Spotlight on... Bobbie Gentry

Roberta Lee Streeter (born July 27, 1944, Chickasaw County, Mississippi), professionally known as Bobbie Gentry, is a former American singer-songwriter. Gentry is one of the first female country artists to write and produce her own material. She wrote much of her own material, drawing on her Mississippi roots to compose vignettes of the Southern United States.

With her U.S. number 1 album, Ode to Billie Joe, and the Southern Gothic narrative of the title track, she won the Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammy awards in 1968. "Ode to Billie Joe" was the fourth most popular song in the United States in 1967. Gentry charted nine singles in Billboard Hot 100 and four singles in the United Kingdom Top 40. After her first albums, she turned towards the variety show genre. After losing her popularity in the 1970s, she quit performing and has since lived privately in Los Angeles.

Roberta Streeter is partially of Portuguese ancestry. Her parents divorced shortly after her birth, and she was raised in poverty by her mother, on her grandparents' farm in Chickasaw County, Mississippi. After her grandmother traded one of the family's milk cows for a neighbor's piano, seven-year-old Bobbie composed her first song, "My Dog Sergeant Is a Good Dog". She attended elementary school in Greenwood, Mississippi, and began teaching herself to play guitar, bass, and banjo and vibes, and sang at a local country club while she was in high school. At 13, she moved to Arcadia, California to live with her mother, Ruby Bullington Streeter. She had a half sister Rosemary in Vancouver,Canada. Her sister was much younger and grew up to be a teacher.

Roberta Streeter graduated from Palm Valley School in 1960. She chose the stage name "Bobbie Gentry" from the 1952 film Ruby Gentry (starring Jennifer Jones as a heroine born into poverty but determined to make a success of her life) and began performing at local country clubs. Encouraged by Bob Hope, she performed in a revue of Les Folies Bergeres nightclub of Las Vegas. Gentry then moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA as a philosophy major, and supported herself by working in clerical jobs, occasionally performing at local nightclubs. She later transferred to the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music to hone her composition and performing skills. In 1964, she made her recording debut, with a pair of duets – "Ode to Love" and "Stranger in the Mirror" with rockabilly singer Jody Reynolds.
Her career failed to take off, however, and she continued performing in nightclubs until Capitol Records executive Kelly Gordon heard a demo she recorded in 1967.

Gentry married casino entrepreneur Bill Harrah in Reno, Nevada, but the marriage lasted only briefly. In 1979, Gentry married singer-songwriter Jim Stafford. Their marriage lasted 11 months. Gentry had one son with Stafford by the name of Tyler.

In 1967, Gentry produced her first single, "Mississippi Delta"/"Ode to Billie Joe", detailing the suicide of Billie Joe McAllister, who flings himself off the Tallahatchie Bridge. The song used a traditional blues scale, lowered the 3rd and the 7th degree. The track topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in August 1967 and placed #4 in the year-end chart. The single hit #8 on Billboard Black Singles and #13 in the UK Top 40. The single sold over three million copies. The Rolling Stone listed it among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2001.

The LP replaced Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band at the top of U.S. charts. It also reached #5 of the Billboard Black Albums charts. Bobbie Gentry won three Grammy Awards in 1967, including Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She was also named the Academy of Country Music's Best New Female Vocalist. In February, 1968 Bobbie Gentry took part in the Italian Song Festival in Sanremo, as one of the two performers (alongside Al Bano) of the song "La siepe" by Vito Pallavicini and Massara. In a competition of 24 songs, the entry qualified to the final 14 and eventually placed ninth.

Gentry’s later albums did not match the success of her first. In 1968 she collaborated on the album Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell, which achieved a gold record. In October 1969 Gentry's "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" a popular song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David reached number one on the UK singles chart for a single week. In January 1970, it became a number-six hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for Dionne Warwick.

In 1970 she received recognition for her composition, “Fancy”, which rose to

#26 on the U.S. Country charts and #31 on the pop charts. Gentry’s view:

"Fancy" is my strongest statement for women's lib, if you really listen to it. I agree wholeheartedly with that movement and all the serious issues that they stand for — equality, equal pay, day care centers, and abortion rights.

The album, as the rest of her post– “Ode to Billie Joe” records, had little commercial success. However, it brought Gentry an Academy of Country Music Award and a Grammy nomination, both in the category of Best Female Vocalist.

