I guess you could say my first introduction to Elvis was in 1969 with the release of Suspicious minds. Unknown to me My parents had bought the single, but I can’t recollect hearing it at all at the time. I just remember the name vaguely and that was it until the summer of 1970 when I had just turned 8 years of age. It was early evening and I remember playing out in the street as us kids did in those days. No internet, multi TV channels, games consoles or YouTube etc... while out on my street in Wythenshawe, Manchester, a neighbour had their window open and a song was blasting away. 

I remember stopping in my tracks and thinking what’s that?  The sound was completely new to me. My dad loved to sing and play his music, but more Sinatra, Sammy Davies JR, Dean Martin, The Rolling Stones, Jack Jones, Tom Jones etc. So I knew what I was hearing was something like never before. 

My dad had just returned from work, I could see his car pull up from down the street I ran over and asked him what the song was, his reply was I can't hear anything, as I got to my dad’s car the music had stopped so he didn’t get to hear it. 

We went inside and all I could remember was ♫ ♪ ahh ahhh ahhh ahhh ♪, I tried my best to sing that line to him but wasn’t making much sense, again I said it goes ♪ ♪ ahh ahh ahh ahh,♪  he actually made out I was sounding like I was at the dentist or something. Then I guess the penny dropped, I know what it is he said, it’s "Elvis". I said it’s who? "Elvis, Elvis Presley".  

Wait a minute I’ve heard that name before, just as my mother said.. it’s 'The Wonder of You' and it's number one in the charts, Here you go, my dad said. We had one of those record racks on the sideboard with 45’s in, singles to you and I. He looked through it and pulled out not one but two singles err 45’s one being the afore mentioned Suspicious Minds the other being The Wonder of You. Then he placed the record on the record player and suddenly. ♫ ♫ When no one else can understand me ahh ahh ahh ahh etc.♫ ♫ THAT’S IT that’s the song... wow. 

My mum was an Elvis fan and she had bought the record a week or so before. I can honestly say up to that moment I had never heard either singles let alone what Elvis sounded like. I played all four songs A side B side non stop. My parents must have played them, but I just can’t recall hearing them or that great voice before. I still have those singles to this day and whenever I pull them out it just takes me righ back to that summer evening when my life changed forever. Because that’s exactly what happened. Looking back, Elvis became like a member of my family and I still feel the same today. From that day on everything changed. 

LONG LIVE THE KING

1977 and little did we know things were about to change forever. In March of that year Elvis was riding high in the charts with Moody Blue a great song and tipped to be a massive hit in my weekly music newspaper record mirror. I also remember seeing front page news of a promoter offering Elvis a Million pounds to play 2 nights at Wembley arena. 

Could it actually be happening was Elvis about to play The UK? Well we all know that gig didn’t happen for several reasons and unfortunately it never would, as on August 16 1977 our lives were changed forever. Checkout my documentary on YouTube 42 @ 42  as I go into more detail with info and facts about that fateful day and the days and weeks that followed.

Elvis's latest single Way Down jumped to No' 1 in the charts and stayed there for six weeks. The top 50 was filled with Elvis albums and my visits to Groves record store was almost daily with just seeing the amount of albums being released and re-released. Moody Blue, Welcome To My World to name a couple and a re-release of Elvis 40 Greatest that shot straight to the top of the charts. 

AND SO IT BEGINS

In 1978 I left school and started out working in several stores and two years later as a trainee manager for a well known supermarket chain. I was doing very well too, but by then I was also out drinking with my mates and dating girls. I completed my management course and headed out to several Northwest locations to manage shops on a temp basis, one for the experience and two until a shop of my own would become available. 

This went on for a couple of years almost, but also at that time I had started getting up onstage with a pint in hand and singing a couple of Elvis tunes. Back then I wasn’t interested in singing anyone else’s songs just Elvis. On May 1st 1982 I jumped up onstage with a local band and entered a talent competition. To my surprise I won but to be honest I can’t remember much about it as I was quite drunk by the end of the evening. 

