A singer has visited Lionel Richie's mansion after reaching the final of ITV Starstruck with a tribute to the icon.

FiL Straughan, based in West Malling, appeared in the first series of the show last year, which sees singers transformed into their idols.

Four trios perform one song together before the judges choose one group to perform again, who then compete against one another to reach the final and get the chance to win £50,000.

FiL performed 'Dancing on the Ceiling' with the two other Lionel Richie tributes, Nick James and Jack Brindle, winning the judges' favour over the three other groups, who were impersonating Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, and Amy Winehouse.

The trio then performed 'Hello', and FiL secured his spot in the series' final, where he performed 'All Night Long (All Night)'.

Although Cher tribute act Rachael Hawnt won the show with her rendition of 'Believe', Lionel Richie himself saw FiL's performance and took a shining to the singer.

Lionel sent FiL a personal video in which he said: "We just saw your performance, it's ridiculous. You did a great job, congratulations. You just need to know that you did it too good, man."

FiL has recently returned from visiting the star in his Beverly Hills mansion.

He said: "Lionel has been a constant in my life, all my life. The first song I ever got paid to sing when I was a kid was 'Three Times a Lady'.

"I'm still on cloud one-million, way above cloud nine. After the show was over, I was contacted by Lionel, and I was like, 'huh?'.

"It was super incredible. I got to sit in the house of one of the most important, biggest musical artists in history on the entire planet.

"He gets out of the car, and he goes "oh, hi!" and shakes hands, and the first thing I say is "hello".

"We were there for three, four hours. He gave me advice, he was genuine, he was warm, he was caring. His partner Lisa was genuine, warm and caring, they were gracious.

"He was just so down-to-earth, giving of his time, giving of his advice. It was great. After lockdown and having two years of being told that musicians and the arts industry is nothing, it was the biggest validation that I could ever ask for."

Before pursuing music, FiL had been working on Wall Street, and had taken a day off on September 11, 2001.

He said: "It changed everything. That made me question if this were my last day, how would I want to spend it? And music happens to be the medium but it is sharing joy, so I was like, well let me just pursue my passion."

Starstruck was FiL's first experience on a TV show, and he said it was "incredible".

He added: "Learning how to dance on point in new shoes and hit a mark on a slick floor was a challenge, and while you still have to remember your lines and your notes, because you have to study all of the nuances, and I went deep into studying everything about Lionel."

FiL was performing at a wedding on a Friday night when he opened his phone to a barrage of messages saying "just saw you on Gogglebox!".

He said: "The feedback was amazing, I've been contacted by some of the folks from Gogglebox, I've got words of encouragement from them since. That was really, really wow."

During his career, FiL has released his own music, as well as performing a Luther Vandross tribute show and singing at weddings and events.

He has been Wedding Singer of the Year for London and South East twice at The Wedding Industry Awards.

He has performed at a number of celebrity events, including the weddings of singer Samantha Fox and footballer Gavin Massey, and TOWIE star Gemma Collins' Jubilee party.

He sang the national anthem at the Houses of Parliament with Patti Boulaye, and sang with Damel Carayol and the Community Choir at Westminster Abbey for the fifth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower tragedy in June last year.

In the future, he hopes to work on more music projects including collaborations, and presenting TV and radio. His new song, Dance Dance Dance, is soon to be released.

The second series of Starstruck, hosted by Olly Murs, will begin on Saturday, February 18 at 8.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with Adam Lambert, Beverley Knight and Jason Manford returning as the celebrity judges.

Sheridan Smith will not return due to scheduling conflicts, with Canadian singer-songwriter Shania Twain joining the judging line-up instead.