Innholdsfortegnelse for Dec/Jan 2021 i Vintage Rock

Have you ever pondered the way that music fashion seems to revolve around 30-year cycles? The 60s powered the Britpop movement, back-to-basics late-70s bands were back in vogue at the turn of the millennium and all things 80s returned with a vengeance in the 2010s. You can almost set your watch by it… Last time out in Vintage Rock, we looked at how 50s music inspired the neo-rockabilly revival of the 80s, but in our latest issue we turn our attention to an oft-overlooked chapter in the careers of some of our favourite icons behind the birth of rock’n’roll. The late 60s and 70s were a fertile period for the likes of Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Jerry Lee Lewis, as a new generation of fans discovered their…

Bill Taylor’s recording career began as the vocalist with Lucky White And His Band through the song Yo Yo Heart/One Of Your Lies on 4 Star Records. It was recorded at Sun Studio but held back by Sam Phillips, who was nervous about releasing what he considered ‘hillbilly’ music. When the Snearly Ranch Boys’ frontman and trumpeter Ramsey Kearney was drafted in 1953, he suggested Bill as his replacement – and they soon became Sun Records’ session band. After Elvis Presley’s first three singles failed to catch the public’s imagination, Phillips turned to Taylor, who co-wrote I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone with Stan Kesler. [Ed’s note] Since this interview with Bill took place, Kesler died aged 92 at a hospice in Tennessee, following a battle with bone cancer. What…

Aside from headlining Wembley, 1972 was a fruitful year for Chuck Berry. He’d been back with Chess Records since 1969 (suitably calling his fine return LP Back Home), and after 1971’s San Francisco Dues – six new songs, but weird in parts – the rocker was on a roll. In February ’72 he came to the UK and went into Marylebone’s Pye Studios to cut new tracks with a band that included Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan of The Faces. In March, he also played a legendary 80-minute set at BBC Television Theatre, but the forthcoming LP’s flipside was part of a show recorded at the Lanchester Arts Festival. At the conclusion of that set, the recording includes the sounds of management asking the audience to leave so that the…

For the first seven years of the 1960s, Jerry Lee Lewis swam against the tide of changing fashion. In 1964, he recorded two explosive live albums. Live at the Star Club, Hamburg is cited by some as the greatest live LP ever, and The Greatest Live Show On Earth wasn’t far behind it for power. But the latter’s calling card single, High Heel Sneakers, reached only No.95 on the pop charts as a new generation clamoured for The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Lewis’ commercial fortunes swung around in 1968 when the now grown-up pianist cut the mature barroom weeper Another Place Another Time and rode it to No.4 on the country chart. A string of country hits followed, including To Make Love Sweeter For You, his first No.1 since…

Back in the mid-60s, along with his keyboard-playing brother Ken, bassist Cliff Cooper was in a group called The Millionaires. Previously known as The Rocking Chairs, the swanky new moniker came courtesy of none other than Joe Meek, who produced the band in his legendary Holloway Road home studio in North London. A fruitful session spawned a hit single, Wishing Well, which made it to the upper reaches of the charts in September 1966. The group were subsequently booked in to record a follow-up, but fate intervened when a crazed Meek shot himself in the head with a shotgun some five months later on 3 February 1967. Not only handy on the bass, Cooper was also a whizz at electronics design and went on to carve out a hugely successful…

On the face of it, Louis Prima cut a dated figure by the mid-60s. His putting-on-a-show style of razzmatazz and glamour was looking a bit old hat. Yet he was also a crazy, jiving dude. So when it was decided to give the apes in a new Walt Disney carton adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book a Dixieland jazz vibe, who better to turn to than Prima? Songwriters Robert and Richard Sherman visited Prima and his band in Las Vegas. As the brothers began humming I Wanna Be Like You, complete with “oo-oo-oohs”, Prima exclaimed, “What d’ya wanna do – make a monkey out of me?” When they answered “Yes”, he immediately replied, “Ya got me!”. Rare footage of Prima on YouTube performing the song during a studio session…

