Topic: "F**k my Hat, I didn't know that!" Amazing things you've only just found out

[daf]

You know that Alvin Stardust bloke, yeah?



The bloke that sang that My Coo-Ca-Choo song, right?

. . . WRONG!

The voice you actually hear on the record is by Pete Shelley



. . . No, not that one, this one -


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECcZ2juBDIw

I owned most of the company while Peter Shelley, an eccentric but talented writer and producer, took a small share.
Peter later recorded songs including the quirky Love Me, Love My Dog but his first role proved crucial to our success.

Peter had written a song called My Coo-Ca-Choo and we advertised for someone to record it.
A few days later, a flamboyant, blond-haired 31-year-old from Mansfield knocked on our door and said he was our man.
His real name was Bernard Jewry, but he was better known as Shane Fenton. He had had a few hits in the Sixties but was not exactly a star.
We explained we had in mind someone with a "harder, rock-type image" to front the song. He was utterly unfazed.

A day later he returned - with his hair dyed black and wearing a black leather jacket and one black glove.
We were instantly won over by the look, but for a new company we needed at least the appearance of a new talent.
It was Peter and Shane who came up with the name - Alvin Stardust. I thought it was nuts.

Though Alvin could clearly sing, as his great live performances proved, it was Peter's voice on that first record - fairly standard industry practice at the time.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-565424/How-I-turned-Bernard-Mansfield-Alvin-Stardust-Lord-Levy.html

[Bobtoo]

That's what I was going to reply with when I saw the thread title, Radcliffe and Maconie were talking about it this afternoon.

[massive bereavement]

I don't think that story in the newspaper is quite right. Pete Shelley recorded it and then went on television as Alvin Stardust on some kids show but didn't feel comfortable, they asked Marty Wilde and then Vince Eager to do it before Fenton accepted.

[daf]

That's right - Pete Shelly appeared on Lift Off with Ayshea *

Although he had already appeared as the original Alvin Stardust on the Lift Off television programme, Shelley was surprised when the record went straight into the chart the following week. As he had no desire to become his own stage name creation, he and Levy both agreed that if this act were to become more than just a one-hit wonder, then a "face" was required to be, and perform as, Alvin Stardust. The ideal person appeared, Shane Fenton.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Coo_Ca_Choo

I still find it hard to believe it's not actually Fenton singing on the record

- - - - - - - - - -
* Of the 144 episodes of Lift Off, only 3 have survived (and I can't find a single scrap of it on youtube!)

[thecuriousorange]

RIP "Obvious things you've only just realised".

[Replies From View]

RIP "Obvious things you've only just realised".

Poor daf can't win can he.

[massive bereavement]

That's right - Pete Shelly appeared on Lift Off with Ayshea *
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Coo_Ca_Choo


* Of the 144 episodes of Lift Off, only 3 have survived (and I can't find a single scrap of it on youtube!)

Apparently on that show Shelley adopted a look similar to how Leo Sayer presented himself in those days (pierrot, the sad clown).

[daf]

You know that I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday song by Wizzard, yeah?



A Glam Christmas Classic from 1973, right?

. . . WRONG!

You've probably never actually heard it  : The version on all the CDs, compilations, Spotify and the radio is actually a re-recording from 1981 *

In the summer of 1981 the founder of Wizzard, Roy Wood, was recording at Murfin's studio, Old Smithy Recordings in Kempsey, Worcestershire, when he got a phone call from his record company EMI.
It fancied having a shot at beating the track's previous chart high of number four - but had come across a snag.
The original tape had been lost. There was nothing.
We just panicked... It took a good few bottles of brandy before we even thought about how we would manage it
Muff Murfin, Record producer, was given the task of re-creating the hit in less than a week.

According to Murfin, even members of the original Stockland Green choir do not know they are not the voices on the version which is played on the radio.
"That recording simply does not exist," he said.
"The pupils from Kempsey are the ones on the record.
"The only way [the original choir] can hear themselves singing on the track is if they have a copy of the disc which was released then, in 1973."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-25402438

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

* The only way to hear the 1973 version is from the 20 December 1973 edition of Top of The Pops, or if a Radio DJ played it from the original single - but even that's not guaranteed - since the re-recorded version has exactly the same 'Wizzard' 1973 info on the 7 inch label (fraud!) even though the sleeve says it's by 'Roy Wood', and the only way to make sure you've got a copy of the original 1973 version is by checking the b-side :

1973 original - Rob Roy's Nightmare :


1981 remake - See My Baby Jive

[BlodwynPig]

Mentioned in the Bergerac thread.

Alvin Stardust was married to Liza Goddard and his son in drum ‘n’ bass legend Adam F

[phantom_power]

I don't think that story in the newspaper is quite right. Pete Shelley recorded it and then went on television as Alvin Stardust on some kids show but didn't feel comfortable, they asked Marty Wilde and then Vince Eager to do it before Fenton accepted.

Shane Fenton isn't even his real name. He took it from the singer in a band he was in who died. He took the name to fulfil a TV commitment.

[slicesofjim]

Excellent thread, but I'm not entirely convinced that Peter Shelley isn't a character played by Will Forte.

