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Chasing a dream - teen delighted to duet with Lightbody

BBC Gary Lightbody sings into a microphone on stage wearing a blue jacket. Behind him is a blue screen with white letters.BBC
Conor invited Gary Lightbody to sing with him

Many people dream of singing a hit song with their favourite band or rock star.

For 19-year-old Conor Bruen that dream has come true.

The Belfast teenager who is autistic sang Snow Patrol's hit Chasing Cars alongside the band's Gary Lightbody.

The pair's duet has gone viral on social media.

Teenager Conor Bruen smiles at the camera in a grey hoodie. He has brown hair and blue eyes.
19-year-old Conor Bruen sang Snow Patrol's hit Chasing Cars alongside the band's Gary Lightbody

But according to Conor, their meeting came about entirely by accident.

He was attending his weekly music class at Drake Music NI on Belfast's Springfield Road when he spotted the Snow Patrol star in a meeting in a room nearby.

"I was recording my own music and then I said: 'Gary, is this too noisy? Should I close the door?'" Conor told BBC News NI.

Conor then invited Gary Lightbody to sing with him and he agreed.

"It didn't make me nervous singing with Gary because I've sung before in the past in my school."

Why did he pick Chasing Cars?

"Well, Chasing Cars just makes me feel happy," Conor said.

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Drake Music NI is a charity which has been helping adults and children of all abilities make music for more than 30 years, and Conor credits meeting Lightbody at his weekly class for helping him find his voice again.

"I'm also going to be singing at the gala ball at the ADHD Hub [in Newcastle] and I'm going to shout: 'Gary, you're an inspiration for getting me back into my singing'," he said.

'A real push to keep doing music'

Sean Bruen sits on a black chair, he has grey hair, brown eyes and is dressed in a blue checked shirt with a brown coat over it. There is a poster on a wooden wall behind him.
Sean Bruen said his son was really into rap music

Conor is very into making music, according to his dad Sean Bruen.

"Music and rap music is his thing, that's what he loves to do," Sean said.

"Gary was brilliant, he went in next door as you saw in the video and they then did a song together."

His dad said he was so proud of Conor.

"Sometimes with Conor's autism, he has no filters but sometimes it goes in his favour and yesterday definitely went in his favour," he said.

"Even last night he was absolutely bouncing after it - it just gave him so much confidence and a real push to keep doing his music.

"When it comes to music he has a lot of self-confidence."

"When I was watching the video back, I saw Conor pointing to Gary to tell him to come in when it was his part in the song!"