Olly Murs is secretly a rapper.

The ‘Thinking of Me’ hitmaker is a big fan of hip hop and likes to rap in his spare time, especially when he’s doing karaoke.

Speaking ahead of his set at the Tramlines festival in Sheffield, Northern England this weekend – he told BANG Showbiz: “I’m secretly not a bad rapper, I really like to do a bit of beat boxing, Eminem is always a favourite, or maybe Vanilla Ice, ‘Ice Ice Baby’ is a classic.”

Olly, 27, wanted a guest rap on his latest single, ‘Heart Skips a Beat’, so got together with rising hip hop duo Rizzle Kicks, as he felt they share his “cool and cheeky” outlook.

He added: “We had the track and there was the idea we wanted to get a rapper on it, and they were getting a great name in the industry and I heard about them and thought we’d check them out.

“So we found out how cool their style was and their rhymes, and they really cool and cheeky, a bit like me, so it works well.”

The festival also saw performances from Pixie Lott and boy band The Reason 4 on its pop stage, as well as hundreds of other acts in over 70 venues across the city.

The festival was opened by Eighties legends Heaven 17 on the Nokia Unannounced Stage, who did a surprise collaboration with ex-Long Blondes’ singer Kate Jackson, to perform Terence Trent D’Arby’s ‘Sign Your Name’, and David Bowie’s ‘Boys Keep Swinging’.

‘Heart Skips a Beat’ will be released on August 21.