Conor Maynard used to hang around Churchill Square in Brighton with his friends.
When he went back there today (Wednesday 1 August) he was greeted with screams and cheers from a growing band of fans.
The young pop star – a former Cardinal Newman pupil – put on a free acoustic show during a visit to HMV where he also signed autographs.
He made his appearance to promote his debut album which is called Contrast and was released on Monday (30 July).
Conor, 19, came to the public’s attention with his popular music videos on YouTube. His YouTube channel to date has had more than 67 million views.
His album features his first single, Can’t Say No, which reached number two in the singles chart. It also includes his new single, Vegas Girl, which entered the chart at number four on Sunday (29 July).
HMV gave out 500 wristbands from 8.30am today to ensure the crowd wasn’t too big for Conor’s free gig. About the same number had to be turned away this afternoon.
He appeared at a store in West London yesterday. Before today’s appearance he said: “It was literally insane. I had no idea that people were going to turn out like that. It was really cool to see.
“It made me so excited just thinking that I’m about to do it in my home town.
“I used to go to Churchill Square all the time. So it’s going to be really weird seeing that in a place I know so well.”
In January Conor won MTV’s Brand New for 2012. He beat, among others, the American singer Lana Del Rey.
In February he was signed by Parlophone, the same record label that signed the Beatles.
Pictures by Brighton Togs
conor was so good signing every sing girls cd, hes so dedicated to his fas boys and girls they al love him for what he does! i travelled from southampton to meet him and waited 8 hours and it was defiantly worth the wait. #CONTRAST is NO.1 album in the uk conor deserves it he work so hard to get it where it is today its defonatly my NUMBER ONE, i could listen to it over and over.