Alvin Stardust dead at 72 on the brink of yet ANOTHER relaunch | Daily Mail Online Alvin Stardust was the crown prince of comebacks. He found fame as a Sixties teenybopper, in the Seventies with glam rock, and as a post-punk rocker in the Eighties — before launching a successful West End career. He was planning another musical renaissance right up to his death yesterday aged 72, from prostate cancer. His first studio album in 30 years, simply called Alvin, is due for release next week. He was still performing on stage last weekend, belting out his beloved Fifties rock standards, as well as his roster of Top Ten hits. Scroll down for video Alvin Stardust was planning another musical renaissance right up to his death yesterday aged 72 The singer, born Bernard Jewry in 1942, was a 31-year-old rock journeyman, playing in clubs for beer money But it is as a strutting, smouldering monster of glam rock — half-cowboy, half-vampire — that he will be best remembered.

Hits like My Coo Ca Choo, Jealous Mind, Red Dress and You You You were radio favourites in the era of towering quiffs and platform soles . . . and Stardust perfected the look. What his fans never guessed was that his iconic, black leather style was born out of panic and sheer luck. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share The singer, born Bernard Jewry in 1942, was a 31-year-old rock journeyman, playing in clubs for beer money, when he answered a newspaper ad placed by record company boss Michael Levy (later a close friend of Tony Blair and a Labour fundraiser, now Lord Levy). The record company had the rights to a catchy song with a driving boogie riff. Its lyrics were nonsense, just babytalk, but the producer was convinced My Coo Ca Choo could be a chart smash with the right solo artist. And that meant inventing a rock star. Levy wanted to call him Al Starr. His secretary suggested Alvin Stardust, and the newborn pop sensation was sent out to buy himself some clothes. Remembering the cowboy films he had loved at Saturday matinees as a child, Alvin opted for black leather.

My Coo Ca Choo sold so fast that, within days of its release, he was booked for Top Of The Pops. But on the evening before the recording, as he sat in his room at a Paddington bed-and- breakfast, Alvin suffered a crisis of confidence. He was the man in black — but his hair was mousey brown. Rushing out to Woolworth’s he bought a bottle of dye and coloured his hair in the sink. The result was a disaster — with trickles of midnight blue running down both cheeks and staining his hands like ink. Rather than cancel, he bought a pair of fake sideburns the next morning from a wig-maker, and a pair of black leather gloves from a ladies’ outfitters, and created the look that made him famous. But, as he posed on stage and glowered at the camera, it was more than just his facial hair that was fake. No one had guessed it wasn’t even Alvin singing on the actual record, but the songwriter, Peter Shelley — an oddball who went on to have a schmaltzy hit with Love Me, Love My Dog.

It is as a strutting, smouldering monster of glam rock - half-cowboy, half-vampire - that he will be remembered My Coo Ca Choo sold so fast that, within days of its release, he was booked for Top Of The Pops Shelley had a deeper voice, and could deliver the Elvis-style rumble. Alvin was a much lighter tenor, more in the mould of his idol, Buddy Holly. And none of the teenage audience in the Top Of The Pops crowd realised that Alvin had already enjoyed chart success more than a decade before, under a different name. As a young boy, his obsession with pop stardom began with a guitar given to him by his parents in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, when he was 12. He took it to a concert in nearby Doncaster where Buddy Holly and the Crickets were performing, hoping to look like a star himself — and his gambit succeeded when he was ushered backstage to meet the band. In the dressing-room, he duetted with Holly on Peggy Sue, before all the Crickets signed his guitar. That moment inspired him to become a singer — and it also put that two-bob plywood guitar on its own path to stardom.

Later autographed by The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry and other stars, the instrument was recently valued at £1.25 million. At 16, the young Bernard got up on stage to perform a rock ’n’ roll standard with a bunch of local lads, who were calling themselves Shane Fenton and the Fentones. There was no Shane Fenton — it was a pseudonym for the lead singer, who hated his decidedly Northern name, John Theakstone. The band were making a name for themselves, but when Bernard called round to John’s house one Saturday for a rehearsal, he was horrified to discover the singer was in hospital. Two days later he was dead from a heart attack, brought on by childhood rheumatic fever.