Gentry continued to write and perform, touring Europe, generating a significant fan base in the United Kingdom and headlining a Las Vegas review for which she produced, choreographed, wrote and arranged the music. In 1974, Bobbie Gentry hosted a short-lived summer replacement variety show, The Bobbie Gentry Happiness Hour, on CBS. The show, which served as her own version of Campbell's hit series The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, also on CBS, was not renewed for a full season. That same year, Bobbie Gentry wrote and performed "Another Place, Another Time" for writer-director Max Baer, Jr.'s film, Macon County Line. In 1976, Baer directed a feature film Ode to Billy Joe based on her hit song, starring Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor. In the movie, the mystery of the title character's suicide is revealed as a part of the conflict between his love for Bobbie Lee Hartley and his emerging homosexuality. Bobbie Gentry's re-recording of the song for the film hit the pop charts, as did Capitol's reissue of the original recording; both peaked outside the top fifty. Her behind-the-scenes work in television production failed to hold her interest. After a 1978 single for Warner Bros. Records, "He Did Me Wrong, But He Did It Right", failed to chart, Bobbie Gentry decided to retire from show business. Her last public appearance as a performer was on Christmas Night 1978 as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. After that, she settled in Los Angeles and remained out of public life.

In the hectic atmosphere of 1967, Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe" stood out with its simplicity and integrity. Bobbie Gentry is one of the first female country artists to write and produce her own material. Typically her songs have autobiographic characteristics. Bobbie Gentry charted 9 singles in Billboard Hot 100 and 4 singles in the UK Top 40.

Bob Dylan's 1967 "Clothesline Saga" mimiced the conversational style of "Ode to Billie Joe", with lyrics concentrating on routine household chores containing a shocking event buried in the mundane details (the revelation that "The Vice-President's gone mad!" In 2004, singer-songwriter Jill Sobule began performing a song called "Where Is Bobbie Gentry?" about the mystique surrounding Gentry since her retirement from the public eye. The song appears on Sobule's 2009 album California Years. Beth Orton wrote another song called "Bobbie Gentry" and released it on her 2003 album The Other Side of Daybreak. On their 1984 album, The Third Album, the Scottish band Orange Juice sang about "the lovely face of Bobbie Gentry" in "Out For The Count".

Wikipedia

BOBBIE GENTRY - THE VERY BEST OF

1. I'll Never Fall In Love Again

2. Something In The Way He Moves

3. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

4. All I Have To Do Is Dream (with Glen Campbell)

5. Walk Right Back (with Glen Campbell)

6. Seasons Come, Seasons Go

7. Son Of A Preacher Man

8. You've Made Me So Very Happy

9. Mississippi Delta

10. Ode To Billie Jo

11. Tobacco Road

12. The Fool On The Hill

13. Eleanor Rigby

14. Here, There And Everywhere

15. Where's The Playground, Johnny

16. Gentle On My Mind

17. In The Ghetto

18.Little Green Apples (with Glen Campbell)

19. My Elusive Dreams

20. Scarlet Ribbons (For Her Hair)

Spotlight on... Sandra Tindall

It was inevitable that I would eventually come across the superb voice of Matt Monro. My Dad was in the army based at Portland in Dorset and my Mum was a Weymouth girl. He also played the trumpet and sang in the army band at the popular ‘tea dances’ of the time. My Mum loved dancing to this music, and could be found spending every spare moment there. This didn’t stop after I was born as apparently from a few months of age I was passed from sailor to sailor when the ‘fleet was in’ while Mum continued dancing and Dad playing! So when the war ended and they moved to Dad’s hometown of Lincoln the music continued. Dad joined a local dance band playing and singing and home tutoring people on the trumpet. Mum was still dancing me round the room to the strains of Sinatra, Doris Day and the Big Bands of the time. As I became a teenager I thought I was fed up of the music I had heard all of my life and began to enjoy the British rock’n’roll music of Billy Fury, Marty Wilde, Cliff etc. Then one day I heard a song on the radio sung by someone called Matt Monro. The song was Love Walked In, which I had heard being played in our house over the years. That was it, I was hooked by the voice and it went on from there.

If I had to describe Matt’s voice I would say it is an absolute flawless quality from beginning to end, whatever he sings. My favourite single song would have to be One Day a song of love and hope. An album has to be Matt sings Hoagy Carmichael, timeless songs beautifully sung. I have never been keen of Exodus; I much prefer it as an instrumental. With reference to his film themes, my very favourite is The Precious Moments from the film The Sea Wolves closely followed by On Days Like These and Wednesdays Child.

I think that Matt’s singing on these films added to the whole experience of the film itself, as you couldn’t help but pay attention as that marvellous voice rang out on the soundtrack. He should have received an Oscar as well as the songwriters because his interpretation of their winning songs were a major factor to their success.

We were very fortunate to see Matt ‘live’ twice. In 1978 we saw him in Newark. The most memorable part of that evening was listening to him sing If I Never Sing Another Song because the words, ’in my heyday young girls wrote to me’ brought memories flooding back of myself being one of those young girls! I think I was always writing to him as I had a real ‘crush’! Imagine my delight to receive a handwritten letter thanking me for writing. And then a reply to another letter I had written saying that my husband John and I were coming to Blackpool for our ‘honeymoon’. Matt was appearing in summer season at the North Pier and I asked if it would be possible to meet him after the show. The typewritten reply signed by him said yes!

