena in London."

George was invited to audition after the band's management contacted colleges up and down the country in the hunt for new talent.

Four auditions later, he had beaten competition from all over the UK to land a place in the band alongside Jazz, Jordan and Zen.

But he never intended to be a pop star – his plan was to become a PE teacher.

"All through school I wanted to do a sports studies course at college," he said.

"But I took GCSE dance and it blew me away.

"So I decided to go to Preston College and do a dance course instead. And I'm glad I did."

George will be performing at his homecoming gig when the tour rolls into Manchester on May 31.

And if the band's single My Generation reaches the top 20, the band hope to sign to a major record company.

He added: "We're hoping the single does really well and we're working on the album too."

My Generation is released on June 16.

>> Vote in our latest web poll