Hell for leather: The singer was known for his stand-out costumes during the Seventies Musical star: The singer also appeared as Sir Billy Butlin in The Butlin Story at the London Palladium, pictured her with redcoats Julie Taylor and a young Stephen Mulhern Historic: Alvin with the guitar he was bought aged 12, once worth £1 and now over £1 million after the singer used it to collect signatures of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and some of the biggest stars over the years On the scene: As Shane Fenton he hung out with the likes of Danny Williams, Shirley Bassey and Jess Conrad in the Sixties In a bitter twist, the BBC’s biggest pop show, Saturday Club, wrote to the now deceased Theakstone a month later: their ‘pop-pickers’ had heard his band’s demo and wanted them to appear. Mr and Mrs Theakstone approached their son’s friends, and ask them to do the show in his memory — with Bernard standing in as ‘Shane Fenton’. Saturday Club’s audience, nearly 30 million listeners, meant instant acclaim for the Fentones, with nationwide tours backing top bands, and a series of Top Thirty singles including I’m A Moody Guy.

Now known to everyone as Shane, the teenage frontman married Iris Caldwell, a former girlfriend of both George Harrison and Paul McCartney. But married life didn’t mix with touring, and he quit the Fentones to concentrate on his family. For the next decade, he and Iris eked out a living on the fringes of showbiz — until 1973, glam, and his reincarnation as Alvin Stardust. Glam was also the era of Gary Glitter and Jimmy Savile, pop at its most unpleasant. But Stardust was a family man, and a devoted father to his young sons. First wife: Alvin with Iris Caldwell - the ex-girlfriend of Paul McCartney - in the Seventies Second wife: Alvin was married to Liza Goddard for six years during the Eighties Last love: Alvin was married to vocal coach Julie Paton for over twenty years before his death on Thursday To his intense distress, his 15-year marriage could not survive the pressures of fame. Five years later he got married again, to the actress Liza Goddard.

Their wedding coincided with his third assault on the charts: inspired by punk, Alvin tried adding a reggae backing to a rockabilly number called Pretend. Once again, the hits flowed, in particular a tribute to his own hero, I Feel Like Buddy Holly. He had a festive hit too, in 1984, with So Near To Christmas — ditching his skin-tight leathers for a chunky pullover. The song only reached Number 29, but with typical humour he once said the only thing he regretted about the song was the jumper — he’d wanted one with reindeers on it. Despite his mean and moody persona, Alvin Stardust was a down-to-earth man, happiest when talking about songs with other musicians. But as his second marriage unravelled in the Eighties, he began to feel life was empty. On a 40-minute train journey one day, he started talking to a group of born-again Christians. By the time the train pulled in to Waterloo, he was a convert — and the guard found them kneeling in the carriage, holding a prayer meeting.

He went on to present It’s Stardust, a Sunday morning TV show for children, attempted to qualify for Eurovision and appeared in dramas including Hollyoaks, before moving into theatre. In 2005 he played the Child Catcher, in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Palladium. He met his third wife, Julie, a vocal coach, while he was touring with Godspell. What made him happiest, he said, was that both his sons from his first marriage and his daughter from the second came to the wedding. He and Julie had a daughter in 2000. His family were at his bedside when he died at his home in West Sussex yesterday morning.

Summing up his career, he once said: ‘I’ve been really, really, really lucky, and I was grateful all the way along.’ Alvin Stardust - obituary - Telegraph Obituaries Alvin Stardust - obituary Alvin Stardust was a leather-clad glam rocker who found fame in the 1970s with My Coo Ca Choo and Jealous Mind Alvin Stardust in 1974 Photo: ALAMY 5:52PM BST 23 Oct 2014 Comments Alvin Stardust, who has died of cancer aged 72, was one of the more bizarre glam rock sensations of the 1970s. As an extravagantly quiffed, leather-clad rocker with preposterous sideburns and chunky rings worn over tight-fitting leather gloves, he inspired a generation of children to strut their stuff and perform strange contortions with their fingers as they responded to the invitation in his signature hit My Coo Ca Choo to “groove on the mat”. Stardust went on to have four Top 10 hits in quick succession in the early 1970s.

The most famous were My Coo Ca Choo and Jealous Mind, although Red Dress and You You You were not far behind. Yet his career breakthrough, on Top of the Pops in November 1973, came about after a chapter of accidents in which he twice found fame by inheriting a name never intended for him. One month before his TOTP appearance, an entirely different Alvin Stardust had made his television debut. To promote his new record label, Magnet Records, the songwriter and producer Peter Shelley had invented “Alvin Stardust” and composed, sung and recorded a one-off single, My Coo Ca Choo. When, to his alarm, the song won the imaginary Alvin a slot on a television pop show, he felt he had no option but to bluff it out. “I dressed the part — a glitter-suited recluse who had been living in Spain — and to my surprise it went on the charts the next week,” Shelley recalled. But he had no wish to repeat the performance, so he began to look around for someone else to assume the character in time for a fast-approaching booking on Top of the Pops.