And so, on August 17th 1963 after watching the show in front row seats we were taken to meet him. I don’t have to tell you how super he was to us; you wouldn’t expect me to say anything else would you? He soon put us at our ease, although what we talked about I haven’t a clue, I was too much in shock. I know that John and he had a cigarette, and that we all had a drop of whisky. He was happy to pose for a photo, and then to top it off Morecambe and Wise came into the dressing room too and had a few words.
We floated on air for the rest of the week, even getting tickets to see the same show again the next night. A never forgotten memory.

I personally would like to have seen more ‘swing’ numbers on his past albums, as I am a huge fan of big band music. It’s great to see more of these songs appearing now as in The Rare Monro. Having only just ‘discovered’ the website I wasn’t aware of ‘Fans Reunited’. I am certainly enjoying reading and occasionally ‘chipping in’ with everyone’s banter to each other and it would probably be nice to meet everyone ‘in the flesh’. I didn’t know anything about ‘Friends of Matt Monro’ either so will probably join.

www.mattmonro.com seems to be unique, I don’t know of any other site where there is such up to the minute information on relevant or irrelevant topics on a near daily basis. Everyone seems so friendly and to know that Michele is always there too must make it particularly unique. As for the Forum I know nothing about its history, it is definitely worth fighting for. I can understand how people come to reply on it so it must have been a big shock to find it missing one day. But it is up to all of us to make sure it is well used.

A follow up to The Rare Monro would be the icing on the cake. OF COURSE it was worth the five years hard work for us as Matt’s fans. To listen to such tracks as New York, New York, Birth Of the Blues and The Wrong Time was great for us, but the cost must have been tremendous. And then of course Matt Sings Nelson Swings -it certainly does!

If Matt had done a seasonal album it would have been up there with such greats as Sinatra, Cole and Williams but I never connected him with one until I was asked. If money wasn’t an object I would give blanket advertising in every newspaper and magazine when a new CD/DVD came out. I would also hire a theatre and do something on similar grounds to what we saw at the Palladium a few years ago. It was a tribute to Sinatra with actual footage of him on a big screen behind dancers in front, interpreting his songs as they were played. It was very impressive and superbly done. The recent release of DVDs is an unbelievable bonus, who would have thought that such material would come to light? I don’t think they could ever ‘flood the market’ with Matt’s material – the more the better and I can’t wait for Matt at the BBC.

Richard Moore’s input must be absolutely invaluable. The quality of the latest materials and how he answers even the hardest questions put to him on the Forum, the man must be a genius!

It was a most exciting experience being contacted by Michele after I asked a question on the ‘other unofficial site’ after finding some old reel-to-reel tapes in my attic. After playing them I found that they included some Jules Styne numbers and I wondered if Matt had actually ever recorded these songs. At Michele’s request I sent these tapes off to Richard in the hope that he can find something of use to him.

We went to see Matt Jnr at Nottingham Concert Hall and enjoyed the show. We spoke to him afterwards too and told him our story. The hardest part for him is balancing the material of his Dads, which obviously people want to hear, while making the show enjoyable in his own right. I have to say I wasn’t aware that he had released a solo album after ‘Monro sings Monro’ which worked very well.

What prompted my ‘love affair’ with Matt? It was the voice, the voice, the voice! I started putting cuttings in a scrapbook in about 1962 as more and more stuff was written about Matt. It was also a period in my life where through circumstances I was at home all day and playing his songs helped me through that time. I carried on from there really. I also worked in a record shop for a while, so was able to keep up to date with poster material etc. The result is two tatty scrapbooks full of clippings rather amateurishly done!

Matt proved that you didn’t have to be American to be a superstar. He was a world-class singer ranking high in the list of singers throughout the world, putting the British Music Industry to the fore.
From what I have read about Matt over the years, the things I have heard people say about him in interviews and the type of person I get the impression Michele is, I am really looking forward to the book that is coming out next year in line with Matt’s 25^th anniversary. I would be surprised if she wasn’t objective and I am sure it will be a jolly good read.

The CD I would take on a desert island has to be The Singers Singer as I would get 4 CD’s for the price of one! I have only just found out that it has been deleted so it makes it extra special knowing I have one of only 2000 printed.

SIMPLY THE BEST in huge capital letters would be my three words to describe Matt.

To see some of Sandra's Matt Monro Memorabilia click here

Spotlight on... John Higton

A Fan’s Perspective

I was about twenty when I first became aware of Matt Monro. Towards the end of 1990 while on holiday in Blackpool (before moving there) I bought a compilation cassette tape from a market. It was called True Love - 16 Songs From The Heart and had a lot of lovely songs on it by artists including Brenda Lee and Daniel O Donnell. When I got home I played it straight away and the whole album was very nice but then I came to one particular song - Portrait of My Love by an artist called Matt Monro. Well, I just loved the song and the voice and remember asking my mum at the time ‘Who is Matt Monro?’ I recall her reply very well – ‘Oh yes, Matt Monro, he was a lovely singer’ – and she then went on to tell me that sadly he had died a few years earlier and was a very popular and familiar face on television.

