THE Irish singer who moved fans with her rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone in tribute to Diogo Jota has told how she only found out she was performing two days in advance.
Claudia Rose, from Cork, sang the Liverpool anthem ahead of the Reds’ pre-season friendly at Preston on Sunday, describing it as a “very emotional” and “special” moment.
Portugal and Liverpool forward Jota and his brother Andre Silva died in a car crash in Spain on July 3.
Claudia – who is married to former Preston and Ireland star Sean Maguire – sang You’ll Never Walk Alone before kick-off at the match, which was Liverpool’s first since the two men were killed.
Speaking to the Irish Sun, Claudia said she found out just two days before that she would be singing the iconic tune.
Claudia Rose believed she was only going to sing the Preston song Can’t Help Falling in Love with You, and was comfortable with that having performed it two years ago at a match on New Year’s Day.
Eleven-times capped Sean – who played 159 times for Preston – found himself in hot water for a short while as Claudia Rose had to start practicing singing the Liverpool anthem at short notice.
Claudia Rose said: “It was last Wednesday, we got the phone call to ask if I would fly in for the game.
“At the time I was told it was to sing Preston’s anthem.
“It was Sean who took the call and then on Friday they asked me, ‘Do you know you are singing the two songs?’ I got such a shock.
“I started blasting out You’ll Never Walk Alone for two full days and I must have driven my neighbours mad.
“This was the first friendly match of the pre-season. It was always going to be a big game regardless because any time Preston has played Liverpool it’s always been a massive thing.
“But obviously, because of Diogo and his brother Andre’s deaths, there was a much bigger meaning behind it.”
The mum-of-one said she couldn’t allow herself to become overly emotional as she didn’t want to break down and cry in the middle of either song.
She said: “I am a very soft person. I was super emotional but I just didn’t want to break down and cry.
“That was my biggest fear. And then it was weird as once I started singing I actually let the emotion go to the back of my head.
“I remember thinking, ‘You have to get through this’, because this is for the fans, for the families.
WORK PRIDE
“I said, ‘Think of the job in hand’, which I did.
“It was afterwards the emotions hit. I had to take a few deep breaths and my legs went like jelly afterwards.”
Claudia Rose, 27, mainly sings at weddings and funerals.
She said: “When I sing, it’s the most important job I do as every time it means something to someone.
“Yesterday it was a different feeling as I felt I was doing it solely for the family and the fans so when it was over I felt a pride that I got through it.
FAMILY TIME
“I can say I honoured everyone, especially Diogo and Andre, in the best way I could.”
Claudia is also involved in musical theatre and is a dance teacher.
She started an events company a few months after moving back to Cork and before she became pregnant with her son Romeo.
She and hubby Sean, who plays for Cork City, moved home from England following the birth of Romeo, one.
She said: “I wanted my family around me and I wanted to have him grow up with all my family around him and Sean’s family who live in Kilkenny. They get down as much as they can.
BEST IDEA
“We were living in Preston for nearly eight years. It was such a familiar feeling getting back there.”
Claudia Rose and Sean met on Tinder.
She said: “We used to lie about how we met for years and then we just said, ’What’s the point in lying, we might as well be honest about it’. What a great ad we are for Tinder.”
She added: “Returning to Cork and Sean joining Cork City was one of the best things we have ever done.
“The club is struggling at the moment but if you were to take away the results it’s the best thing we have done in his football career.
“Cork is amazing and everyone is like family. When you walk down the street people go, ‘Hi Seanie.’”