After Marty Wilde turned him down, he approached a less well-known pop star called Shane Fenton (real name Bernard Jewry), who had enjoyed modest fame in the early 1960s as the frontman of Shane Fenton and the Fentones. Related Articles 06 Jan 2007 Alvin Stardust in 1965 during his days as Shane Fenton (FREMANTLEMEDIA LTD/REX) Fenton’s chiselled features and striking blond mane had won him a select female following, so for Alvin Stardust he felt he had to reinvent himself. Modelling himself on Jack Palance in Shane, he clad himself in head-to-toe black leather and, the night before his date with destiny, dyed his hair black in his bathroom sink. When he looked in the mirror, however, he saw black streaks down the side of his face and purple stains all over his hands, which he found impossible to scrub off. “There was no way I could go on TV looking like that,” he recalled.

The next morning found him at a theatrical wigmakers: “They had these long black sideburns, perfect for covering up the stains on my face, so they fitted them right then and there.” Across the road in a ladies’ outfitters, the new Alvin Stardust bought a pair of black leather gloves to cover his stained hands. With Shelley’s imaginary pop star now reincarnated as the enigmatic man in black, My Coo Ca Choo rocketed to No 2 in Britain , turning the quirkily theatrical Stardust into an overnight pop sensation. By the time his follow-up, Jealous Mind, reached No 1 in March 1974, he had won a Music Week award as best male live act. For a 31-year old who had been playing working men’s clubs, it was a dream come true. Stardust’s time at the top was brief, but it won him a loyal following of fans who responded to his passion for music and his refusal to take himself too seriously. As a result, in later years he was able to make a decent living on the nostalgia tour circuit. He almost did not live to enjoy it.

On one of his early outings as Stardust he went on stage in a leather catsuit that covered him from throat to ankle: “The only place for the heat to escape was from my face, so three-quarters of the way through ... I just collapsed. They had to cut off my catsuit in the ambulance. My manager was saying: 'Not the suit!’ Then I stopped breathing, so they fed a pipe down my throat. All my manager could say was: 'You know he’s got to sing tomorrow, don’t you?’ ” Alvin Stardust in a leather catsuit (PETER MAZEL/ SUNSHINE/REX) An only child, he was born Bernard William Jewry in east London on September 27 1942 and grew up at Mansfield. He was educated as a boarder at Southwell Minster Grammar School, where he and a couple of friends formed the Jewry Rhythm Band. Meanwhile, he found work as a roadie for a group called Shane Fenton and the Beat Boys, which became Shane Fenton and the Fentones.

In the early 1960s the group recorded a demo tape and mailed it to the BBC, but while they were waiting for a reply the band’s 17-year-old singer, Shane Fenton, died from rheumatic fever. The rest of the band decided to break up, but when the BBC invited them to an audition, Fenton’s mother asked the band to stay together in honour of her son’s memory. Jewry was asked to become the new Shane Fenton. In the early 1960s the group had a handful of hits in the UK singles chart: I’m a Moody Guy; Walk Away; It’s All Over Now; and Cindy’s Birthday, which reached the No 19 slot in 1962. At one point the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, approached “Shane” and offered to manage him. “He said he had a song called Do You Want To Know A Secret? which was ideal for me,” Stardust recalled. But he turned him down. A few weeks later the song launched Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas to the kind of stardom that eluded Shane Fenton and the Fentones.

Although Stardust’s successes in the 1970s tended to dwarf the rest of his career, he enjoyed a revival in the 1980s when he signed up to Stiff Records and found himself back in the Top 10 with Pretend, which peaked at No 4 in 1981. He went on to have three more consecutive hits for Chrysalis Records. During the 1990s Stardust concentrated on acting, with television roles that included that of Greg Andersen in Hollyoaks. He later moved into musical theatre, starring as the Child Catcher in the West End hit Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But the nostalgia rock circuit was his bread and butter. A review of an Alvin Stardust performance at Skegness in 2010 described him bursting on to the stage clad in black leather “in a roar of motorcycles” and doing “outrageously sensual things to Duffy’s Mercy and Johnny Kidd’s Shakin’ All Over”. Stardust never lost his sense of humour. When asked recently by OK!

magazine for his thoughts on Jimmy Savile, he replied: “If I’d known that Jimmy Savile was abusing children, I think I would have lynched him,” before adding: “[But] a lot of things were going on [at the time] that we didn’t know about. Nobody knew Gary Glitter was bald.” Alvin Stardust with his second wife, Lisa Goddard (AIDAN SULLIVAN/REX) Stardust was thrice married, first to Iris Caldwell; secondly to the actress Liza Goddard; and thirdly to the actress and choreographer Julie Paton, who survives him with two sons and two daughters.