I first met Michele around 1996/97 when a friend of mine, another avid Matt Monro collector, very kindly sent a letter to Matt’s widow Mickie from me telling her how much I loved Matt’s music. By then I had moved to Blackpool and Mickie wrote a lovely letter back, which I put in a frame, and from then on we have always kept in contact.

I used to work at a printers and photographers and I’d had an idea about taking photographs of Matt’s albums and putting them in a frame. My boss very kindly took the pictures for me and I cut them all up and framed them. I didn’t have that many albums at that time, as they were practically all UK releases. I thought it would be nice for the Monro family to have something like this, so I repeated the process. I wrapped it up very carefully, well packaged, and guess what? Yes, it arrived all smashed to pieces. We were all hugely disappointed but I wasn’t going to give up. I got another set of prints, another frame and did the whole thing again.

My partner and I decided we would take it down there personally as we were already going down south for a few days break and it wasn’t very far out of our way. Michele had a little shop in Harrow at the time, which we found fairly easily and we sat and chatted for about half an hour before taking our leave. She was over the moon with our gift - that was our first meeting.

Michele is a perfectionist and she likes things to be done properly, following in the footsteps of her father. She is immensely proud of him and his music, and very rightly so, and does everything she can possibly do to promote his legacy. But basically, she is very down to earth like the rest of the family. Saying that, I wouldn’t like to get on

the wrong side of her. (jokingly)

In a nutshell, Matt’s music is pure gold. Matt had the perfect pitch, never a bad note or a bad performance. It was quality all the way through and so relaxing to listen to. He knew the right songs to pick and worked with some wonderful arrangers and musicians. Absolutely top notch.

For The Present is my personal favourite album although I love all of them. There are so many lovely songs on there. Sarah’s Coming Home is beautiful and it was my mum’s favourite and I Am, Curiouser and Curiouser and First of May all feature on this album.

Picking a favourite song is much more difficult. If I was to narrow it down, among the well known tracks I would choose three - Portrait Of My Love, Walk Away and If I Never Sing Another Song. Then amongst the lesser-known ones I would select All That Remains, (absolutely love this one) Let Me Choose Life and Before You Go.

Everyone has a couple of songs they don’t care for and I am no exception. Mirage and Quite Suddenly would be my least favourite. Both songs are from around the same year but I’m afraid they would be at the bottom of the list.

To be honest I think all of Matt’s albums are great apart from perhaps Other Side Of The Stars, which has been mentioned several times on this website’s forum. Although I like all the songs on the album and Matt sings as well as ever I feel some of the arrangements could have been better, particularly with No Regrets and What A Wonderful World. Saying that, in total contrast, When You Wish Upon A Star is great.

Unfortunately I have never seen Matt perform live. Perhaps if I had been around twenty years earlier I would have had a chance and it is something that I often think about.

Fans Reunited is a gathering for fans of the late singer and it was a wonderful day. I was unable to attend the first event in 2006 but I made it the following year. I’ve got to say I was a bit nervous at first but it was lovely meeting everyone I had spoken to on the forum. I met some wonderful people and made some great friends. In fact I don’t know what I’d do without them. It was also wonderful meeting Mickie for the very first time because although we had spoken on the phone many times over the years we had never actually met. It was also great seeing Michele again and meeting her son Max for the first time. It was incredible hearing songs that had never before been released (up to now, hint hint!) and also watching lots of rare video footage. The video that brought a tear to my eye and a few other people beside was of Matt singing Somewhere from an Australian TV show in1984. It was just wonderful - this surely has to find it’s way to DVD someday (hint, hint again!). The day was rounded off we a quiz and evening buffet. A great day.

I have to admit I am a new member of ‘Friends Of Matt Monro’. The membership pack includes membership cards and a newsletter full of interesting information, which you receive four times a year. I have to say the presentation of the newsletter is superb. The latest issue is packed with details of Matt Jnr’s tour plans, interviews with the fans; information on forthcoming releases and details on the backstage passes. ‘Friends Of Matt Monro’ is ideal, not only for members of the forum but for fans who haven’t got access to a computer.

The website – mattmonro.com - is just great. I very much look forward at the start of each month to the ‘News’ section to find out what is in the pipeline and the ‘Spotlight On’ section as it always makes an interesting read. Also brilliant is the Member’s Lounge and the Scrapbook, where you can look at all the photos and memorabilia put on by the fans of Matt as well as the photo’s from Fans Reunited.

