Shropshire's Levi meets his music idol Ellie Goulding
A teenager has attracted the attention of chart-topping singer Ellie Goulding with a stunning piece of artwork, earning a face-to-face chat with the star.
Levi Peirson, 17, from Oswestry, created a giant canvas of his pop idol as part of his A-level graphic design course last term.
And when she tweeted asking if any fans wanted to meet her and listen to her new album in London, he replied with a picture of the artwork, catching her attention.
Ellie, who lives in Kington, just over the Shropshire border, had tweeted "I only have time for one more fan listening session unfortunately.
"Who is available in London on Thursday evening?"
Levi answered her tweet saying "@elliegoulding I am!
"Please, it would mean so much, I made this canvas with my illustration of you :) #elliegoulding."
And one of his tutors at North Shropshire College, Sarah Probert, added her support saying "@elliegoulding our student @LeviPeirson stole the art show with his beautiful picture of you he so deserves a treat x"
As a result of the picture, Polydor records contacted Levi asking if he would be available to travel down to a five-star London hotel to meet the "Love Me Like You Do" singer and listen to her new album.
"I never thought that I would actually get to meet her," Levi admitted after his trip.
"I'm a huge fan and have been since her first single came out. It was an amazing day and an opportunity I didn't think possible.
"I got the train down to London with my dad on Thursday. There were about 20 people there as VIPs, then after we listened to a few tracks Ellie came in and met us all one at a time.
"I wanted to show her my canvas but it was too big to take down, so I had to take a print out of it to show her instead. But Ellie signed it and she wrote 'Levi this is ace, lots of love Ellie'.
"She was really lovely and down to earth. I was totally star-struck by her and honoured to meet her."
Levi had produced his canvas during his course and it took pride of place in the annual final art show in the atrium of the college.
Miss Probert said: "For his graphic design A-level Levi created a canvas of Ellie Goulding. He is a huge fan and the piece was so good it was displayed right at the front of the show."