The next morning I was flying out to Toronto, Canada and Cleveland Ohio in the States for three weeks to visit my relatives. I had such a great time meeting up and seeing my distant family and they made sure I didn’t want for anything. Such treasured memories of a very special time in my life. I was hoping while I was in Cleveland, I would get to take a trip to Memphis, but not realising at the time just how big the States is, It just wasn’t possible and it would be another 18 years before I would get to Memphis and stand on that hallowed ground. 

On my return to 'Blighty' my parents met me at the airport and instantly told me that folks were saying what a good voice I had and I should sing more. Wasn’t me I replied, I don’t sing. My parents just smiled and agreed as they knew even at 19 going on 20 just how shy I was. Within’ the next few weeks I began to go out and get up singing as much as I could after a few drinks of course while at the same time keeping it from my parents. [or so I thought].

One evening I was about to go on stage when my parents walked in. They hadn’t heard me sing before but as I said they knew through talking heads what was going on and they decided to check me out for themselves. I was horrified and I asked what they were doing there, My dad said we are here for a drink, smiling and saying what are you doing here. I said well er I’m here for a drink too. So when are you leaving I asked, My dad and Mum trying not to let me see them laugh said, we have only just got here, are you trying to get rid of us and sat down. 

What am I going to do now? I thought, just as Derek the keyboard player from the regular band said you're on in five mins. NO I said, Sorry what was that, er No I said again quietly. Derek glared at me and said why not. give me half hour I said, Why? You have ten minutes or you won't be going on at all, So I did what any other young man with his parents in the audience did, I drank a couple of whiskeys and jumped onto the stage and said ok lets do it, trying not to look in my parents direction. Well the evening went down great and by the end of the evening admittedly by drink my shyness had worn off and I walked home with my very proud parents. 

In June 1982 I met my future wife Maggie and Towards the end of 1982 my career had really started to take off, by now I had ditched the idea of having a few drinks before I went onstage and gradually gained my confidence, I attended several auditions and was booked into quite a few clubs. My dad was a singer and although he didn’t sing for a living,  he loved to sing and did shows when asked. I wasn’t driving at the time so my dad drove me to my gigs. I have some wonderful memories of going to gigs together especially when we did a couple of shows together. I remember one show in particular in Winsford in Cheshire. All I sang was Elvis all night, My dad sang the hits of Tom Jones, Mick Jagger, Frank Sinatra and a whole lot more. I was in awe. The show was filmed, but unfortunately we never got to see it. I am still hopeful it will turn up one day. 

Between 1982 and 1988 I worked a lot of the Manchester clubs and was a regular at the famous Manchester Regiment club, Again great Memories of my dad singing in there too. I was approached by a committee in a local social club called The PCM Club in my home town of Sale in Cheshire. They asked me would I be the compare every Sunday evening. I accepted as I didn’t do many gigs on a Sunday, it was regular work and more importantly a way of gaining much more experience and interacting with an audience,  By now my show had evolved from singing Elvis songs to singing other songs I liked mostly from the Rock ‘n’ Roll era. I played a lot of  Ricky Nelson, Eddie Cochran, Cliff Richard and Billy Fury songs and obviously they were a hit. I was finally offered my own store to manage, but by then I didn't want it. I knew I wanted to make a living singing and I was determined that's exactly what I was gonna do. I really needed a part time job so I left my supermarket and started working as a pool attendant, and later a swimming teacher. My mums brother George lived in Scotland and was Manager of Newbattle Leisure Centre in Dalkeith near Edinburgh. As a family we used to visit regular and I went on several swimming courses during visits. George managed to get me an interview with the Manager at Altrincham Baths and the job was mine. It was fun and I enjoyed it but after a few short years the shifts got longer and there was a fine line between balancing this job and my singing career. On April 14th 1983 Maggie and I became proud parents of our Son Stuart. Maggie had been Married before and had a son called Michael, I adopted Michael so within a short space of time I was a father of two, and on February 18th 1985 become three as Martin was born. Many years later 5. but that's another story for later. 

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