Max Beesley thinks it's "brilliant" that he was able to call on Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson to sing tracks he wrote for US drama 'Empire'.

Max Beesley

Max Beesley

The 44-year-old 'Hotel Babylon' actor starred in two episodes of the hit E4 show as Guy, alongside his pal Terrence Howard - who plays lead character Lucious Lyon - and said living in Los Angeles has given him the opportunity to get back into music and meet amazing singers.

Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, he recalled: "I know Terrence. He and I have co-written and co-produced two songs on that series. This opportunity came up and Terrence and I had already worked together on his album. I produced that and co-wrote that so it gave me a little kick start to get back into music. So now we've got a brilliant little black book if you like, and Terrence will sit back and go, 'Who would be good for this' and 'What about Jennifer Hudson here?' And last week Alicia Keys was talking to me about one of the tunes. It's just a different world man."

And Max - who also stars in audio crime thriller 'Passenger 23', which is available now to download from December 17 at Audible.com - said the move to LA was like getting the "best of both worlds."

He added: "Well I've been living there for 10 years, I have my life and my lovely daughter. But it's great, it is like the best of both worlds... it is only luck and being positioned strategically, because there are millions of songwriters in Los Angeles, and everyone always wants their songs on that show, everyone. And so, just by default, Terrence and my relationship, we've got stuff on. I mean they're good songs, obviously, you can't put s**t on there."