I've always loved legends. Modern legends as well. Who was where when and that sort of thing.
As a kid my family home received a famous visitor in the Sixties or the early Seventies. I have no recollection of it at all and indeed I may not have been at home. The visitor was one Billy Fury, the rock 'n' roll star aft dubbed the British Elvis. Family lore has it that he was a friend of my Parent's son-in-law at the time. He came round and Billy tagged along. I imagine my Mother swooned when he walked in!
The closest I actually came to seeing Billy was many years later when I stood next to his statue in his home-town of Liverpool, by which time he himself was long gone.
Elvis lore is always good value. he pops up regularly in work talk, especially about winning the lottery. "There is more chance of Elvis coming round for dinner than winning the lottery" and that sort of thing. Naturally there's a lot of "Elvis has left the building!" too.
I was aware that Elvis had set foot on British soil once. Its a well-documented and photographed stopover at Prestwick airport in Scotland in 1960, where the press and the local kids mobbed the young GI Presley. However, there is chatter this year of another visit earlier in the late 1958, where the King knocked about with one Tommy Steele, the UK's first rock' n 'roller and visited the sights of London town. Steele seems to regret this secret coming out.
I wonder if Billy Fury knew Tommy Steele? Did Fury ever meet Elvis? Blimey, imagine if all three had come round to my Mum and dad's house for a cuppa! My Mother would have fainted!
There is of course much more Elvis mythology and one I've mentioned before - the Elvis/ James Dean Harley Davidson Gift - appears to have become an urban myth over the years of it being retold and retold - exactly how I heard it - and as is always the case with rumours it changes over time. I have just read a whole chat room thread claiming that the Harley was in Australia. Who knows but I like the story.
Have you any rock 'n' roll star lore or legends to share readers? Have you any rock 'n' roll memorabilia?
Not exactly an Elvis moment, but I did bump into Jake Thackery in our local fish and chip shop once, in the late 70s.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I do not remember this at all. I know it only from what my late Mother told me years later. I may have seen The Beatles when they toured New Zealand in 1964. They arrived in NZ on 21st June 1964, played various concerts, including Christchurch on 27th June, and left on 28th. According to Mum, we did see them, I suppose in Christchurch, outside their hotel. I would have been three at the time, with no idea who they were, so it is not surprising that I do not recall this event.
ReplyDeleteGreat story! I have exactly one "famous rockers" story, from the Spring of 1964. My family lived in northern New Jersey, close to New York City. Shortly following The Beatles' history-making appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in February, the magnificent Dave Clark Five (still a fave band of mine) performed on the Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday Night, live at the theater in NYC. We of course watched the Sunday Night performance on TV, and at that moment I was convinced that the DC5 would be even bigger than The Beatles! Ha ha what did I know!
ReplyDeleteThe next day, our family went out to a late-morning brunch at a restaurant somewhere in northern New Jersey (I have no memory of what the name was). Soon after we sat down, my mother poked me in the ribs and said "Look who's over there!" I looked, and almost fell off my chair - it was the entire Dave Clark Five band, along with their manager, sitting two tables away, quietly eating their breakfasts! (I guess their hotel was somewhere in the area.) My mother prodded me again, to get Dave Clark's autograph, but truth be told, I was too shy to even consider walking up to these bigger-than-life stars!
Never one to waste a rare opportunity, my mother grabbed a napkin, walked over to the group, and came back shortly after with the napkin signed by Dave Clark himself! Needless to say, I kept that memento for many, many years. When I asked Mom what Dave Clark was like, all she said was, "He was very nice!"
Reminds me of the time I was a kid. One morning my dad the photographer said
ReplyDelete"David McCallum was here last night"
I was most miffed that I hadn't been woken up to meet him!
I've got a ton of stories, I've actually backed 2 American singers who recorded at Sun Studios in the 50's while these guys aren't massively famous they are part of a legacy that influenced a generation and for me continues today, so feel free to Google Sonny Burgess and Johnny Powers, we backed Sonny in Switzerland and I asked him about Roy Orbison and he told me they were sharing a tour with Roy and literally a week before the tour was due to start his band walked out on him forcing Sonny's band to back him, Roy refused to wear his glasses on stage, his voice was equal to Elvis but not his looks and as blind as a bat he fell off the stage too often, also his car got broken into and all of his clothes stolen so what he wore on stage he would have to wear for 3 weeks,24-7 as he was too tight to replace anything, We also supported Carl Perkins at the Forum in London, apparently he spent the day with Paul McCartney and the promoter wasn't happy "If that #### McCartney thinks he's getting a free ticket he can effing pay at the door like everyone else!" Fortunately he didn't show. Our bass player got so drunk that Carl properly tripped over him backstage, so we could have been the band the killed Carl Perkins!!!
ReplyDeleteOops forgot to sign out!
DeleteAmazing stories! Really great reading them and thanks everyone for sharing. These stories would make a great book!
ReplyDelete