[Glebe]

Yesterday I Googled David Jackson - Gan off of that Blake's 7 - and discovered that he played Brendan O' Shaughnessy off of the Fools and Horses! *slaps forehead*

[zomgmouse]

RIP "Obvious things you've only just realised".

Wellll, maybe not, this thread could have overlap with the other one but it can definitely be for things that are amazing but which aren't obvious.

[buzby]

I don't think that story in the newspaper is quite right. Pete Shelley recorded it and then went on television as Alvin Stardust on some kids show but didn't feel comfortable, they asked Marty Wilde and then Vince Eager to do it before Fenton accepted.

The Peter Shelley/Bernard Jewry (Shane Fenton) Alvin Stardust story was covered in Episode 3 of the Chart Music Podcast back in September, as all you pop-crazed youngsters who hang around Oscillations should know.

[imitationleather]

Perhaps one for the teenagers, but originator of the dubstep scene Kode9 did his PhD at Warwick with all-round crazy guy and Godfather of the alt-right Nick Land.

[Isnt Anything]

fascinating about wizzard tho when i read the article and found there were two versions in 1981 my head started hurting

so which is the one used on the music video ? not a totp a generic snowy scene ? 1981 version 1 i assume

[Isnt Anything]

Wellll, maybe not, this thread could have overlap with the other one but it can definitely be for things that are amazing but which aren't obvious.

yeah two different things

[SteveDave]

The BFG wrote The BFG. That twist did my head in.

Spoilers. Sorry.

[biggytitbo]

I always roll out my amazing Christmas facts at this glorious time of year:

- Christmas day wasn't a public holiday in Scotland until 1958
- Football league matches were regularly played on Christmas day until the 1950s in England as late as the 70s in Scotland
- Santa was convicted of 2 counts of lewd conduct with a minor in Gloucester in 1974.
- Suicide rates and depression are actually lower at Christmas than any other time of the year
- Clint Eastwoods 1988 christmas No1 Mistletoe and Wine was actually a cover version of a Def Leppard song.
- We all love christmas shopping at the budget supermarket ALDI, but did you know its actually 2 separate companies - ALDI north and ALDI south. ALDI south, with the blue and orange logo operates in the UK, Ireland, Australia, China and Switzerland. ALDI north with the white and blue logo operates in France, Denmark, Belgium and Spain. Germany and the USA have both ALDI north and ALDI south stores.
- It's God rest you merry, gentlemen, not God rest you merry gentlemen
- Christmas is shit.

[MoonDust]

After the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, Christmas Day was no longer celebrated. However, all the fun non-religious stuff that came with it, like a big meal, Christmas trees, and gift-giving, was moved to New Years' Eve.

So actually it was a double wammy. Get presents, eat till you explode, and fireworks at midnight. Of course get absolutely pissed, too.

[studpuppet]

- We all love christmas shopping at the budget supermarket ALDI, but did you know its actually 2 separate companies - ALDI north and ALDI south. ALDI south, with the blue and orange logo operates in the UK, Ireland, Australia, China and Switzerland. ALDI north with the white and blue logo operates in France, Denmark, Belgium and Spain. Germany and the USA have both ALDI north and ALDI south stores.

The Albrecht brothers who owned the company had a bust up in the 1960s over whether to sell fags or not, and ended up splitting the company into Nord and Süd regions so they had half each.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi#History

[ollyboro]

I always roll out my amazing Christmas facts at this glorious time of year:

-
- Football league matches were regularly played on Christmas day until the 1950s in England as late as the 70s in Scotland
-

Indeed. From the start of the 20th century until the 50's, not only were games played on Christmas day, but the return fixture was often played on Boxing Day. Due to their ground being built on a religious site, Arsenal couldn't play at Highbury on Christmas Day until 1925, when the terms of the lease expired. Arsenal basically ceased to have anything to do with English football several Christmases ago.

[ollyboro]

The most famous football match played on Christmas Day was between Engerland and the Bosch, in no man's land, 1914. It's believed the Germans won on penalties. Paul McCartney later commemorated this with his 'Spies Like Us' waxing. Or one of his others.

[Gregory Torso]

Richard Burton, founded the gentlemens outfitters "BORTONS"

[Blue Jam]

ALVIN STARDUST WAS IN HOLLYOAKS!

[Bhazor]

Prostate cancer affects 1 in 9 men. Meaning statistically someone in this thread will get it. Who's your money on?

[Kane Jones]

Prostate cancer affects 1 in 9 men. Meaning statistically someone in this thread will get it. Who's your money on?

Well it won't be me because I haven't posted in this thread.

Oh fuck.

[Blue Jam]

A prostate cancer researcher once told me that, in theory, any man will eventually get prostate cancer if nothing else kills him first. If a man just kept going past 100, 120, 150 etc it would get him eventually.

Mind you, that's probably true of people and cancers in general- if we could live to 200, with billions of cell replication events, statistically one of those cells is bound to bollocks it up eventually.

[biggytitbo]

- A crooning version of Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy was a big hit for David Bowie and Bing.com in 1982.

[Bhazor]

Mind you, that's probably true of people and cancers in general- if we could live to 200, with billions of cell replication events, statistically one of those cells is bound to bollocks it up eventually.

True. Its why cells don't reproduce indefinitely. We could live 300 years, but by then we'd just be like those cheap 20 sausages for a quid sausages.