Christmas hits can have a special longevity and Shaky’s 1985 chart-topper Merry Christmas Everyone is perhaps his most enduring release. Having given the singer his fourth and, to date, last No.1 single in 1985, the song has become a yuletide mainstay. Thanks to downloads, it has returned to the UK chart every year since 2007, hitting a peak of No.6 last year. The crisp and catchy single was written by Bob Heatlie, who penned Shaky’s 1983 hit Cry Just A Little Bit, as well as Aneka’s 1981 chart-topper Japanese Boy. It was produced by Dave Edmunds, who had helmed the first album by Shakin’ Stevens and the Sunsets, in 1970. The song was recorded for release in 1984, but the plan changed to avoid it being overshadowed by Band Aid’s…

Born in 1953, both Rocky Burnette and his cousin Billy were born to boogie. They were the inspiration for the Johnny Burnette and the Rock ’n Roll Trio song Rock Billy Boogie. “Me and Billy used to take these little rubber toilet plungers, slam them on the linoleum floor and make like they were microphones. We’d pretend we were the Rock ’n Roll Trio,” remembers Rocky, the son of Johnny Burnette. Billy (pictured above), the son of Dorsey Burnette, remembers joining the Rock ’n Roll Trio on stage to sing Hound Dog when he was three-and-a-half years old. “Johnny said, ‘Never again!’” Billy laughs. “Because you can’t follow a kid or an animal, you know?” Billy made his first record, a duet with Rick Nelson on Hey Daddy (I’m Gonna…

While the country’s relationship with the bull is not without controversy, the image of ‘el toro’ remains synonymous with Spain. Anyone who’s holidayed there will almost certainly have driven past one of its many giant 50ft ‘Toro de Osborne’ roadside advertising boards cut into that imposing jet black silhouette, noble horns and ample cojones on full display. Originally designed and erected to promote Osborne brandy, the first of these emblematic steers was raised in 1956, just as Heartbreak Hotel gave Elvis his first No.1 – and the year that London’s 2i’s Coffee Bar first opened its doors. But beyond these arbitrary coincidences, the bull is surely as apt a symbol as any to represent the wild, restless spirit of rockabilly. It’s no wonder Carlos Diaz chose to name his label…

There’s one treasure in the El Toro vault that makes Diaz supremely proud, and it’s his steadfast dedication to the cause that led to this particular miracle. “Have you seen that clip on the internet of The Rock ‘n Roll Trio playing Hound Dog on Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour in New York City in 1956?” he asks. “It’s the only known footage of Johnny, Dorsey and Paul, that was lost, until I found it in 2007 at the Library Of Congress in Washington DC!” Needless to say, the footage takes pride of place on El Toro’s compilation, Shattered Dreams: The Rise and Fall of The Johnny Burnette R&R Trio, but how did this all play out? It all began one year earlier when Diaz was with Rocky Burnette recording his…

VIENS DANSER LE TWIST 1961 From the album of the same name (which also features High School Confidential), Viens Danser Le Twist is Hallyday’s exuberant take on Chubby Checker’s global hit. How could the French record-buying public resist his overtures for them to “tweest”? Mr Checker would surely have approved. CELUI QUE TU PRÉFÈRES 1964 Hallyday creditably channels his touchstone Elvis Presley on this version of the King’s 1957 hit Teddy Bear from the Gallic pretender’s 1964 collection Johnny, Reviens! Les Rocks Les Plus Terribles, though alters the lyric from “Let me be your teddy bear” to “Let me be the one you prefer”. The album also includes some good rockin’ covers of Johnny B. Goode, Roll Over Beethoven, Carole and Long Tall Sally. LE PÉNITENCIER 1964 Like Elvis, Hallyday…

“If I had to choose three of the finest male vocalists in the singing business,” Frank Sinatra once said, “Matt Monro would be one of them. His pitch was right on the nose; his word enunciations letter-perfect; his understanding of a song thorough.” As tributes go, certainly if you’re in the singing game, it doesn’t get any better than that. Sometimes known as ‘the singer’s singer’, and at other times as ‘the man with the golden voice’, Matt Monro was one of the biggest recording stars of the 1960s, a man who, in 1961, was named Billboard magazine’s Top International Act and who, in 1964, was the face of Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest. One of his most famous numbers, Born Free, even scooped an Oscar. As easy listening…