Alvin Stardust, born September 27 1942, died October 23 2014 Alvin Stardust: a man who knew how to give good creepy | Music | The Guardian Music blog Alvin Stardust: a man who knew how to give good creepy Alvin Stardust was more than the third glam rocker from the left on old episodes of Top of the Pops: his is a very British story of rock’n’roll success Thursday 23 October 2014 10.25 EDT Last modified on Thursday 23 October 2014 12.26 EDT Share on Messenger Close As a small child in the early 1970s, the idea that Alvin Stardust was a living, breathing human seemed as insane to me as the idea that Evel Knievel was real. They were both, surely, fictional beings, superheroes in flared jumpsuits, cartoons in three-dimensional form. And in so many ways, I was absolutely right.

If glam rock was rock’n’roll rebooted, the sound of British pop stripping away the florid excesses of the hippy era in favour of brutal, back-to-basics cheap thrills, then Alvin Stardust – despite being, in many senses, a completely fabricated character – arguably had a greater claim to authenticity than most. He had, at least, been there first time around. Glam had provided an unexpected second life for washed-up rock’n’rollers of the 50s and 60s. Gary Glitter, a never-was as Paul Raven in 1960, belatedly found enormous fame by strapping on the Bacofoil corset and stepping into platform boots. Conversely, Marty Wilde, a huge star in his day but a has-been by the dawn of the 70s, tried the same trick by rebranding as Zappo , with no success. Bernard Jewry’s superhero origin story fell midway between those two extremes.

A teenage rock’n’roller who had once snuck backstage at a concert hall to jam with Buddy Holly, he stumbled into the spotlight when his friend Johnny Theakstone died suddenly, leaving the band he fronted as Shane Fenton without a singer just when they were attracting attention from the London music business. Jewry, who had been working as the band’s roadie, stepped up and, at the request of Theakstone’s mother, adopted the Fenton persona to keep Johnny’s memory alive. As part of Larry Parnes’ stable of Tin Pan Alley rock’n’rollers, Shane Fenton and the Fentones found moderate success, with a handful of Top 40 hits and an appearance in Michael Winner’s classic Billy Fury vehicle Play It Cool. With the arrival of the Beatles, the hits dried up and Fenton drifted into cabaret and artist management. For the second time, Jewry stepped into someone else’s alias. Jobbing songwriter Peter Shelley, co-founder of Magnet records with Michael Levy (now a Labour baron), had recorded a song in the glam pop idiom under the alias Alvin Stardust called My Coo-Ca-Choo which became an overnight hit.

Having no desire to front the project himself, he first offered the song to Marty Wilde/Zappo, who turned it down. He then headhunted Fenton, now aged 31, to come out of retirement. It proved a perfect match. Pinterest The leathered-up Alvin Stardust persona, which borrowed elements from Gene Vincent, Alice Cooper, and Elvis Presley circa the 1968 Comeback Special, may have seemed cynically contrived but for Jewry, who had been a member of a biker gang in his teens, it was perhaps a perfectly natural one to adopt. My Coo Ca Choo was essentially Spirit in the Sky on steroids, driven by a truly badass guitar riff from Terry Britten. Stardust, with his sideburns, sinister sidelong leer, microphone held horizontally in a black-gloved fist which bore several silver knuckledusters, visibly relished rising to the role on television appearances.

This was an era when pop aimed at children was often genuinely unsettling (see also Steve Priest of the Sweet, shrieking camply in a Nazi uniform on Top of the Pops , or the unblinking serial killer stare of Sparks’ Ron Mael), and Alvin Stardust knew how to Give Good Creepy. The follow-up single Jealous Mind repeated the trick almost exactly, replacing its predecessor’s Elvisisms with a few Hollyesque “uh-uh-ohs”, and became Stardust’s first No 1 single. Five further Top 40 hits followed, and by 1975, Stardust was enough of an established household name to be chosen to film a Green Cross Code public information film, admonishing jaywalking infants on the kerb with his reassuringly homely Mansfield vowels: “You must be out of your tiny minds.” (He even recorded a proto-punk spin-off track, Be Smart Be Safe.) Pinterest But he was also, by all accounts, a phenomenal live performer.