I love the Forum as well because I have made so many friends on there and there is always someone else on line to talk to. I think it is an important aspect of the site and definitely worth fighting for? It is a way of being able to communicate with other people on your own wavelength as we all have the same interest and love of Matt’s music. It’s a place where we can all keep in contact with each other and discuss anything and everything about Matt and his music. It also gives us the opportunity of discussing virtually everything else such as our other favourite artists, what music we are listening to at the moment, quizzes and games, current news items and entertainment as a whole. I, like several other members of the forum, do spend quite a lot of time on the forum, more so in the evenings, and to be honest I don’t know what I’d do without it sometimes. It’s my ‘Second Family’.

The Rare Monro has become one of my favourite CD’s (especially disc one). There are some lovely songs on there. Let Me Choose Life and It’s That Time Again are beautiful and most of the tracks featured have made their way to CD for the first time, some with slightly different arrangements from the original release. I would definitely welcome a follow up to it - in fact I welcome anything that comes out in any format.

I was always very surprised Matt never made a Christmas album. I am sure if he had it would have been a great success. I especially like the songs Mary’s Boy Child and When A Child Is Born. It was great when Christmas Magic was discovered, that is a lovely song. I remember a few years ago in 1979 I was watching a repeat of ‘Larry Grayson’s Christmas Generation Game’ where there were five singers all behind closed doors and they each sang a few lines from a Christmas song and Matt was amongst them. He sang part of The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire). Of course, I knew instantly who it was, but the contestants didn’t!

I would love to see the complete singles all reissued (A sides and B sides). I believe that project is currently in the pipeline. Although I do have all the UK singles there are the odd ones that are obviously a bit worn and have the odd scratch - what can you expect when they are thirty to fifty years old? It would be nice to have them on CD in a boxed set. I am also looking forward to Michele’s forthcoming book; it is definitely a ‘must have’ and would be wonderful if it is ready for the end of the year. I can hardly wait for the release. Michele is totally passionate about her father and his music and I know she won’t leave any corner unturned. It will be great to read his full life story and I

know the finished result will be excellent.

I just can’t believe how lucky we all are to have all the releases of DVD added to Matt’s catalogue. I remember years ago when I first became a fan of Matt and I hunted high and low for video material but there was nothing, zilch! The first video I ever saw of Matt was when Matt Jnr recorded the duet album and released We’re Gonna Change The World. I remember seeing this on the Gloria Hunniford show and I actually taped it. Matt was singing on a screen in the background. Not long after that I taped a ‘Morecombe and Wise Show’, which had Matt as a guest. He sang Thanks and it was wonderful. Then I tried writing to the TV stations to see if they had anything. The BBC refused outright but I was luckier with ITV and for a fee I received a copy of ‘Frost On Sunday’. Not long after that, I got a response from another ITV station who produced ‘Tarby and Friends’ stating that for an astronomical fee (I am not disclosing how much it actually was) they would send me a copy of the show from 1984. Anyhow, to cut a long story short I did get the copy.

It was wonderful when An Evening With came out. It was great to see a full concert, something I had never seen before and even better when it went to No. 1 in the charts. Then came A Portrait Of, which was equally as enjoyable and not long after that came Matt At The Movies featuring a show Matt did in the sixties called Go Go With Matt Monro and of course the only feature film he did Satan’s Harvest.

On 16th February Odeon added another disc to their growing library The Ultimate Performer and I was over the moon about this release. I didn’t even realise that so many performances still existed and it was just wonderful to see them all. It is hard to pick a favourite from the Matt On TV section because they are all great but I thought the quality, was excellent from the very early 1962 to the later performances. On the same disc is the newly cleaned up version of An Evening With. You can definitely tell the difference between the original release and the ‘new’ version and as an added bonus we are treated to the CD Live In Manila 1965. Matt sings some of his early hits here as well as a few of the lesser-known singles. Good to hear ‘live’ versions of these songs. I recommend anyone adding this to their

collection, they won’t be disappointed!

I can hardly wait for Matt at the BBC the new EMI release on 26^th April! I say that each time something new is on the horizon, so I have been saying that a lot the past three or four years! The ‘live’ CD with The Ted Heath band sounds really good and I believe we will be blessed with some songs from the wonderful Hoagy Carmichael album. It will be great to hear different versions of these songs. The bonus DVD, which will accompany it, will be just as enjoyable as The Ultimate Performer as well. More classic clips will include performances from The Morecombe and Wise Show and the Cilla Black show and a show Matt recorded around 1974, Matt Sings Monro. It just all sounds too good to be true!

I think Richard Moore has done a wonderful job in everything he has done and I think we all owe a huge debt to him. The Rare Monro is a prime example of his work and as I have said before is perhaps my favourite album. It includes previously unreleased songs, alternative takes and a nice selection of ‘live’ material all very nicely restored. Richard of course did the remastering of the En Espana album to perfection and more recently Yesterday which focuses on excerpts from a concert Matt recorded in Manila in 1983. Live In Australia is another fine example of Richard’s skills. I love this concert; to me it is Matt at his very best.