Red Hot Riot HOPELESS ROMANTIC WESTERN STAR At the end of last year, Vintage Rock highlighted Red Hot Riot as ones to watch in 2020, but nobody could have predicted the absolute desolation of the live music industry that was to follow. The band’s healthy schedule of gigs evaporated almost overnight, but thankfully their time spent in the bowels of the Western Star studios has proved fruitful and this six-track 10" mini-album finishes off the strangest of years in fine style. There is no messing around here, just half a dozen original compositions on which the band take the well-established template of rockabilly then add a sprinkling of their own melodic glimmer. It is easy to see how infectious growlers such as Key To The Lock and What’s A Boy…

The Man In Black has joined the hallowed likes of Elvis, Aretha, Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly by being given an orchestral overhaul. Johnny Cash And The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra collects 12 tracks from across the singer-songwriter’s career with additional symphonic arrangements recorded at Abbey Road. The new album features classic songs from Cash’s career, including I Walk The Line and Ring Of Fire, alongside lesser-known gems such as Galway Bay and Farther Along. Vintage Rock caught up with Cash’s son John Carter Cash – executive producer on the album – at the Cash Cabin Studio in Tennessee and found him in pragmatic mood about the current pandemic. “The coronavirus is probably the best thing that could have happened to my creativity and energy in terms of making music. I’m also…

Rockin’ Race Jamboree 4-7 February 2021 FEATURING Reverend Horton Heat, Wayne Hancock, Hacienda Brothers, Clint Bradley, The Surfrajettes LOCATION Torremolinos, Spain BOOKING rockinrace.com Why Don’t You Just Rock #2 26-27 March 2021 FEATURING The Jets, The Rockats, Polecats, The Ricochets, The Quakes, Levi Dexter, Colbert Hamilton & The Nitros LOCATION Rubery Social Club, Birmingham BOOKING eventbrite.co.uk Hemsby 7-10 May 2021 FEATURING Scotty Baker, Marcel Riesco, Charlie Feathers Jr, Restless, The Jets, Darrel Higham and the Enforcers LOCATION Hemsby, Norfolk BOOKING hemsbyrocknroll.co.uk The Rockabilly Knock Out! 8 May 2021 FEATURING Reverend Horton Heat, Delta Bombers, Dylan Kirk and the Killers, The Deadshots LOCATION The Passenger Shed, Bristol BOOKING eventbrite.co.uk The Hangar Stomp! Weekender 14-16 May 2021 FEATURING Roy Dee and the Spitfires, Miss Mary Ann & The Ragtime Wranglers, The Hayriders,…

In 1973, Lewis flew to London to record The Session, a sprawling double album, with a host of British musicians including guitarists Albert Lee, Peter Frampton and Rory Gallagher, bassist Chas Hodges – later the piano-playing half of Chas & Dave – and pedal steel guitarist B.J. Cole. “Everyone was in awe of Jerry Lee,” Albert Lee remembered. “He maintained his persona as the tough guy. He’d walk in with his bottle of whiskey and his cigars, put them on the piano, and God help anyone who touched them!” Over four January days at Advision studio, Lewis tackled two new rock songs, Jukebox and Music To The Man. He also covered Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Bad Moon Rising and made an aborted stab at the Stones’ Satisfaction. But with little advance…

David Bowie As a member of The Konrads, the young David Jones sang and played sax on Mockingbird, the Inez & Charlie Foxx standard. Marc Bolan The young Mark Feld (above) recorded the track Mrs Jones with Joe Meek as a 15-year-old in 1963. Gene Vincent Vincent appeared in the movie Live It Up! along with Heinz. Joe Meek produced a spin-off single Temptation Baby released on Columbia. Ray Davies Ray wrote some songs for The Honeycombs and went along to Holloway Road to prepare demos. Georgie Fame There are recordings of Fame performing High School Confidential and Living Doll. Billy Fury Never intended for a commercial release, Meek would sometimes tape Fury’s rehearsals for reference purposes. Tom Jones The Welsh legend recorded seven tracks for Meek before hitting it…

THE WILDEST! 1956 • CAPITOL Side 1 Medley: Just A Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody (And Nobody Cares For Me) (Nothing’s Too Good) For My Baby The Lip Body And Soul Oh Marie Side 2 Medley: Basin Street Blues/When It’s Sleepy Time Down South Jump, Jive, An’ Wail Buona Sera Night Train (I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead) You Rascal You VOYLE GILMORE PRODUCER LOUIS PRIMA VOCALS, TRUMPET KEELY SMITH VOCALS SAM BUTERA TENOR SAXOPHONE JACK MARSHALL GUITAR JAMES “LITTLE RED” BLOUNT JR TROMBONE WILLIE MCCUMBER PIANO AMATO RODRIGUES BASS GUITAR BOBBY MORRIS DRUMS…