Seek out the 1975 clip of Alvin, introduced by Bernard Manning as “Elvin Stardust”, on Granada television’s Wheeltappers & Shunters’ Social Club, raving it up in front of a green sign reading “No Obscene Language On Ladies’ Nights” to an audience of Northerners clad in brown and grey, including one old feller brazenly reading Playboy. It’s simultaneously our very own Aloha From Hawaii and the most British thing that’s ever happened. Stardust softened in the Eighties, scoring hits with a cover of the old standard Pretend as well as paying tribute to his teenage hero with I Feel Like Buddy Holly, and would go on to become a reliable variety performer in TV, film and musicals, occasionally touring on the oldies circuit, and happy to send himself up by appearing on Harry Hill’s TV Burp dressed as a chicken. Nevertheless, old habits died hard: for a Christmas single, he posed next to a tinsel-draped tree brandishing that leather glove while pointing one threatening finger at the camera. Which is, after all, how we should remember him.

Alvin Stardust is a reminder that one of the very best things pop music can do is to make you feel ever-so-slightly afraid. And if it can’t do that, then it can at least get you safely across the road. Alvin Stardust, glam rock singer, dies aged 72 - BBC News BBC News Alvin Stardust, glam rock singer, dies aged 72 23 October 2014 Image caption Stardust had been due to release a new studio album this autumn Singer Alvin Stardust has died aged 72 after a short illness. He had recently been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer and died at home with his wife and family around him, his manager said. Born Bernard Jewry in the East End of London in 1942, his hits included My Coo Ca Choo, Jealous Mind and I Feel Like Buddy Holly. The former glam rock star had been due to release his first studio album in 30 years on 3 November. He recently announced the record, titled Alvin, was finished and would represent "a new and exciting departure" of which he was "immensely proud".

The singer had performed on stage at the Regal cinema in Evesham, Worcestershire on Saturday. Stardust grew up in Mansfield and started playing guitar as a schoolboy. He met one of his biggest influences, Buddy Holly, at a gig in Doncaster and played backstage with the singer and his band the Crickets. He signed his first record deal in 1961 as the frontman of Shane Fenton and the Fentones, though the band struggled to get in the charts. In 1973 he signed with Magnet Records and took on the name that would make him famous. "It started off as Elvin Starr, because they wanted a kind of rocky, country name," he recalled in 2010. "But [a woman] who was doing promotion for us said it wasn't 'glam-rocky' enough, so it became Stardust and then Alvin." My Coo Ca Choo, the debut song under his new guise, peaked at number two in the UK singles chart. Known for his rockabilly quiff, sideburns and black gloves, he projected a glowering persona he said he adopted because he was nervous and "didn't want to be found out".

His success led to him being part of a Green Cross Code road safety campaign in 1976, which saw him instructing children to look both ways before they crossed the road. That success continued into the 1980s with Pretend, I Feel Like Buddy Holly and I Won't Run Away all making the top 10. Once described as "the Godfather of British Rock 'n' Roll" by Rolling Stone Keith Richards, he made sporadic acting appearances in Hollyoaks, The Grimleys and Doctors. He also appeared on stage in such musicals as Godspell, The Phantom of the Opera and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium, in which he played the fearsome Child Catcher. Stardust was married three times. His first wife was Iris Caldwell, with whom he had two sons, Shaun and Adam. His second wife was the actress Liza Goddard, with whom he had a daughter named Sophie. "RIP Alvin Stardust," Goddard tweeted on Thursday. "Thank you for our beautiful daughter and granddaughter." Stardust went on to marry Julie Paton, an actress and choreographer, with whom he had a daughter, Millie.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The singer previously recorded under the name Shane Fenton Shaun is now a headmaster of a school in Reigate, while his brother is a producer and DJ who records under the name Adam F. DJ Tony Blackburn remembered the singer as "a great showman" who would be "sorely missed". "Performing was his life," added the veteran broadcaster. "He had this bad boy image, but he was not like that at all," Blackburn continued. "On stage he was brilliant, but off stage he was just an ordinary guy." Stardust, a committed Christian, was also remembered as "a great bloke" by his former Hollyoaks co-star Jeremy Edwards. "RIP Alvin Stardust, the original landlord of the Dog in the Pond," the actor wrote on Twitter , referring to the Channel 4 series' fictional public house. "I may not have known him long, but even in that short time he proved to be one of the most genuine and likeable men I've ever met," said the singer's manager Andy Davies. "His passing is a huge and sad loss." Alvin Stardust on Apple Music To preview a song, mouse over the title and click Play. Open iTunes to buy and download music.

