World of Chig   

8.3.03

Budgie squawks


(Slightly tasteless, I admit, but I couldn’t resist.)

For some reason, ever since we did the 50 Number Ones Project at the end of last year, I’ve felt a duty to report the deaths of number one hitmakers. So, sadly here’s another one, with the man born as Terence Nelhams dying at 2am today, after appearing last night in a play in Stoke-on-Trent. He was born in Acton, which now gets its second mention of the week on this here blog! I last saw Adam Faith on TV on New Year’s Day, when he performed on BBC One’s ‘It’s The Number Ones Party’. It was a performance that reminded me of someone’s Dad doing ill-advised karaoke at a wedding reception; so painfully out of tune that I was moved to text the word ‘Ouch!’ to Mike. (Yes Mike, that’s what it was about – I never did explain, did I?) He had spoken to Orange Winton beforehand about how ‘What Do You Want?’, the first of his two chart-toppers, was the shortest number one, clocking in at under two minutes, and when he sang it again, I was glad. But it would be terrible if that were his epitaph. He should be remembered for being a pop singer in the pre-rock'n'roll era of the crooners, for two number ones, for eleven top ten hits in all, for his smouldering teen idol good looks and a successful acting career. Along the way he somehow became a financial adviser, but then became a backer of The Money Channel; a TV venture which ironically went bust, leaving him reportedly millions of pounds in debt. The title of his other number one? ‘Poor Me’.

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