Of all the artists who emerged from the rock’n’roll scene of the 1970s and found chart success in the early 80s, no-one picked up the ball and ran with it as far as Shakin’ Stevens. From the moment he hit No.1 with This Ole House in 1981, the denim-clad singer was a regular fixture on Top Of The Pops. In fact, he was the first artist to make 50 appearances on the show, performing hit after hit, including You Drive Me Crazy, Green Door, Oh Julie, It’s Late and Merry Christmas Everyone. By the end of the decade, he was the UK’s most successful singles act of the 1980s, spending more weeks on the chart than any other artist – an amazing 435 in all. any other artist – an…

Johnny Burnette died at around 9.40pm on 14 August 1964, when a cabin cruiser ran into his unlit fishing boat on Clear Lake, California. Also in the skiff were family friend Michael D’Angelo and D’Angelo’s 13-year-old daughter Liz. Michael and Liz climbed back aboard, but the 30-year-old Burnette never surfaced. His body wasn’t found until the Sunday morning. “It was the last day of the vacation,” remembers Rocky. “Liz said, ‘All the boys got to go fishing and I never got to go’. So instead of leaving that afternoon, Mike, my dad and Liz went back out one more time.” Rocky, aged 11, was on the shore with his nine-year-old brother Randy when they last saw their father. “He said, ‘We’re gonna take Liz out one more time, so help…

Is there a big country scene in Sweden? There’s always been a solid rockabilly and blues scene, but the country scene is not that big. We all played in different country, bluegrass, western swing and blues bands before, and shared a common interest in 50s and 60s country, so we got together to give it a try. In our earlier bands we’ve always had great female singers, but it wasn’t until Sam was persuaded to sing country instead of blues that all the pieces fell into place. Were you all long-term friends? We started around nine years ago and got together weekly to play country songs from the golden era, 1959-1961. We then decided to record some and that resulted in the Changing Her Thinking/Your Old Standby 7". What was…

Johnny Hallyday was just 14 when Elvis Presley entered his orbit – an experience that would change his life forever. “His voice, the way he moved, everything was sexy,” Hallyday, often dubbed “the French Elvis”, told USA Today in 2003. “The first time I saw him, I was paralysed.” Within two years, following a television slot on Paris Cocktail, the former Jean-Philippe Smet had secured a deal with the Vogue imprint, supported Sacha Distel on tour and gained a mentor in Charles Aznavour. His star was in the ascendant. Not bad for a boy from the ninth arrondissement of Paris whose parents – Léon, a nightclub performer, and Huguette, a model – split up shortly after he was born, leaving Jean-Philippe to be raised by his paternal aunt, a former…

NAME Bassam Hasanat LOCATION Hoofddorp, the Netherlands When did you first become a Superfan of Benny and what was it that initially drew you to him? I was playing the Nasty Rockabilly compilation, which features Spin The Bottle and Wild, Wild Lover. Then I found the Dutch CD Rockin’ And Rollin’ With Benny Joy and was captivated by Dark Angel, Nosey, Nosey, Neighbors and Gossip, Gossip, Gossip. He sounded like Elvis, then Johnny Cash, then Buddy Holly… Who was this guy? Then I found out he was making demos and was hoping to get those to the rock royalty. What’s more, he refused to sign to Sun Records, because he didn’t want to leave his beloved Florida. Describe your collection for us… I now have 17 45s and both of…

The most common question Michele Monro gets, whenever she talks about her dad, is which song of his she’s most fond of. But the answer, she admits, is never easy. “My response changes all the time depending on my mood,” she says. “To me, my father’s songs are like close intimate friends, something I grew up with. Some I fell in love with instantly and some I learnt to love over time, some are passionate, some sad and some are breezy, bright and uplifting. I know them really well; they’ve seen me through my private nightmares, my highs and lows, my reveries and my demons. They’re always there for me whether I want them or not, but invariably they will elevate me to a better place. They take me to…

