TAKING to the stage of the forest’s ferny floor concerts this year are Olly Murs, Craig David, Elbow and Rick Astley.

Westonbirt Arboretum in Tetbury plays host to the 17th annual Forest Live series of summer gigs and on Sunday, June 18 Craig David will be swapping his urban street for leafy glades as the UK Garage pioneer sings a mix of his latest hits including When The Bassline Drops, Nothing Like This and the BBC Children In Need official single Following My Intuition with his earlier classics.

Craig said: “I’m really looking forward to playing at Forest Live, there’s always something special about playing outside in the English summer!”

Craig shot to fame in the year 2000 with his debut album, Born To Do It, which was followed by Top 10 singles such as Fill Me In, 7 Days and Walking Away among others.

His urban sound went pop with a bang, and his duet with Sting, Rise And Fall, put him firmly in the British music firmament.

Craig scooped a Songwriter of the Year award, a Best Contemporary Song award and this year was nominated for Best Male Artist at the Brit Awards.

The idea behind the Forest Live concerts is to raise awareness of England’s forests, woodlands and the wild life that inhabit them. The concerts generate income for the forests to be spent on protecting, improving and expanding areas of natural beauty such as Westonbirt.

The events are organised by the Forestry Commission, which is hoping to attract people who would not usually visit the forests. All the concerts are family friendly, set in a natural amphitheatre surrounded by trees, with a number of food outlets and a beer tent for refreshments.

Kicking off proceedings for a week of forest fun is rock band Elbow on Thursday, June 15.

Elbow are a band born to perform for the Forestry Commission concerts, as they are famed for their sunset slot sets on Glastonbury Festival’s Pyramid Stage. The band were also chosen to perform their classic track, One Day Like This, at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

The last 20 years have won the rock band a firm footing in the British music industry notching up hits from their debut album in 2001 Asleep At The Back, through to Leaders of the Free World, Build A Rocket Boys, The Take Off and Landing Of Everything, and now their seventh studio album, Little Fictions is on release.

One of the biggest acts to emerge from the X Factor stable is Olly Murs who goes down to the woods on Friday, June 16 as part of his 20 outdoor date tour across the UK. Olly became a household name back in 2009 and has had four number one singles and four multi platinum albums. He will be singing songs from his latest number one album, 24 Hours, at Westonbirt, along with the hit single Years and Years. His special guest is Louisa Johnson.

Pop icon Rick Astley completes the Westonbirt list of stars, with support from Rumer, when he performs on Saturday, June 17.

Rick’s musical journey began with the smash hit Never Gonna Give You Up when he was just 21 years old. It became the biggest selling single of the year and hit the number one slot in 16 countries. Other top 10 hits were Together Forever, She Wants To Dance With Me, Hold Me In Your Arms and many more. Recently the popster has notched up his first number one album in 29 years called 50, which has gone gold.

Rick said: “2017 sees me celebrating 30 years in the music business since my first No 1 hit. I can’t wait to perform as a part of Forest Live and I really hope you can make one of the dates to enjoy the experience with me.”

Forest Live began in 2001 and now takes place over seven forest locations. Tickets for the Westonbirt concerts are available from 03000 680400, or buy online at www.forestry.gov.uk/music.