Olly Murs is craving nuts

2011 is proving to be a 'busy' year for Olly Murs in more years than one.

Busy is the title of his latest single and it certainly sums up his lifestyle. is on a solo tour until early June when he teams up with JLS for a series of stadium gigs.

We caught up with Olly before one of his recent shows to chat about his rise to fame, his dressing room, Essex and EastEnders. 

On his success…

"I’m still the same person, all the people that are coming to the show tonight I’ll try and make it as personal as I can, it’s not choreographed, well of course some of it’s staged because you have to but I just talk random about different things, what I’ve done, experienced in that day, what I ate for breakfast, make it more so people know who I am. I just feel like one of the lads, one of the people."

On his dressing room…

"I’m not a diva, I’ve got no special requirements, [looks around dressing room] I’ve just got a bowl of fruit, some water and bowl of sweets that they left for me.

"But I like peanuts, that’s the only thing I’m addicted to at the moment. It’s like a proper craving.”

On nerves and pre-show routines

"I generally don’t get nervous, you’ll normally catch me an hour or two before a show having a little kip on the sofa chillin’ out, then I wake up and my management say ‘Olly we’ve got about half an hour till show time’ I’m like ‘Ok, right, better get ready, do my hair and here we go, I’d like to think it was a little bit more glamorous than that but it’s not."

On his rise to fame...

“Since I’ve left the X-Factor this is probably the first moment the whole tour has shocked me, with the hysteria of the fans, I’ve never really had that before. To actually come to my own show and all my fans are here to see me, it’s pretty crazy, it’s great.”

On 'The Only Way is Essex'...

"It’s a good show, I’ve never watched it, but I know that people think it’s funny. It is hard because I want to get taken seriously as an artist and obviously I’m a bit dopey at times, everyone is, but I think you don’t want to be stereotyped as that type of character."

On wanting a part in EastEnders

"Yeah I’d love it, you’ve got to keep your options open. I love music, but it’s nice to delve into different things at some point, just dip your toe in. Eastenders is a huge programme, I watch it, so if I had the opportunity to go on the square I’d love to."