Alex Glasgow on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Alex Glasgow (14 October 1935 – 14 May 2001) was an English singer-songwriter from
Low Fell
Low Fell is a suburb of Gateshead situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, England. Built predominantly on sandstone, grindstone and clay, it is bordered by Sheriff Hill/Deckham to the east, Saltwell/Bensham to the w ...
,
Gateshead, England. He wrote the songs and music for the musical plays ''Close the Coal House Door'' and ''
On Your Way, Riley!'' by
Alan Plater
Alan Frederick Plater (15 April 1935 – 25 June 2010) was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s.
Career
Plater was born in Jarrow, County Durham, although his family ...
, and scripts for the TV drama ''
When the Boat Comes In
''When the Boat Comes In'' is a British television period drama produced by the BBC between 1976 and 1981. The series stars James Bolam as Jack Ford, a First World War veteran who returns to his poverty-stricken (fictional) town of Gallowshi ...
'', the theme song of which he sang.
[
]
Biography
The son of a coal miner, Glasgow was born in
Gateshead.
His parents had previously emigrated during the depression in the 1930s to New Zealand and then Sydney in Australia, where his sister Isabelle was born. They later returned to the UK and Alex was born in 1935.
He was educated at
Gateshead Grammar School
Gateshead Grammar School was a school in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, that operated from 1883 to 1967.
History
The private school Gateshead High School For Boys opened in 1883 at the junction of Durham Road and Prince Consort Road. It w ...
, where he was a founding member of the Caprians Choir in 1953.
He graduated in Languages from
University of Leeds
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
and taught in Germany.
Glasgow met Patricia Wallace, known as "Paddy", at Leeds University in 1955. They married in
Bremen, North Germany, on 5 July 1961. They had three children: Richard, Daniel and Ruth.
He left Gateshead and moved to
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
with his family in 1981.
The press reported that Alex suffered from
arthritis and Australia's climate was expected to give him some relief.
He spent his last years there and died aged 65 on 14 May 2001,
after a long battle with early-onset dementia.
Career
Upon his return from teaching in Germany, Glasgow joined the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
Glasgow was a traditional working class singer-songwriter. His style would be regarded as solidly within the British (and wider)
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
tradition, but Glasgow himself was uncomfortable with the "folk" tag. He became widely known for his own style of
Geordie songs, often on political topics, generally
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
and/or
trades union-focused. He wrote his own songs, not all political, and earlier in his career sang versions of other popular Geordie folk and socialist political tunes and some of the best of these can be found on albums such as ''Songs of (Alex Glasgow)'' and ''Now and Then''. His songs included "The Sunsets, Bonny Lad (the sunsets, that will drive your breath away)", "Any Minute Now", "(They're) Turning the Clock Back (he could hear his granny say)", "The Mary Baker City Mix", "In My Town" and "When It's Ours" (Jackie Boy, when it's ours...).
He is well-remembered for the song cycle "The Tyne Slides By" written in the 1970s for the BBC series ''The Camera and the Song''. The cycle covers the life of a working person in Newcastle when there was still work to be had in the shipyards, from childhood and schooling, early experience of work, the exuberance of free Saturday afternoons and going to see
Newcastle United play, musing on a working life as the ship goes down the slipway, grandparenthood and death.
Glasgow was also a writer and radio and television broadcaster; he presented the
BBC 2 arts programme ''New Release'' in 1967, among other series. While teaching English in Germany he was invited to record the single "True True Happiness" with Nana Gualdi. The song entered the German pop charts in 1959 and led to a job at the BBC on his return to the UK. His theme music from ''When the Boat Comes In'' reached the UK singles chart. The song also peaked at number 93 in Australia.
He was a long-time friend and collaborator of the playwright and actor
Henry Livings with whom he starred in a 1971 comedy sketch series for BBC2, ''Get The Drift'', based on their stage show, ''The Northern Drift''. This included a version of "As Soon as This Pub Closes (The Revolution Starts)". In 1980, he appeared with Livings at the Perth Festival in Western Australia in ''The Northern Drift''. Glasgow emigrated to Australia the following year.
His songs include several which explore the contradictions of socialism, both inside and outside the
Labour Party such as "The Socialist ABC", "My Daddy Is A Left-Wing Intellectual", "Little Cloth Cap" and "As Soon As This Pub Closes".
See also
*
Geordie dialect words
References
External links
Folk music discussion thread on his life and workat mudcat.org
Alex Glasgow CDs from MWM, including list of songs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glasgow, Alex
1935 births
2001 deaths
English male singer-songwriters
20th-century English singers
20th-century British male singers
20th-century English male writers