A COUNTRY singer-songwriter has scooped two honours at a national awards ceremony.

Gary Quinn walked away with UK Song of the Year and the Songwriter of the Year after being nominated for six categories at this year's British Country Music Awards

Gary also performed his award winning song The Power Of Me And You, which he co-write with fellow writer David C Banning, at the country music gala in the Concorde Suite at Heathrow.

The 33-year-old, who moved to Leigh after meeting his wife Emma, said: “It’s a great honour to be nominated alongside such an abundance of talent but to come away a double winner feels amazing.

"It was very special, particularly for songwriting as the album is made up of organic material written by myself or co-written with myself and it was great to get the nod for writing my own stuff."

Growing up in Northern Ireland, country music and dance was always part of Gary's life but he was particularly inspired by music from Nashville in the US.

"In Ireland there is a really strong heritage of country music and dance but I was never really interested in that," he said.

"I was more into what was coming out of Nashville and Garth Brook was the first act that really got me involved in the early 80s. He took Ireland by storm and I started looking out for other acts from America.

"I came into it as a career a bit late. I was around 26 when I decided to have a go at it and put a single forward to Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival and I have been invited back to perform every year since."

Gary's self-titled album was released last year and can be downloaded here garyjpquinn.co.uk/home.