Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:Lewis Capaldi gears up for six-figure pay day ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen showdown

Lewis Capaldi will play his first gig in almost two years this weekend – and the West Lothian chart sensation is being paid a six-figure sum for the trouble.

West Lothian singer Lewis Capaldi will perform live for the first time in almost two years this weekend in Abu Dhabi.

The Someone You Loved hitmaker is set to perform after the qualifying session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday, just a day before the Formula One world championship showdown between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.Also performing will be fellow Brit Stormzy and American singer Khalid.It comes after Capaldi vowed to take a year off from performing to put the finishing touches to his eagerly-awaited sophomore album – the follow-up to his multi-million-selling debut Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent.Earlier this year, the 25-year-old singer released a statement on Instagram saying he was postponing all of his shows for the rest of the year to focus on the new album, insisting he wouldn’t be back until 2022.Now he will perform his biggest hits at the one-off show – but he is not expected to air any new material.

He said in March: “I've been writing loads of tunes I'm really excited about and I can't wait for you to hear them.“I really want to make sure whatever I put out next is the absolute best it can be, partly for my own sanity, cause I'm going to have to sing these songs every night for the next few years on tour, but ultimately for all of you who made the first album everything it was.“Despite having all this extra time to write, all the Covid restrictions have made it harder to go and record stuff I've been working on or even be around all the people I loved working with on the first album.“For that reason, it is with an extremely heavy heart that I've made the difficult decision to reschedule this year's shows and put all my effort into making the best album I can for you.”It seems the lure of a big pay-day has been too much for Capaldi to resist, though he's clearly not short of a few quid these days.Indeed, only last month he was named in a list of Britain's richest celebrities aged 30 and under.The singer placed at No. 6 on Heat Magazine's annual rich list – having amassed a £17m fortune.Capaldi released Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent in May 2019, spending 10 weeks in the album top spot.The record spawned a string of hits including Someone You Loved, Before You Go and Hold Me While You Wait, cementing him as one of the biggest newcomers in pop history.It’s been a remarkable rise for the young Scot, who only last year said he was making good use of lockdown by writing new songs every day – because he “needs money”.Topping the Heat Magazine's annual rich list for the third year running was Ed Sheeran.The Shape of You singer, 30, has increased his estimated worth over the past 12 months to a staggering £236.5 million.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.