Biography The name, the sound, and the image were brand new, but when Alvin Stardust first appeared on the British scene in November, 1973, glowering in a tight leather cat suit and professing his love for his little coo-ca-choo, more than one observer took one look at him and said, "I know that face." And they did. More than a decade prior, during 1961-1962, this same figure was going under the name of Shane Fenton and scoring with two of the most memorable hits of the pre-Beatles '60s: "I'm a Moody Guy" and "Cindy's Birthday." Since that time, he had sunk into obscurity, haunting the nightclub circuit with an increasingly tired oldies set, until a meeting with songwriter/producer Pete Shelley suddenly brought him back up to date.

Although neither Fenton nor Shelley would ever duplicate the sheer hypnotic magnificence of "My Coo Ca Choo," the record which brought the Alvin Stardust persona into the public eye, they still proved to be one of the most reliable and constantly enjoyable hitmaking teams of the mid-'70s, while Stardust's refusal to retreat back into the shadows saw him establish himself among Britain's most loved entertainers. Shelley wrote "My Coo Ca Choo" long before he decided who would perform it; all he knew was he wanted someone "who could sing rock & roll, but who looked pretty mean." At the time, after all, the entire country seemed to be consumed by glam rock, with all the perceived superficiality which that portended. Shelley wanted someone who would be seen as the complete opposite of all that. He found it in Shane Fenton. Redolent as it was of a much earlier era, Fenton's own name, of course, could not be revived.

Alvin Stardust, however, sounded utterly up-to-date and, although there were certainly some teething problems in the weeks before "My Coo-Ca-Choo" was launched (most notably the decision to dress the singer in a pink jumpsuit for his first TV appearance), by the time the record began threatening the Top 40, the Alvin Stardust image was firmly in place. By the time the media at large realized who he really was, an entire generation of pop fans were so entranced that it really didn't matter. With a '50s-style haircut, tight black leather, and a permanent scowl, crouched in a stance midway between a fighting fit boxer and the ghost of Gene Vincent, Stardust was the most threatening-looking pop star of the age.

Even before the Magnet Records publicity department began to move, the media was already showering him with epithets: "The Man in Black," "The Untouchable," "The Star Who Is Forbidden to Smile," "The Son of Gary Glitter." Children's television seriously considered banning him from appearing in case he frightened the young viewers, but nothing could halt "My Coo Ca Choo." The single rose to number two before finally being held off the top spot by fellow veteran Gary Glitter. "Jealous Mind," which did go all the way to number one, more than compensated for that disappointment and over the next year, into the summer of 1975, Shelley and Stardust produced another five, almost equally memorable, hit singles: "Red Dress," "You You You," "Tell Me Why," "Good Love Can Never Die," and "Sweet Cheatin' Rita." The hits stopped after that, but Stardust had already made plans for the future. He had already dropped the leather and the scowl, while his last two singles, in particular, had revealed a sensitive side to the once-demonic performer.

With an audience which now included as many parents as children, he turned his attention towards the rock & roll revival circuit and remained a successful live draw well into the early '80s. Stardust then engineered a quite remarkable comeback, signing to the Stiff Records label and returning to the chart with "Pretend." It reached number four during fall 1981 and while Stardust then lapsed back into silence, it was only fleeting. In May 1984, "I Feel Like Buddy Holly" returned him to the U.K. Top Ten, to be followed by "I Won't Run Away" and the festive favorite "So Near to Christmas." He celebrated 25 years of chart success the following year when "Got a Little Heartache" breached the Top 60. It was to prove his final hit; after that time, he remained a fixture on the live circuit, also appearing in occasional television and stage roles. Alvin Stardust died in October 2014 after a short battle with prostate cancer, just two weeks before the release of Alvin, his first studio album in more than 25 years.

~ Dave Thompson Top Albums Alvin Stardust | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by Dave Thompson The name, the sound, and the image were brand new, but when Alvin Stardust first appeared on the British scene in November, 1973, glowering in a tight leather cat suit and professing his love for his little coo-ca-choo, more than one observer took one look at him and said, "I know that face." And they did. More than a decade prior, during 1961-1962, this same figure was going under the name of Shane Fenton and scoring with two of the most memorable hits of the pre- Beatles '60s: "I'm a Moody Guy" and "Cindy's Birthday." Since that time, he had sunk into obscurity, haunting the nightclub circuit with an increasingly tired oldies set, until a meeting with songwriter/producer Pete Shelley suddenly brought him back up to date.

