When the Ray Charles tribute show, I Can't Stop Loving You, comes to town, audiences will get two dazzling divas for the price of one. Paul Revel chats to R'n'B stars Kele le Roc and Kym Mazelle ...

KELE and Kym are taking a break between rehearsals. The show, celebrating the life and music of Ray Charles, opens at Bromley's Churchill Theatre this Friday.

The two singers, who have become good friends, come from very different backgrounds. Kele grew up in east London and started going to dance school at the age of three, while Kym was born in Indiana and studied opera at a Catholic music college in Chicago.

Kele's childhood plans to become a dancer were to change.

"When I was fifteen I had an operation on my knee,"she explains. "So I started to focus on singing."

A wise choise, as it turned out.

At the age of 27 she has already had several hits, scooped two prestigious MOBO awards and worked with some of the most respected names in the business.

Last summer she sang on the smash hit single by DJ supremos Basement Jaxx, entitled Romeo.

"It was amazing working with Basement Jaxx," she says. "I felt privileged to work with them, because they're so talented and such lovely guys."

Despite being a cutting-edge R'n'B singer, Kele can happily turn her hand to more old-fashioned music, performing in shows such as The Motown Songbook and a tribute to soul legend Marvin Gaye.

"I don't have a preference for old or new, what matters is whether it's good," she states. "I've done a bit of everything jazz, jungle, garage, house, you name it. It comes down to the individual songs and who you're working with."

When not singing up a storm, Kele has a new love; her TV set.

"I just got Sky plus you know that advert which goes; it's your best friend? It is." She roars with laughter. "I never watched much before but now I come home and watch everything."

But fans need not worry she is becoming a complete couch potato.

"I go to the gym, always, it's the thorn in my side."

Likewise, fellow cast member Kym a contestant on last year's Celebrity Fit Club is keen to point out her virtuous habits.

"Notice we're both being very good, eating salad," she says.

"I always wanted to sing from when I was a little girl," says Kym. "I used to sing in the choirs at school and church."

By 1988 she had released her first two singles.

"I made my own breaks, I guess," she reflects. "We had no idea at the time house music would spread all over the world and become so big."

More successful singles and albums were to follow. Kym's cover of Young Hearts, Run Free was a memorable moment in the 1996 film version of Romeo and Juliet.

She duetted with Jocelyn Brown on a remake of the diva classic Enough Is Enough and her club anthems have been filling dance floors across Europe for years.

Both performers are excited about the forthcoming show.

"It's amazing, I'm so glad and proud to be in it," enthuses Kele.

The show is Kym's first foray into the world of stage musicals.

"It's fabulous, a new experience for me, and I'm loving it," she says. "I really hope to do more of it."

The other passion Kym's life at the moment is her new group, Kym Mazelle And The Urban Blues Band.

"We play jump blues not a sad blues but more kind of like the Ike and Tina Turner review.

"It's juke joint music," she laughs. "And it's always fun, a great night out. It's the kind of music where a gentleman can ask a lady for a dance."

I Can't Stop Loving You, January 27 - February 4, Churchill Theatre, High Street, Bromley 0870 0606620.