I first met Matt Jnr around 1996. As mentioned I was already in touch with Mickie and at the time I ran a guesthouse here in Blackpool. One day Mickie phoned and said that Matt was coming to Blackpool with his then girlfriend and wanted somewhere to stay. Well, it was the illuminations period, and Blackpool (back in those days) was really very busy. I think we had a coach party in and we just couldn’t fit them in, I was so disappointed. They managed to get a local hotel but still came round to see us for a couple of hours for a few drinks and a chat. They were so nice and down to earth and before long they were on their way. The next day, before leaving Blackpool they came and said goodbye.

Anyhow, a few weeks later Matt was a part of a Music Hall show in Swansea, along with Hinge and Bracket and Bobby Crush. By this time Blackpool was quiet, the season had finished and we were on a few days break down south. We managed to get a couple of tickets for the show and traveled across country to Swansea and found a hotel, which was a bit of a dump to be honest, but that’s another story. I remember at the time I wasn’t very well, I had tonsillitis and a banging headache and although I looked pretty awful we still went to see the show. Matt was so pleased to see us and was genuinely taken aback that we had taken the trouble to travel down there to see him. Matt sang four songs including We’re Gonna Change The World with his Dad in the background and we really enjoyed the show. After the show he went off to get my souvenir programme signed by all the performers, which was good of him. The next time I saw him was here in Blackpool in 2005 with his own show, which we enjoyed very much. We only saw him for a few moments after the show, as he was busy signing programmes when he looked up and said ‘It’s been a long time’. I also saw him briefly in 2007 after the Fans Reunited gathering. I think the hardest aspect of Matt’s job is always being compared to his father and people expecting him to sing his father’s songs. That is what is so good about his shows – because as well as the classics he puts his own touch to the shows adding new material

There are some very nice songs on his recent solo album. I loved the version of Todo Pasara/All Of A Sudden and thought he sang it very well with a terrific arrangement. Other great songs include Home, Cry Out and a good cover of the classic Mr Bojangles.

Michele counts me as being one of Matt Monro’s staunchest fans and is amazed at my memorabilia collection. My mum and dad had records such as Ken Dodd, Jim Reeves, Shirley Bassey, The Seekers etc and used to enjoy listening to them, but I would rarely go out of my way to buy a record. We used to have Radio 2 on quite often during the day and would enjoy listening to that. Most of my school friends at the time were all into the music of the time, the eighties, but it just didn’t interest me at all. It was about the time when the album series Now That’s What I Call Music came out and it is still going strong twenty odd years later. I just couldn’t get into it at all. Working at a printers with Radio 2 on throughout the day I soon started to really enjoy listening to the music and I was already used to Radio 2 because that was the station we had on at home.

In 1990 I started listening to The Carpenters, I thought Karen had a beautiful voice. It was through one of their songs called Solitaire that I became interested in Andy Williams because he also sung this. I started collecting his records as well, and it was through a song called I Will Wait for YouPortrait of My Love on cassette tape. I was looking round the shops one day and came across a CD by Matt called A Time For Love and it had the song I Will Wait For You on it. I remembered hearing and liking Andy sing it and thought I’d buy Matt’s version and compare them both. This was the beginning of a very long and happy journey. Of course it wasn’t just that song I loved, the whole album was brilliant. Favourites from that first album were With These Hands, I Will Wait for You and Without You. that I really got into Matt. At the time I had the song

I then started buying singles and albums from the old record shops in Manchester and Stockport. I used to buy the Record Collector magazine every month and would spend hours browsing through that and within a few short years I had practically every song that Matt had recorded in some form in my collection. I also had a good friend who found quite a few records for me as well. I didn’t just stick to the U.K. albums, I bought items from South Africa, Spain, Japan, Argentina, in fact from all over the world - that is when it started getting expensive. I haven’t an enormous amount of memorabilia; I have several music sheets, some posters from Talk Of The Town, a few programmes and several photos from over the years, which I have placed in the website’s Scrapbook together with newspaper clippings. I had a record framed with the cover at the side and a little plaque, which is a good centrepiece. My friend in London had some more photographs done of album covers that we had between us and I then made a much bigger frame than the original I had. I have to say, I have slowed down now, but whenever anything new comes out I always buy that to add to the collection. I always think it’s exciting to discover something new and eagerly await news of any forthcoming releases and I usually look on eBay each week to make sure I am not missing anything. Of course, Matt paved the way for me to enjoy other great singers of the time

including Perry Como, Al Martino plus many more.

It is difficult to choose only one CD from the collection to take to a desert island and I am going to look a bit of a copycat here - but I have to choose disc one of The Rare Monro like Marian.