Elvis Presley FROM ELVIS IN NASHVILLE SONY Long-awaited by fans, Elvis’ mythical marathon recording sessions from 1970 with the Nashville Cats finally get an official release in their entirety. Elvis In Nashville is the definitive document of these sessions, a boxset that gets to the nitty gritty of the assembled players’ musicality – all the attendant overdubs that appeared on any subsequent studio masters have been stripped back here. This is Elvis and the Cats in the raw. As if to showcase their chops, an opening instrumental jam on Mystery Train is stunning. The sessions have a swaggering charm to them – locker room banter and all – everyone brings their A-game. Presley sounds imperious on the bare bones covers of You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me and…

Following up their No.1 debut single That’ll Be The Day, Buddy Holly and The Crickets’ UK record label Coral took the unusual decision to release Oh, Boy! on 22 December 1957, too late to duke it out for the prize as the year’s festive chart-topper – Harry Belafonte’s Mary’s Boy Child took that honour instead. The Crickets’ second 7" did stellar business nevertheless, making it to No.3 in the UK, and also boasted Not Fade Away as its B-side, later immortalised by The Rolling Stones for a Top 5 hit on home soil.…

Guitarist Austin John and vocalist Dawna Zahn moved to Nashville from New York City back in 2014 with only one goal in mind: to form a band inspired by their favourite rhythm & blues and rock’n’roll artists of the 1950s and 60s. Since then, they’ve worked hard to establish their brand of raw, rockin’ blues in Music City, a place not known for its shortage of bands. Their first full-length album Something’s Gotta Shake, for Wild Records, showcased their unique sound while laying bare their love of American roots icons such as Big Mama Thornton, Howlin’ Wolf and Little Richard. 2020 looked to be a pivotal year for the band until recent global events brought live music grinding to a halt. However, John is still positive and with their first…

JERRY LEE LEWIS ANOTHER PLACE ANOTHER TIME SMASH RECORDS (1968) Jerry Lee’s frantic piano pounding was sounding pretty dated by the late 60s and the hits had long since dried up, so with 1968’s Another Place Another Time he found the balls of fire to reinvent himself – as a country artist. It made total sense. The hippie ideals of love, peace and harmony were never a good fit for a man tortured by devils and booze, but the bruised anguish of country was a natural truckstop. Yet even though hardcore country was flying commercially in 1968, this was no ‘easy cash-in’ record: it sounds absolutely desperate at times. However, the title track and What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me) were hit singles, and the…

For 53 years, Kenny Lovelace has been Jerry Lee Lewis’ right-hand man. Born in Alabama, Lovelace became Lewis’ band leader, guitarist and fiddle player in 1967. He’s accompanied the Killer for every one of his concerts, recording sessions and television appearances ever since. Soon after you joined Jerry Lee’s band, you played the Toronto Rock’n’Roll Revival in 1969. What do you remember about it? That was really something else. They had Chuck Berry, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. There were thousands of people there and they were up for it. The highlight for me was playing rock’n’roll fiddle on Mystery Train. Jerry said, ‘Can I borrow your guitar?’ I said, ‘Sure!’ So Jerry played electric guitar. He gave me a solo on the fiddle and I just went for it.…

Pete Rochford, the current chairman of the Joe Meek Society, was stunned when he was told the news about the Tea Chest Tapes. “I just could not believe what I was hearing, bearing in mind that the Joe Meek Society over the past 30 years has been waiting for this news with great patience,” he explains. “The complete catalogue of Joe’s entire work is of massive interest to many people all over the world, which comes highly on a vast amount of record collectors’ lists. “These tapes of demos, backing tracks and unreleased or alternative versions will certainly be an eye-opener to collectors. “Our special thanks go out to Cliff Cooper for allowing all the tapes to be given a whole new lease of life, Cherry Red Records for taking…

Dark skinned and slender, born to Irish and Cherokee parents, Keely Smith fascinated Las Vegas audiences. Poker-faced, or with what arranger Nelson Riddle called “this deadpan look,” she’d stand motionless while Louis Prima horsed around. Smith was effectively playing the comic foil to a clown and the chemistry between the middle-aged man and a woman 18 years his junior was irresistible. The act, fast-paced and noisy, was laced with innuendo, and “not for the kiddies” as Downbeat neatly put it. Prima and Smith brought rock’n’roll to the parents of teenagers, but, possessing a beautifully clear voice, Smith was essentially a jazz singer. One of the finest examples of her work with Prima is on their revival of the old standard That Old Black Magic, a Top 20 Stateside hit for…

