A^
LI
FEIN
In this issue, Vince remembers his friendship with the
late Freddie Starr, who passed away in May this year
I
t’s common
knowledge
that
Liverpool was
possibly the
fi rst UK city to
recognise the
abundance of
rock’n’roll in
America due to the amount of sailors
who worked on the ships sailing between
Liverpool and New York. Whilst in
America the thrifty sailors would purchase
the latest American hit records and once
back home would sell them to the Scousers.
Liverpool was already a city steeped in
music hall history with many of Britain’s
fi nest funnymen and women hailing from
the city on the River Mersey, and it was soon
to become famous for its musicians born out
of American rock’n’roll. One of these such
musicians was a youngster who grew up
to be the lead singer in The Midnighters, a
popular Merseyside group. Their popularity
grew due to their lead singer being a
brilliant rock’n’roll vocalist and an Elvis
Presley soundalike, his name was Freddie
Starr. He could have become a hit recording
artist in his own right but his amazing
humour turned him into one of Britain’s
funniest, yet controversial artists.
I was so saddened to hear of Freddie’s
passing as I got to know him well due to
the occasions we’d worked together. The
following are just a few of the hundreds of
pranks Freddie indulged in and part of the
reason his life became so complicated.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s,
performing in Liverpool was amazing.
The Scousers were such enthusiastic and
knowledgeable audiences yet they were verygladiatorial in showing their appreciation.
If you could cut the mustard they would
show their appreciation beyond belief
with cheering, clapping, standing up and
shouting out their adulation. But if you
couldn’t meet their standards, they would
dissect your performance with the most
hurtful, and yet at times hilarious, verbal
onslaughts imaginable. A singer’s life
was perhaps the safest of all, performing
a selection of songs in segue often being
the safest bet. Comedians would often
be confronted by an audience who were,
individually, let alone en masse, funnier than
they were.
Having performed at the Liverpool
Empire and other venues many times in my
formative years as a ‘teen idol’, I became
familiar with the Scousers. It was at the
height of my cabaret years as a solo artiste
(where I would use the house musicians)
that I discovered I had the ability to give
as good as I got. Heckling from late-night
supper and club audiences everywhere
was generally alcohol-driven, and often
incomprehensible, so consequently the hour
of day would often determine how funny
you were, or weren’t. Both my rapport and
my confi dence grew as I added more patter
to my act. I didn’t tell jokes. I preferred the
more topical approach, which generally
teased the mind of the prospective heckler.
Whilst performing at the Shakespeare
Club in the late 60s, I was holding my own,
when a voice hollered, “Sing some Elvis
numbers, Vinnie!” My reply was, “Whyshould I? He never sings any of mine!” It
was corny, yet the standard reply to a song
request and it usually got a bit of a laugh.
When I came offstage a blond-haired guy
came up to me at the bar and said how much
he had enjoyed the show, even though I
hadn’t sung any Elvis numbers. “I’ll buy you
a drink, Vinnie, then you can give me a lift
home,” he said.
“Home?” I asked. “Where’s that?”
“Through the tunnel,” he replied.
Before I could question him further about
the lift home we began attracting attention
at the bar as customers came up for
autographs. But not only mine as some were
asking the blond nutter who, by now, was
making out he was Elvis Presley or Norman
Wisdom by shaking his leg or falling against
the bar. I looked at his autograph and it read
‘Freddie Starr.’ I had no idea who he was.
When the autograph hunting subsided
Freddie began to tell me of his love for
Billy Fury and Elvis Presley and how he
would love to be a rock’n’roller. He already
had a group in Liverpool called The
Midniters who were very popular, hence,
the autographs. I eventually agreed to give
Freddie a lift home and we set off to the
other side of the River Mersey.
We arrived at Freddie’s house at about
1.30am and I parked my car on wasteland
opposite the house and went in for a coffee.
Freddie couldn’t wait to put on some
sounds. When he did it was wall-to-wall
Billy and Elvis. He was singing and gyrating
to the records at the same time, oftenI WAS SO SADDENED TO HEAR OF
FREDDIE STARR’S PASSING AS I GOT
TO KNOW HIM WELL Photos^
supplied^ byVince^ EagerVince Eager