If I had to describe Matt in just three words it would have to be - Gifted, Quality, Gold.

Spotlight on... Bobby Darin

Walden Robert Cassotto was born on May 14, 1936 and became one of the most popular American big band performers and rock and roll teen idols of the late 1950s and early 1960s He was better known by the name of Bobby Darin.

Darin performed widely in a range of music genres, including pop, jazz, folk and country. Although unknown to his public, his health was dangerously fragile and strongly motivated him to succeed within the limited lifetime he feared he had.

Darin was born to a poor, working-class Italian-American family in the Bronx, New York. The person assumed to be his father (but actually his grandfather) died in jail a few months before he was born. It was the height of the Great Depression, and he once remarked that his crib was a cardboard box, later a dresser drawer. As a result, his mother had to accept Home Relief to take care of her infant son. It was not until he was an adult that he learned that the woman he thought to be his sister Nina, 17 years his senior, was in fact his mother, and Polly, the woman he thought to be his mother, was his grandmother. He never knew the identity of his birth father.

Darin was frail as an infant and, beginning at the age of eight, was stricken with multiple bouts of rheumatic fever. The illness left him with a seriously diseased heart. Overhearing a doctor tell his mother that he would be lucky to reach the age of sixteen, he lived with the constant knowledge that his life might be a short one, which further motivated him to use his talents. He was driven by his poverty and illness to make something of his life and, with his innate talent for music, by the time he was a teenager he could play several instruments, including piano, drums and guitar. He later added harmonica and xylophone.

An outstanding student, with a genius-level IQ, Darin graduated from the prestigious Bronx High School of Science and went on to attend Hunter College on a scholarship. Wanting a career in the New York theatre, he dropped out of college to play small nightclubs around the city with a musical combo. In the resort area of the Catskill Mountains, he was both a busboy and an entertainer.

As was common with first-generation Americans at the time, he changed his Italian name to one that sounded less ethnic. He chose the name "Bobby" because he had generally been called that as a child. He allegedly chose Darin because he had seen a malfunctioning electrical sign at a Chinese restaurant reading "DARIN DUCK" rather than "MANDARIN DUCK", and he thought the Darin looked good. Later, he said that the name was randomly picked out of the telephone book. Neither story has been verified.

In 1956 his agent negotiated a contract for him with Decca Records, where Bill Haley & His Comets had risen to fame. However, this was a time when rock and roll was still in its infancy and the number of capable record producers and arrangers in the field was extremely limited.

A member of the now famous Brill Building gang of once-struggling songwriters who later found success, Darin was introduced to then up-and-coming singer Connie Francis. Bobby's manager arranged for Darin to help write several songs for Connie in order to help jump-start her singing career. Initially the two artists couldn't see eye to eye on potential material, but after several weeks Bobby and Connie developed a romantic interest in one another. Purportedly, Connie had a very strict Italian father who would separate the couple whenever possible. When Connie's father learned that Bobby had suggested the two lovers elope after one of Connie's shows, he ran Darin out of the building while waving a gun telling Bobby to never see his daughter again.

Bobby saw Connie only twice more after this happened, once when the two were scheduled to sing together for a television show and again later when Connie was spotlighted on the television series This Is Your Life. Connie has said that not marrying Bobby was the biggest mistake of her life.

Darin left Decca to sign with Atlantic Records (ATCO), where he wrote and arranged music for himself and others. There, after three mediocre recordings, his career took off in 1958 when he wrote and record “Splish Splash”. The song was an instant hit, selling more than a million copies. "Splish Splash" was written with radio DJ Murray K Kaufman, who bet that Darin could not write a song that started out with the words "Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath", as suggested by Murray's mother. On a snow-bound night in early 1958, Darin went in the studio alone and recorded a demo of "Splish Splash". They eventually shared writing credits with her. This was followed by more hits recorded in the same style.

In 1959, Bobby Darin recorded "Dream Lover", a ballad that became a multi-million seller. With financial success came the ability to demand more so-called creative control. His next record, "Mack the Knife," was the classic standard from Weill’s Threepenny Opera: Darin gave the tune a vamping jazz-pop interpretation, which he consciously modeled on the style of Frankie Laine. The song went to No. 1 on the charts for nine weeks, sold over a million copies, and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1960. Darin was also voted the Grammy Award for Best New Artist that year. "Mack The Knife" has since been honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. He followed "Mack" with "Beyond the Sea", a jazzy English-language version of Charles Trenet’s French hit song “La Mer”.

