Bona fide are a two man act made up of Maz Hussain and Ziggy Arien, who grew up together on the same road in Rochdale.

The pair were the only live act to go on stage at the Bollywood actresses' birthday event, held at the swanky Victoria Quarter in Leeds City Centre on 8 June and they will release their first album later this year.

Amazing

In an exclusive interview with Leader, Maz said: "We got twenty minutes on stage and it was amazing – there was so many film and music stars who we got to meet afterwards as they were all over here for the Bollywood awards.

"We had pictures taken with the likes of Upen Patel, Lara Dutta, Bobby Deol and Govinda - we chatted to Govinda for a couple of minutes and he was truely funny, just the way he is in his films."

Influences

Bona fide, an R'n'B act that incorporate hip hop, soul, Bhangra and Bollywood influences into their music, are currently in the latter stages of finalising their eagerly awaited first album and Maz believes they can be a real success.

"Towards the end of last year, we released Look into my eyes which became a big underground hit receiving extensive airplay – the feedback we got was great."

It was on the 'A' list for BBC radio 1xtra, BBC Asian network, Galaxy and Clubasia just to name a few, so we're really excited about our prospects."

Bono fide, who are managed by the popular DJ Fritzy, also bumped into fellow artist Jay Sean at the birthday bash and are hoping to make a similar impact on the British Asian musical revolution.

"We've got £50,00 in funding from Manchester's Supreme Dream Records – that's very rare to get such support, especially in the Asian music market and if we invest it all in the right way we can do well.

"Our video for the single Look into my eyes, shot in Manchester, is currently being aired on Asian channels like Zee TV and DM Digital, and we will be shooting some of the videos for the new album out in India around September."

Mela's

Bono fide say they will release their new album later this year and it will consist of 15 tracks.

They are also set to perform at mela's across the region and you can find out more about them on their website at www.myspace.com/bonafideworld.

ENDS