Like so many of the original rock’n’rollers, Johnny Burnette’s career was cut short by tragedy. At the time of his death in a boating accident in the summer of 1964, the handsome singer was best known for the smooth and catchy, string-laden teen pop hits Dreamin’ and You’re Sixteen. However, the mark he left on music was far wider and deeper than that. Before his success as a solo artist, Johnny and his brother Dorsey wrote a string of hits for Ricky Nelson, including Waitin’ In School, Believe What You Say and It’s Late. And before that, the Burnette brothers teamed with guitarist Paul Burlison and created one of the most incendiary caches of rockabilly music ever recorded, as Johnny Burnette and the Rock ’n roll Trio. Drenched in echo,…

How did you come first across Johnny Burnette and his music? “I noticed his name was on a compilation with people like Bobby Vee and Johnny Tillotson, and there was a Johnny Burnette song: Dreamin’. I loved his voice. Then I discovered the Rock ’n Roll Trio and that was a big influence on me. I would have been listening to rockabilly for about six months at that point. I’d discovered Elvis and started tracing the big boys – Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly – and I found the Rock ’n Roll Trio after that. I would have been about 14 years old.” Have you recorded any of the Rock ’n Roll Trio’s songs? “I recorded Lonesome Train. But that stuff is so good that you’ve really got…

What led you to rock’n’roll in the first place? My aunt. When I was three, she came home late and there was a quarrel, which woke me up. She turned on an Elvis vinyl, I came to her room and she sat me on her knee and told me about rock’n’roll. When I was 12-14, I was into metal and punk, but when I turned 15, I discovered psychobilly and then rockabilly, swing, surf and western swing. I remembered that Elvis story and fell in love with rock’n’roll. Is rock’n’roll big in Ukraine? There are not that many bands and our audience is mixed, about seven psychobilly bands, seven rockabilly/R&B/swing bands and about four surf bands. We all hang out together. We have three big festivals: Ukrabilly Bang in spring,…

Like his idol Elvis, Johnny Hallyday made a seamless transition from stage to screen, though with considerably more creatively satisfying results. His first uncredited role was in the 1955 movie Les Diaboliques, followed in 1962 by a more prominent part alongside the legendary Catherine Deneuve in Les Parisiennes. But it wasn’t until he starred in cult director Jean-Luc Godard’s 1985 crime drama Détective that Hallyday’s cachet as an actor increased. “My image started to change,” he said. “I always try to play away from me, totally different from what I am as a singer. The best compliment someone can give me is, ‘We forgot you were Johnny Hallyday’. I take acting very seriously.” The best reviews of his thespian career came for Patrice Leconte’s 2002 feature The Man On The…

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Gordon Doel/Spencer “Chicken” Evoy SINGS CARLOS SLAP EL TORO El Toro Records celebrate their 25th anniversary with this pair of 7" releases which pay tribute to the songs of Spanish double bass favourite Carlos Slap. Last year, El Toro had Marcel Bontempi interpret two songs by Carlos on a seven-inch and they’ve enlisted a couple of other esteemed vocalists for this project. Gordon Doel from Hampshire hillbillies The Doel Brothers tackles two Slap smashers on his single, starting off with the jazz-tinged rocker I’m Not Alone followed by the steel guitar-led country swinger I Feel The Storm. The second single features Canadian tenor sax honker Spencer Evoy from MFC Chicken in top form. He brings his powerful vocals to the sleazy south of the border anthem Down To Mexico, then…

As I was born in 1940, 2020 has been the year in which I celebrated my 80th birthday. Tommy Steele is the granddaddy of Britain’s original rockers, turning 80 back in 2018, Marty Wilde reached the landmark in 2019, Cliff Richard celebrated the milestone this October and Joe Brown will hopefully be enjoying his 80th next May. And what was it our elders used to say? “Rock’n’roll is not good for you!” My wife Anette and my family had a big bash planned, with all my rocking mates of today and yesteryear joining me for one heck of a rock’n’roll party. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be, but I still had a great day. Instead, we ran an online Q&A with many of my new-found social media friends. Some of…