Who are your main musical influences?
I suppose my main musical influence came from listening to my parent’s varied record collection as a child during the early 60’s. Christmas time was when we always played them on an old Bush radiogram. My Dad’s collection included Bill Haley and Frankie Laine and Mum’s, Paul Anka, Connie Francis and Terresa Brewer. I remember liking Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers which obviously led to my love of “Doo Wops” and from those early days I became drawn to the music of Marty Wilde, Buddy Holly, Elvis, Adam Faith, Roy Orbison and of course, Billy Fury.
Which song do you most enjoy performing?
It’s difficult to pick out one song in particular as different occasions always determine how well certain songs are appreciated, and appreciation of your performance is what gives the buzz we all crave.
I always enjoy singing Billy’s “I Must Be Dreaming”, but Marty Wilde’s “Tomorrow’s Clown” is probably my number one. It’s the uncertainty of how well I’ll hit the last note that get’s the adrenalin flowing.
Do you play any instruments?
I was lucky that my grandparents decided to get rid of their piano, which turned up on my parent’s doorstep, unannounced, when I was 7 years old. I learnt classical piano from then until I rebelled as a teenager, as one does, bought my first electric guitar and taught myself to play it, rather badly some would say. I joined the Royal Navy at 16 and found that volunteering for the band meant I could get out of general duties throughout my training. My then limited knowledge of playing the trumpet, (I could just play the scale of C major), was helped by several excellent Royal Marine bandmasters and I eventually played with most of the Royal Navy Blue Jacket Bands at some stage of my career, mastering the cornet, flugel horn and tenor horn.
Today, I continue to play keyboard, I have a Technics KN5000 which I use to produce my backing tracks, and have a couple of semi acoustic guitars which I occasionally pick up and strum.
Where do you live and where do you regard as home?
Being a serviceman tends to make you a bit of a Nomad so I have moved around a great deal over the years. From growing up in London and Surrey I have lived in several places including Cornwall, Scotland, Kent and Devon. After leaving the Navy, I moved to Mallorca where I was lucky enough to meet my wife, an Essex girl, and spent nearly 6 years there.
We have now been back in England for nearly 12 years, living in Essex, so, being as it’s the longest I’ve ever stayed in any one place, I suppose it’s where I now call home. However, who knows? Watch this space.
What inspired you to start performing?
Being a shy and reserved person, although not many would agree, I found from an early age that I could escape into another world on stage, taking part in school plays and concerts.
Even then, performing always gave me a buzz but for years I didn’t pursue it as I never felt I was good enough.
Getting to know several performers in Mallorca and joining in at jam sessions with them led to my being asked to help form a 5 piece harmony group singing in and around Magaluf. Another member of the group informed me one day that I sang like Billy Fury and that was enough to get me on the road to taking things a little more seriously.
How long have you been performing in public?
What with the couple of groups at school, the Naval bands and my time in Mallorca it must be, on and off, over 30 years. As a solo performer though I only really got started a couple of years ago, after recording my first CD of Billy Fury songs, “Fabulous Fury” for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity.