Bernard William Jewry (27 September 1942 – 23 October 2014), known professionally as Shane Fenton and later as Alvin Stardust, was an English rock singer and stage actor. Performing first as Shane Fenton in the 1960s, Jewry had a moderately successful career in the pre-Beatles era, hitting the UK top 40 with four singles in 1961–62. However, he became better known for singles released in the 1970s and 1980s as Alvin Stardust, a character he began in the
glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...
era, with hits including the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
-topper "
Jealous Mind
"Jealous Mind" is a song recorded by Alvin Stardust in 1973, written and produced by Peter Shelley, and released in 1973. "Jealous Mind" was Stardust's only number-one single in the UK Singles Chart, spending a single week at the top of the char ...
", as well as later hits such as "Pretend" and "
I Feel Like Buddy Holly".
Early life and career
Bernard William Jewry was born 27 September 1942 in
Muswell Hill
Muswell Hill is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, north London. The hill, which reaches over above sea level, is situated north of Charing Cross.
Neighbouring areas include Highgate, Hampstead Garden Suburb, East Fi ...
, then in
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
(now in the
London Borough of Haringey
The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation o ...
). Having moved at a young age to
Mansfield,
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
, where his mother ran a
boarding house frequented by musicians and entertainers appearing locally, Jewry attended the Southwell Minster Collegiate Grammar School (now
Southwell Minster School) in
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Southwell (, ) is a minster and market town in the district of Newark and Sherwood in Nottinghamshire, England. It is home to the grade-I listed Southwell Minster, the cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham. The populatio ...
, near
Newark-on-Trent
Newark-on-Trent or Newark () is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...
, as a boarder. He made his stage debut in
pantomime
Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...
at the age of four.
In the early 1960s,
Shane Fenton and the Fentones
Shane Fenton and the Fentones were an English rock and roll group formed in 1960. Shane Fenton, the band's namesake, was actually the stage name of two different musicians; when the first Shane Fenton, real name Johnny Theakston, suddenly died, h ...
were an unknown teenage band who recorded a demo tape and mailed it in to a BBC programme with the hope of being picked to appear on television. While awaiting a reply from the BBC, the band's 17-year-old singer Shane Fenton (whose real name was
Johnny Theakston
Shane Fenton and the Fentones were an English rock and roll group formed in 1960. Shane Fenton, the band's namesake, was actually the stage name of two different musicians; when the first Shane Fenton, real name Johnny Theakston, suddenly died, h ...
) died as a result of the
rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful jo ...
he had suffered in childhood.
The rest of the band (guitarists Jerry Wilcock and Mick Eyre, bassist Graham George Squires and drummer Tony Hinchcliffe) decided to break up, but then unexpectedly received a letter from the BBC inviting them to come to London to audition in person for the programme. Theakston's mother asked the band to stay together, and to keep its name, in honour of her son's memory. Jewry, who was a
roadie
The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This catc ...
with them at the time, was asked to join the band and to use Shane Fenton as a pseudonym.
The combo had a few hits in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
:
"I'm A Moody Guy", "Walk Away", "It's All Over Now" and their biggest hit, "Cindy's Birthday". These and their subsequent misses were all on
Parlophone Records
Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...
.
Jewry later also appeared in
Billy Fury
Ronald Wycherley (17 April 1940 – 28 January 1983), better known as Billy Fury, was an English singer, musician, songwriter, and actor. An early star of rock and roll, he equalled the Beatles' record of 24 hits in the 1960s and spent 332 we ...
's movie ''
Play It Cool'' (1962) and the
Tommy Steele
Sir Thomas Hicks (born 17 December 1936), known professionally as Tommy Steele, is an English entertainer, regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star.
After being discovered at the 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho, London, Steele reco ...
film ''
It's All Happening'' (1963). He was managed by
Larry Parnes
Laurence Maurice Parnes (3 September 1929 – 4 August 1989) was a British pop manager and impresario. He was the first major British rock manager, and his stable of singers included many of the most successful British rock and roll singers of t ...
.
Persona change
Jewry disappeared from the spotlight for a decade after the break-up of the Fentones, working in music management and performing at small venues with his first wife Iris Caldwell, the sister of
Rory Storm
Rory Storm (born Alan Ernest Caldwell; 7 January 1938 – 28 September 1972) was an English musician and vocalist. Born in Liverpool, Storm was the singer and leader of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, a Liverpudlian band who were contempora ...
. During the early 1970s, however, he acquired a new persona, Alvin Stardust, cashing in on the
glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...
bandwagon. Alvin Stardust was clearly a reference to
Ziggy Stardust, a
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
character based on the "C-list" rocker
Vince Taylor
Vince Taylor (14 July 1939 – 28 August 1991), born Brian Maurice Holden, was an English rock and roll singer. As the lead singer of Vince Taylor and His Playboys, sometimes Vince Taylor and The Playboys, he was successful primarily in France ...
. The Alvin Stardust character looked remarkably like Taylor with sideburns and black leather outfit. His new name was given to him by
Peter Shelley, the co-founder (with
Michael Levy) of
Magnet Records
Magnet Records was a British record label, started in 1973 by Michael Levy and Peter Shelley. It was acquired by Warner Bros. Records in 1988 for an estimated £10m.
Artists on the label included Alvin Stardust, Stevenson's Rocket, Matchbox, ...
. Shelley originated the persona of Alvin Stardust, writing, recording and singing the first Stardust single, "
My Coo Ca Choo
"My Coo Ca Choo" is the first successful release for Alvin Stardust, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart in December 1973. The glam rock single fared even better in Australia, where it spent seven weeks at the top and was the best char ...
", in 1973. Shelley, however, had no interest in performing live or making public appearances, so even as "My Coo Ca Choo" was climbing the charts, he was on the lookout for someone to take over the role of Alvin Stardust. Hal Carter, Jewry's manager, suggested his client as a substitute.
Jewry took over as Stardust in time to lip-synch "My Coo Ca Choo" on its first ''
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...
'' appearance.
All further Alvin Stardust records were sung by Jewry. Stardust had further chart successes with the hits "
Jealous Mind
"Jealous Mind" is a song recorded by Alvin Stardust in 1973, written and produced by Peter Shelley, and released in 1973. "Jealous Mind" was Stardust's only number-one single in the UK Singles Chart, spending a single week at the top of the char ...
" (UK No. 1),
"You, You, You", "Red Dress" and "Good Love Can Never Die". In total, he amassed seven
Top Ten entries, in a chart span lasting almost 25 years.
Stardust was part of the
Green Cross Code
The Green Cross Code is a brand created by the National Road Safety Committee (now the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, RoSPA) to raise awareness of pedestrian road safety in the United Kingdom. The multimedia Green Cross Code ca ...
road safety campaign ''Children's Heroes'' (1976), which saw him instructing children to look both ways before they crossed the road.
Later work
![Alvingf](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Alvingf.JPG)
"
Pretend" was a
hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
in the United Kingdom in 1981, reaching number four in the UK Singles Chart. It reached number one in the Dutch Top 40 in November 1981. The song was also successful in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
in 1983.
Alvin Stardust was a guest act on the ''
Morecambe & Wise Christmas Show'' in 1981.
The singles "
I Feel Like Buddy Holly" (written and produced by
Mike Batt
Michael Philip Batt, LVO (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director and conductor. He was formerly the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry.
Having achieved substantia ...
) and "I Won't Run Away" reached number 7 in the UK Singles Chart in 1984. "So Near To Christmas" was a minor hit, No. 29, in the same year.
He participated in ''
A Song for Europe
A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name ...
'', the UK qualifying heat of the ''
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
'', in 1985, with the song "The Clock on the Wall". He finished in third place behind
Vikki and Kerri Wells.
He was the subject of ''
This Is Your Life'' in 1985 when he was surprised by
Eamonn Andrews
Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...
.
In 1986, Stardust performed the duet "I Hope and I Pray" with
Sheila Walsh on her album ''Shadowlands'', which was released as a single. That year he also performed at
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original c ...
as a lead in the Lloyd Webber–Rice musical ''
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
''.
Stardust also starred in the UK tour of ''
Godspell
''Godspell'' is a musical composed by Stephen Schwartz with book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set to lyrics from traditional hymn ...
'' and played
Uriah Heep in ''David Copperfield – The Musical'' and Sir
Billy Butlin in ''The Butlin Story'' at the
London Palladium
The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in the famous area of Soho. The theatre holds 2,286 seats. Of the roster of stars who have played there, many have televised performances. Between 1955 an ...
. In 2005 he starred as the
Child Catcher
The Child Catcher is a fictional character in the 1968 film ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' and in the later stage musical adaptation. The Child Catcher is employed by Baron Bomburst and Baroness Bomburst to snatch and imprison children on the street ...
in ''
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' is a 1968 musical-fantasy film directed by Ken Hughes with a screenplay co-written by Roald Dahl and Hughes, loosely based on Ian Fleming's novel '' Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car'' (1964). The film stars ...
'', also at the London Palladium.
[
Stardust made numerous television appearances, and continued to tour as a performer and singer. In 1989, he also hosted his own Sunday morning children's TV series on ]ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
called ''It's Stardust''. It featured stories, songs, poems, jokes and also cartoons and shows for younger children, including '' The Adventures of Parsley'', ''Little Miss
"Little Miss" is a song written and recorded by the American country music duo Sugarland. It was released in November 2010 as the second single from the album '' The Incredible Machine''. Before the album's release, the song charted on the ''B ...
'' and ''Satellite City''.
In 1995, he joined the cast of the soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
, ''Hollyoaks
''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...
'', playing the character Greg Andersen from October 1995 to July 1996.
On 2 October 2011, Stardust was initiated into the Grand Order of Water Rats
The Grand Order of Water Rats is a British entertainment industry fraternity and charitable organisation based in London. Founded in 1889 by the music hall comedians Joe Elvin and Jack Lotto, the order is known for its high-profile membership an ...
, an entertainment fraternity.
In 2011, Stardust made a return to the stage as a singer rather than an actor, and played the Arts Guild Theatre in Greenock
Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...
on 28 October 2011.
Personal life
Stardust was married three times. In Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
in 1964 as Bernard W. Jewry he married Iris Caldwell, sister of Rory Storm
Rory Storm (born Alan Ernest Caldwell; 7 January 1938 – 28 September 1972) was an English musician and vocalist. Born in Liverpool, Storm was the singer and leader of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, a Liverpudlian band who were contempora ...
and an ex-girlfriend of both George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
and Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
, having grown up with them in Liverpool. In 1981, Stardust married the actress Liza Goddard
Louise Elizabeth Goddard (born 20 January 1950) professionally known as Liza Goddard, is an English television and stage actress, best known for her work in the 1970s and 1980s.
Early life
Goddard was born in Smethwick, Staffordshire.Before 1 ...
, again under the name of Bernard W. Jewry. Their daughter, Sophie Jewry, was critically injured at the age of two months after she fell down a set of stairs and suffered a severe fracture of the skull; she later recovered from her injuries.[ Stardust was married to the actress and choreographer Julie Paton at the time of his death.
He had two sons and two daughters, the youngest of whom had ]Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...
as one of her godparents.
His eldest son, Shaun Fenton, was born in 1969. His birth was registered in December 1969 under the name of Fenton. The other son is the drum and bass producer Adam F
Adam Fenton (born 8 February 1972) is an English record producer and DJ who has worked across various genres. He is also the co-founder of the drum and bass label Breakbeat Kaos along with DJ Fresh. He found initial success with the 1990s drum ...
.
Death
Stardust died at home after a brief illness; this was confirmed by his manager on 23 October 2014. He was 72 years old. His funeral was held in St Thomas Church, Swansea, where he had married Julie Paton. His death came weeks before he was due to release his first album for 30 years, and six days after what became his last show at the Regal Cinema, Evesham. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...
18 months earlier, which later metastasis
Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...
ed.[ He was cremated in Morriston Crematorium and his ashes scattered in the grounds.
]
Discography
*''The Untouchable'' (1973)
*'' Alvin Stardust'' (1974)
*''Rock with Alvin'' (1975)
*''A Picture of You'' (1983)
*''I Feel Like... Alvin Stardust'' (1984)
*''Alvin'' (2014, posthumous release)
*''Behind the Wheel'' (2021, posthumous release)
References
External links
*
Imdb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stardust, Alvin
20th-century English singers
English male singers
English male soap opera actors
English male stage actors
English pop singers
English rock singers
Glam rock musicians
Musicians from London
Musicians from Nottinghamshire
People educated at Southwell Minster Collegiate Grammar School
People from Muswell Hill
People from Mansfield
Deaths from cancer in England
Deaths from prostate cancer
1942 births
2014 deaths
British rock and roll musicians
Magnet Records artists
Parlophone artists
Stiff Records artists
20th-century British male singers