The tracks were produced by Atlantic founders, Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegün with staff producer Jerry Wexler and featured brilliant arrangements by Richard Wess. Propelled by the success of "Mack the Knife" and "Beyond the Sea," Darin became a hot commodity. He set all-time attendance records at the famed Copacabana nightclub in New York City, where it was not unusual for fans to line up all the way around the block to get tickets when Darin performed there. The Copacabana sold so many seats for Darin's shows that they had to fill the dance floor, normally part of the performance area, with extra seating. Darin also headlined at the major casinos in Las Vegas.

Sammy Davis Jr., an exceptionally multi-talented and dynamic performer himself, was quoted as saying that Bobby Darin was "the only person I never wanted to follow" after seeing him perform in Las Vegas.

Darin had a significant role in fostering new talent. Richard Pryor, Flip Wilson and Wayne Newton opened his nightclub performances when they were virtually unknown. Early on, at the Copacabana, he insisted that black comic George Kirby be his opening act. His request was grudgingly granted by Jules Podell, the manager of the Copacabana.

In the 1960s, Darin also owned and operated a highly successful music publishing and production company (TM Music/Trio) and signed Wayne Newton to TM, giving him a song that was originally sent to Darin to record. That record went on to become Newton's breakout hit, "Danke Schoen." He also was a mentor to Roger McGuinn, who worked for Darin at TM Music before going off to form The Byrds. Darin also produced football great Rosey Grier's 1964 LP, Soul City, and "Made in the Shade" for Jimmy Boyd.

In 1962, Darin also began to write and sing country music, with hit songs including "Things" (U.S. #3) (1962), "You're the Reason I'm Living" (U.S. #3), and "18 Yellow Roses" (U.S. #10). The latter two were on Capitol Records, which he joined in 1962, before returning to Atlantic four years later. The song Things was sung by Dean Martin in the 1967 TV special Movin' With Nancy, starring Nancy Sinatra, which was released to home video in 2000.

In addition to music, Darin became a motion picture actor. In 1960, he appeared twice as himself in NBC's short-lived crime drama Dan Raven, starring Skip Homeier and set on the Sunset Strip of West Hollywood. In 1960, he was the only actor ever to have been signed contractually to five major Hollywood film studios. He wrote music for several films and acted in them as well. In his first major film, Come September, a romantic comedy designed to capitalize on his popularity with the teenage and young adult audience, he met and co-starred with 18-year-old actress Sandra Dee. They fell in love and were married in 1960. They had one son, Dodd Mitchell Darin (born 1961) and divorced in 1967.

Asking to be taken seriously, he took on more meaningful movie roles, and in 1962, he won the Golden Globe Award for "Most Promising Male Newcomer" for his role in Pressure Point.

In 1963, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a shell-shocked soldier in Captain Newman, M.D.. At the Cannes Film Festival, where his records—in particular "Beyond the Sea"—brought him a wide following, he won the French Film Critics Award for best actor.

Darin's musical output became more "folky" as the 1960s progressed and he became more politically aware and active. In 1966, he had another big hit record, but this time it was with folksinger Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter," adding another style to his vast repertoire. The song secured Darin's return to the Top 10 after a four-year absence. Jim (Roger) McGuinn, the future leader of the Byrds, was part of his performing band. Darin traveled with Robert Kennedy and worked on the latter's 1968 presidential campaign. He was with Kennedy the day he traveled to Los Angeles on June 4, 1968 for the California Primary. Darin was at the Ambassador Hotel later that night when Kennedy was assassinated. He was devastated with this news.

Afterwards, Darin sold his house and most of his possessions and lived in seclusion in a trailer near Big Sur for nearly a year. Coming back to Los Angeles in 1969, Darin started another record company, Direction Records, putting out folk and protest music. He wrote the very popular "Simple Song of Freedom" in 1969. He said of his first Direction Records album, "The purpose of Direction Records is to seek out statement-makers. The album is solely [composed] of compositions designed to reflect my thoughts on the turbulent aspects of modern society." During this time, he was billed under the name "Bob Darin," grew a mustache, and stopped wearing a hairpiece. Within two years, however, all of these changes were discontinued.

At the beginning of the 1970s, he continued to act and to record, including several albums with Motown Records and a couple of films. In January 1971, he underwent his first heart surgery in an attempt to correct some of the heart damage he had lived with since childhood. He spent most of the year recovering from the surgery.

In 1972, he starred in his own TV variety show on NBC, The Bobby Darin Amusement Company, which ran until his untimely death in 1973. Darin married Andrea Yeager in June 1973. He made TV guest appearances and also remained a top draw at Las Vegas, where, owing to his poor health, he was often administered oxygen after his performances.

In 1973, Darin's ill health took a turn for the worse. After failing to take medication prescribed after a dental visit, he developed blood poisoning, weakening his body and clotting one of his heart valves. On December 11, 1973, Darin entered Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to repair two artificial heart valves received in a previous operation. Despite this, Bobby Darin died on December 20, 1973 after eight hours on the operating table. No funeral was held for Darin, and his body was donated to UCLA for medical research.