Deal Or No Deal host Noel Edmonds has become a secret pop star after recording a hit – under the name of his mannequin.
The TV presenter, who lives at Bitton, released the song Are You Ready? under the name Candice Cannes – the nickname of the life-size doll he keeps in the back seat of his taxi.
Noel uses the dummy to stop passengers flagging him down in his cab as he beats the queues by using the bus lanes in Bristol, where his television series is filmed.
His new tune has climbed to number 14 in the dance charts after blaring out across dancefloors in European clubs this summer.
The floor-filler features the TV host rapping: "What's in your box?" – after one of his catchphrases on the Channel 4 gameshow.
Edmonds, 64, wrote the track with make-up artist wife Liz Davies when a friend bought her recording time in a studio as a gift – but she was too embarrassed to put her name to the song.
He said: "I recorded a few lines, but Liz is the brains behind it. I decided to bounce it off a few experts to see what the reaction was. That's how it started.
"Liz was adamant it wasn't under her name as she didn't want to be seen as hanging off my coat-tails."
Mrs Edmonds, 41, said: "We were having a laugh. It's grown beyond anything we expected."
The veteran TV presenter was branded "selfish" and a "cheat" by Bristol City Council in 2010 for driving the unlicensed cab in the city's bus lanes. In response, Mr Edmonds described the council as "time thieves with a cavalier attitude".
