A CHRISTIAN singer who has performed in front of thousands of people at Wembley Stadium and across the world will be at the small Hurstwood village church next month.

Noel Richards will be flying in from Mallorca to perform at the village church on Friday, March 8.

He has been a solo singer-songwriter since 1972 and has also sold thousands of albums, as well as touring in 35 different countries.

Steve Del Monaco, church spokesman, said: “Noel currently has 17 songs that feature in the CCLI (Church Copyright listing) top 500.

“During his long career, he has played in every kind of venue you can imagine – street corners, bars, concert halls, churches, cathedrals and stadiums.

“Since the late 1970s, he has been involved in the worldwide contemporary Christian worship movement and together with his wife Tricia and others, has written many modern hymns and songs. Perhaps the best known of these is All Heaven Declares.

“Noel has also appeared on numerous ‘live’ event/ compilation albums.

“The most successful of these is Sparrow records ‘I could sing of your love forever’ on which Noel is featured singing a live version of ‘We want to see Jesus lifted high’. This album has sold in excess of 500,000 units.”

In 1997 Noel performed in front of 45,000 people at the Champion of the World event at Wembley Stadium, and he has since played in front of 66,000 at the Millennium Stadium, in Cardiff, to 60,000 at Flushing Meadows in New York, and also at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin and at sell-out venues in San Francisco and Hungary.

ABOVE: Noel performing at Wembley Stadium in 1997

In 2010, Noel, who was born in Wales, and his wife moved to the island of Mallorca, Spain, where they live in Palma, the capital city as it is a more convenient location for all the work they do in mainland Europe.

Tickets for the Hurstwood show are £9 from 07936 977399.