THE next few weeks could see a singer and dancer from East Lancashire becoming a hot property in the pop world.

Jake Donlan, 20, is the newest member of the boy band Yes Lad who embark on their first but UK tour tomorrow.

Yes Lad first hit the headlines when they narrowly failed to make the finals of TV talent show X Factor in 2016, which caused outrage among the band's fans.

Jake from Colne said: "I joined the band last October after the TV show had finished. Certain things didn't work out and one of the guys had left."

For Jake, the invitation to join came completely out of the blue.

"I'm a dancer, that's what I've always wanted to do," he said.

"I've been a mechanic and done welding but dancing has always been my dream."

His dancing has seen him become something of a You Tube sensation and it brought him to the attention of Nigel Martin Smith, the former manager of Take That who now manages Yes Lad.

"He asked me if I could come and do some choreography for the boys," said Jake. "Then he asked me if I could sing.

"I'd never sung in public, dancing had been my trade until then.

"So he just said to come down, meet the boys and do some choreography. I was a bit worried how the boys might react but we got on so well from the start."

During that rehearsal, Jake, whose dad lives in Clitheroe, sang along with the rest of the band and by the end of the day he was invited to become the fifth member of the group.

"That was amazing," he said. "The lads wanted me to join after just one day together."

Since then, Jake has been a key member of the band and has choreographed all the routines for their upcoming tour.

"Once I got hold of them, they have all turned out to be really good dancers," he said. "I don't think people appreciate how difficult it is to sing and perform a complex routine at the same time, but they've nailed it."

Jake said he first got the dancing bug watching the likes of Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake when he was about eight and a pupil at St Thomas Primary School, Barrowford.

"I'd be copying their moves on TV and dance around the living room," he said.

Jake, who still lives with his mum in Colne joined a dance studio in Manchester aged 13 and won a number of dance competitions.

"I used to get told off for singing along to the songs while I was dancing in competitions which is ironic considering where I am now," he said.

Yes Lad have been working on their debut album which will be released later in the year but for the moment, it's their debut tour which opens in Liverpool and comes to Manchester's Deaf Institute on Sunday which is in their minds.

"We just want to get out there in front of people and show them what we can do," said Jake.

"At the end of the tour we're looking at doing a schools' tour and I'd love to go back to Park High School in Colne, my old school, and put on a show there."