Although neither Fenton nor Shelley would ever duplicate the sheer hypnotic magnificence of "My Coo Ca Choo," the record which brought the Alvin Stardust persona into the public eye, they still proved to be one of the most reliable and constantly enjoyable hitmaking teams of the mid-'70s, while Stardust 's refusal to retreat back into the shadows saw him establish himself among Britain's most loved entertainers. Shelley wrote "My Coo Ca Choo" long before he decided who would perform it; all he knew was he wanted someone "who could sing rock & roll, but who looked pretty mean." At the time, after all, the entire country seemed to be consumed by glam rock, with all the perceived superficiality which that portended. Shelley wanted someone who would be seen as the complete opposite of all that. He found it in Shane Fenton. Redolent as it was of a much earlier era, Fenton 's own name, of course, could not be revived.

Alvin Stardust , however, sounded utterly up-to-date and, although there were certainly some teething problems in the weeks before "My Coo-Ca-Choo" was launched (most notably the decision to dress the singer in a pink jumpsuit for his first TV appearance), by the time the record began threatening the Top 40, the Alvin Stardust image was firmly in place. By the time the media at large realized who he really was, an entire generation of pop fans were so entranced that it really didn't matter. With a '50s-style haircut, tight black leather, and a permanent scowl, crouched in a stance midway between a fighting fit boxer and the ghost of Gene Vincent , Stardust was the most threatening-looking pop star of the age.

Even before the Magnet Records publicity department began to move, the media was already showering him with epithets: "The Man in Black," "The Untouchable," "The Star Who Is Forbidden to Smile," "The Son of Gary Glitter." Children's television seriously considered banning him from appearing in case he frightened the young viewers, but nothing could halt "My Coo Ca Choo." The single rose to number two before finally being held off the top spot by fellow veteran Gary Glitter . "Jealous Mind," which did go all the way to number one, more than compensated for that disappointment and over the next year, into the summer of 1975, Shelley and Stardust produced another five, almost equally memorable, hit singles: "Red Dress," "You You You," "Tell Me Why," "Good Love Can Never Die," and "Sweet Cheatin' Rita." The hits stopped after that, but Stardust had already made plans for the future. He had already dropped the leather and the scowl, while his last two singles, in particular, had revealed a sensitive side to the once-demonic performer.

With an audience which now included as many parents as children, he turned his attention towards the rock & roll revival circuit and remained a successful live draw well into the early '80s. Stardust then engineered a quite remarkable comeback, signing to the Stiff Records label and returning to the chart with "Pretend." It reached number four during fall 1981 and while Stardust then lapsed back into silence, it was only fleeting. In May 1984, "I Feel Like Buddy Holly" returned him to the U.K. Top Ten, to be followed by "I Won't Run Away" and the festive favorite "So Near to Christmas." He celebrated 25 years of chart success the following year when "Got a Little Heartache" breached the Top 60. It was to prove his final hit; after that time, he remained a fixture on the live circuit, also appearing in occasional television and stage roles. Alvin Stardust died in October 2014 after a short battle with prostate cancer, just two weeks before the release of Alvin, his first studio album in more than 25 years.

Alvin Stardust | New Music And Songs | Alvin Stardust About Alvin Stardust The name, the sound, and the image were brand new, but when Alvin Stardust first appeared on the British scene in November, 1973, glowering in a tight leather cat suit and professing his love for his little coo-ca-choo, more than one observer took one look at him and said, "I know that face." And they did. More than a decade prior, during 1961-1962, this same figure was going under the name of Shane Fenton and scoring with two of the most memorable hits of the pre-Beatles '60s: "I'm a Moody Guy" and "Cindy's Birthday." Since that time, he had sunk into obscurity, haunting the nightclub circuit with an increasingly tired oldies set, until a meeting with songwriter/producer Pete Shelley suddenly brought him back up to date.

Although neither Fenton nor Shelley would ever duplicate the sheer hypnotic magnificence of "My Coo Ca Choo," the record which brought the Alvin Stardust persona into the public eye, they still proved to be one of the most reliable and constantly enjoyable hitmaking teams of the mid-'70s, while Stardust's refusal to retreat back into the shadows saw him establish himself among Britain's most loved entertainers. Shelley wrote "My Coo Ca Choo" long before he decided who would perform it; all he knew was he wanted someone "who could sing rock & roll, but who looked pretty mean." At the time, after all, the entire country seemed to be consumed by glam rock, with all the perceived superficiality which that portended. Shelley wanted someone who would be seen as the complete opposite of all that. He found it in Shane Fenton. Redolent as it was of a much earlier era, Fenton's own name, of course, could not be revived.

