Growing up black in a white family – the truth behind my birth
Lives Less Ordinary
BBC
4.7 • 885 Ratings
🗓️ 23 March 2026
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
M People star Andrew Lovell’s home life hid a terrible – yet beautiful – secret. It would take him decades to find out the truth.
At the height of his fame, drummer Andrew ‘Shovell’ Lovell had everything he’d dreamed of: sex, drugs and regular appearances at the top of the charts with the dance music band M People. But sell-out shows, first-class travel and five-star hotels couldn’t stop the questions gnawing away at him. As a mixed-race kid growing up in a white family in south London he wanted to know: who were his birth parents? Why had they given him up? The answer, when it came, was shocking.
A disruptive and unruly child, Andrew was asked to leave school aged 15. He found a trade as a plumber but his true passion was music. He joined M People in the early 90s and by 1995 he was touring the world. The band was celebrating its second platinum-selling album in 1998 when Andrew sat down for a heart to heart with his adoptive parents on Christmas Day. He was 33 at the time, and a star – M People was one of the most successful dance music acts in the world with hits like Search for the Hero and Moving On Up. But deep down Andrew was still a little boy with a big question – to which he was about to get a devastating answer. The revelation of who his real mother was left him reeling and plunged him into a breakdown.
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Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Hetal Bapodra
Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | An early start here. It's time to kick off. |
| 0:10.0 | Your day. Morning! |
| 0:11.9 | What a line-up. |
| 0:13.3 | Oh, thanks very much. We do get some great guests on the show. |
| 0:16.1 | The crowd is loving this. |
| 0:18.3 | Thanks, guys. Thank you. Too kind. |
| 0:20.2 | From morning chaos to match day commentary. |
| 0:23.6 | And everything in between. |
| 0:25.0 | BBC sounds packed with personality. |
| 0:31.6 | My dad called me down and walked into the living room and the television was off. |
| 0:37.0 | And I sat there and my dad said, |
| 0:38.4 | okay, Andrew, were you asked about your real parents? |
| 0:41.4 | He said, let me tell you, we were going to take this to our grave. |
| 0:46.0 | My mum hadn't said a word. |
| 0:47.3 | My mum just staring at the floor through the whole thing. |
| 0:50.5 | I was silent. |
| 0:51.4 | I was shocked. |
| 0:52.5 | Everything was the same, but everything was completely different. |
| 0:57.6 | It was Christmas Day, 1998, when Andrew Lovell sat down to have a heart to heart with his mum and dad. |
| 1:05.1 | He was 33 and famous, not just at home in Britain, but around the world, |
| 1:10.1 | as part of one of the most successful dance music acts of the time, M People. |
... |
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