In Memory - Alvin Stardust R.I.P.

  

Alvin Stardust, the pop singer, best known for 1970s hits such as ‘My Coo Ca Choo’ and ‘Jealous Mind’ has died aged 72 after a short illness.

Born, Bernard William Jewry on 27 September 1942, he made is stage debut in panto aged 4.

He was the road manager and occasional singer with Johnny Theakston and the Tremeloes who submitted a demo tape to the BBC as Shane Fenton and the Fentones.

Johnny Theakstone (Shane Fenton) died and Jewry became the new Shane Fenton. They began to have 4 top 40 hits in the UK between October 1961 & July 1962, the biggest of which was ‘Cindy’s Birthday’ which reached #18. He quit recording in 1964 to work in management.

However, by 1973, and with a new name, Alvin Stardust, had a new image of black leather (including gloves), stuck on sideburns and dyed black hair. With the changes became new stardom, becoming successful with both singles and album success.

By 1975 however, his career was ebbing and in 1975 he had his last Top 40 hit of the 70s, ‘Sweet Cheating Rita’ which only peaked at #37

In 1981, he had something of a revival when he joined Stiff Records and covered Nat’ 'King’ Cole’s ‘Pretend', getting to #4. Another chart run ensued until 1985 when his last song to enter the UK chart, ‘Got A Little Heartache’ only reached #55.

His career wasn’t over though as he appeared in many concerts and ‘oldies’ reunion tours. I remember seeing him at Birmingham’s NEC in the mid-1990s, by which time he seemed to be having fun singing his greatest hits and taking the mickey out of his Alvin Stardust persona.

He was recently diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer and died at home in West Sussex with his wife and family around him.

Pretty much all of the Shane Fenton and Alvin Stardust catalogue would now be classed in 'Missing In Action' and I'll look to get some of his music in the show in the near future.

Alvin Stardust R.I.P

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Differences between 'our' music and 'theirs'!

It’s funny how artists and their songs may be ‘Missing In Action’ in one country, and yet in another country, they can be heard on mainstream radio on a regular basis. In fact, it can be the case in counties (states, if you’re in America for example). You can also say that there are many artists who haven’t crossed over the Atlantic and made too big an impact either.

Since I started doing ‘Missing In Action’ and have developed an American listenership, I've noticed this even more.

When it comes to putting my shows together, I’ll get requests from listeners in America for songs that I don’t think I’ve ever heard on radio in England and I know that songs that charted here have been totally unknown there.

To me, this is the great thing about music. I do what’s primarily an oldies show, and yet week after week, I come across oldies that are totally ‘new to me’.

Here are 10 videos of songs that may be well known in America, but I don’t think would be known to the majority people in the UK

Roger Voudouris - Get Used To It (US #21 – 1979)

Ali Thomson - Take A Little Rhythm (US #15 – 1980)

Beau Brummels – Laugh Laugh (US #15 – 1965)

Stampeders - Sweet City Woman (US #8 – 1971)

Jim Photoglo - Fool In Love With You (US #25 – 1981)

Johnny Rivers – Secret Agent Man (US #3 – 1966)

Ian Matthews – Shake It (US #13 – 1979)

Mouth & McNeal – How Do You Do (US #8 – 1972)

Gary Lewis & The Playboys – Green Grass (US #8 – 1965)

For me, the thing is that I really like these songs, and am enjoying finding all these American hits that had evaded me for so many years. And it's great to be sharing them with people who would agree that they really are 'Missing In Action'!

While you're here - don't forget to become an 'Insider' and find out more about what's happening in the show. You'll also be able to get any special shows that won't be available anywhere else, and be eligible for any special offers that might come our way!

Where it all started...

I’m a child of the 60s. There I’ve said it.

When I was little, the music I heard was from the mid-50s to the new songs of the time. My Godfather owned a record shop and my Dad used to go into the shop, borrow the new chart records of the time, take them home, record both sides of those shiny black 45s, and take them back. That was the music I first heard.

It was this environment into which I was born. My earliest memories are of watching my Dad’s tape recorder and listening to that lovely music. Right from the beginning, I wasn’t interested in anything else.

By the age of three, my brother’s and sister’s friends would test me on music. They could show me the flip side of a record, and I could tell them what was on the other side. I couldn’t even read at the time!  When I was three, I had my own proper record player and records.

Apparently, by October of 1963, I’d been to a record shop and asked for my first record. It was The Beatles’ ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’.

I don’t have a memory of any of this, but so many people have told me stories about me and music when I was so young, that I believe them.

By the mid-60s, my brother was a Motown and Atlantic fanatic. He had been building his own collection of what have now become soul classics, and I can clearly remember hearing records by Mary Wells (You Beat Me To The Punch), The Capitols (Cool Jerk), King Curtis (Linda) and so many more! In fact the first record I can remember buying myself, was Eddie Floyd’s ‘Knock On Wood’ such was the influence of his music

.

I can remember my brother in his mohair suit, practising his Temptations dance steps in front of a full length mirror in his bedroom. So as you can see, I've been influenced from the very beginning by great music.

By the time I was 10, I had my own reel to reel tape recorder and was sat next to the radio, microphone in hand, recording the songs off the radio. And I so wanted to be the presenter, playing those songs, chatting to my listeners. I never realised it was going to take another 38 years before I had the opportunity to do that!

So this is my background. This is where my love of music started. And it’s the direction from which, after doing an oldies radio show for three years, the ‘Missing In Action’ radio show was born.

The show itself owes it’s life to facebook and a group on there called ‘Lost Pop Hits (M.I.A.).’ I’d joined it about a year earlier, and became hooked on hearing all those songs that didn't really get played on mainstream radio any more. At the time, I was presenting an Oldies show called ‘Random Records’ which had evolved from my original oldies show ‘Flashback’. 

The show came about after I’d gone on-line one night and did an Internet show where basically I had no playlist and just played whatever I fancied. It developed from there and grew into an oldies show where I played a mixture of music, across a lot of genres. There would be regular oldies that could be heard on other stations, and then there were the ‘lost’ hits, the songs that you don’t hear any more.

As time went on, and as I spent more time listening to the songs that weren't played any more, I decided this was the way I wanted to go. And by March of 2014, ‘Missing In Action’ was born.

This blog has taken a while for me to get around to, but now, after having a facebook group, a new web site, and an 'insider's' newsletter, it’s now time to add the blog.

So, after a long winded introduction, join me as we look over, and marvel at those songs that have gone ‘Missing In Action,’ as we delve into the musical past from the 50s to the end of the 80s, in what I consider the be the best era of popular music, and re-acquaint ourselves with some old friends and even some strangers that we never even knew! And occasionally, I’ll even take a foray into the 90s!

As for my Dad's old reel to reel tapes? Well, they're my most treasured possessions.

While you're here - don't forget to become an 'Insider' and find out more about what's happening in the show. You'll also be able to get any special shows that won't be available anywhere else, and be eligible for any special offers that might come our way!