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Call out of blue puts Pete over the moon
By Martin Smith of The Star

SHEFFIELD artist Pete McKee was making tea in the kitchen at home in when he got the call that might just make him an international star.It was Noel Gallagher.

The brains behind Rock 'n' Roll superstars Oasis was ringing to let Pete know he liked the painting he had sent him.

"Alright Pete, It's Noel here, how's it going?" said Gallagher in his finest Mancunian.

"I've just got this Good Education picture you sent me. It's brilliant. It will look f***ing great on the wall in my new house."

Pete held his nerve, apologised for being presumptuous in sending the picture, thanked him for his kind words and said if there was ever any artwork for album covers or publicity that needed doing, he was the man.

Five minutes later Gallagher rang back.

He wanted to know if Pete would paint a similar picture on a 10ft model guitar for a Gibson Guitartown charity appeal.

Would he!

"It took me about a nano-second to make up my mind," said 41-year-old former Tesco delivery driver Pete.

"There he was pitching the idea to me. I couldn't believe it. With all that has happened to me in the past two years I have never let myself get excited.

"But this time I actually punched the air when I got off the phone. He just rang to thank me for the picture I had sent him in the first place. I recognised his voice straight away. We were chatting and I was telling him the story behind the picture then I got nervous half way through when I thought about who I was talking to. I decided to stop talking too much before I said something really stupid."

Since then Pete has spoken to Noel Gallagher on the phone a couple of times and exchanged text messages and e-mails

"He seems a really nice, down-to-earth bloke," said Pete. "I was a bit star-struck at first thinking 'Oh God, I'm talking to Noel Gallagher', but there's no edge to him at all and I'm sort of used to it now."

He might have to get used to a whole lot more attention too.Throughout history almost every successful painter has needed a celebrity patron to make money – in their own lifetime.

Even the greats needed help.

The Medicis of Florence were patrons of Michelangelo, King George II supported William Hogarth, Charles Saatchi sponsored Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst.

Pete McKee is hoping Noel Gallagher's backing will take his career on to a new level.

"Every artist or anyone in this kind of work needs an endorsement, Banksy was doing well then Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt bought some of his stuff and it went ballistic for him," said Sheffield Telegraph cartoonist Pete, who only started painting full-time 18 months ago.

"Getting some celebrity endorsement helps to push your profile sky high. It's always been the same, I'm no different to any other artist. We're all the same in some respects, we do good and bad paintings. It's who is buying them that makes the difference.

"I hoped this year would be the year when things took off.

Visit: Pete Mckee