Alvin Stardust, however, sounded utterly up-to-date and, although there were certainly some teething problems in the weeks before "My Coo-Ca-Choo" was launched (most notably the decision to dress the singer in a pink jumpsuit for his first TV appearance), by the time the record began threatening the Top 40, the Alvin Stardust image was firmly in place. By the time the media at large realized who he really was, an entire generation of pop fans were so entranced that it really didn't matter. With a '50s-style haircut, tight black leather, and a permanent scowl, crouched in a stance midway between a fighting fit boxer and the ghost of Gene Vincent, Stardust was the most threatening-looking pop star of the age.

Even before the Magnet Records publicity department began to move, the media was already showering him with epithets: "The Man in Black," "The Untouchable," "The Star Who Is Forbidden to Smile," "The Son of Gary Glitter." Children's television seriously considered banning him from appearing in case he frightened the young viewers, but nothing could halt "My Coo Ca Choo." The single rose to number two before finally being held off the top spot by fellow veteran Gary Glitter. "Jealous Mind," which did go all the way to number one, more than compensated for that disappointment and over the next year, into the summer of 1975, Shelley and Stardust produced another five, almost equally memorable, hit singles: "Red Dress," "You You You," "Tell Me Why," "Good Love Can Never Die," and "Sweet Cheatin' Rita." The hits stopped after that, but Stardust had already made plans for the future. He had already dropped the leather and the scowl, while his last two singles, in particular, had revealed a sensitive side to the once-demonic performer.

With an audience which now included as many parents as children, he turned his attention towards the rock & roll revival circuit and remained a successful live draw well into the early '80s. Stardust then engineered a quite remarkable comeback, signing to the Stiff Records label and returning to the chart with "Pretend." It reached number four during fall 1981 and while Stardust then lapsed back into silence, it was only fleeting. In May 1984, "I Feel Like Buddy Holly" returned him to the U.K. Top Ten, to be followed by "I Won't Run Away" and the festive favorite "So Near to Christmas." He celebrated 25 years of chart success the following year when "Got a Little Heartache" breached the Top 60. It was to prove his final hit; after that time, he remained a fixture on the live circuit, also appearing in occasional television and stage roles. Alvin Stardust died in October 2014 after a short battle with prostate cancer, just two weeks before the release of Alvin, his first studio album in more than 25 years.

~ Dave Thompson, Rovi Hear more of Alvin Stardust | Download Music, Tour Dates & Video | eMusic Biography All Music Guide All Music Guide: The name, the sound, and the image were brand new, but when Alvin Stardust first appeared on the British scene in November, 1973, glowering in a tight leather cat suit and professing his love for his little coo-ca-choo, more than one observer took one look at him and said, "I know that face." And they did. More than a decade prior, during 1961-1962, this same figure was going under the name of Shane Fenton and scoring with two of the most memorable hits of the pre-Beatles '60s: "I'm a Moody Guy" and "Cindy's Birthday." Since that time, he had sunk into obscurity, haunting the nightclub circuit with an increasingly tired oldies set, until a meeting with songwriter/producer Pete Shelley suddenly brought him back up to date.

Although neither Fenton nor Shelley would ever duplicate the sheer hypnotic magnificence of "My Coo Ca Choo," the record which brought the Alvin Stardust persona into the public eye, they still proved to be one of the most reliable and constantly enjoyable hitmaking teams of the mid-'70s, while Stardust's refusal to retreat back into the shadows saw him establish himself among Britain's most loved entertainers. Shelley wrote "My Coo Ca Choo" long before he decided who would perform it; all he knew was he wanted someone "who could sing rock & roll, but who looked pretty mean." At the time, after all, the entire country seemed to be consumed by glam rock, with all the perceived superficiality which that portended. Shelley wanted someone who would be seen as the complete opposite of all that. He found it in Shane Fenton. Redolent as it was of a much earlier era, Fenton's own name, of course, could not be revived.

Alvin Stardust, however, sounded utterly up-to-date and, although there were certainly some teething problems in the weeks before "My Coo-Ca-Choo" was launched (most notably the decision to dress the singer in a pink jumpsuit for his first TV appearance), by the time the record began threatening the Top 40, the Alvin Stardust image was firmly in place. By the time the media at large realized who he really was, an entire generation of pop fans were so entranced that it really didn't matter. With a '50s-style haircut, tight black leather, and a permanent scowl, crouched in a stance midway between a fighting fit boxer and the ghost of Gene Vincent, Stardust was the most threatening-looking pop star of the age.

Even before the Magnet Records publicity department began to move, the media was already showering him with epithets: "The Man in Black," "The Untouchable," "The Star Who Is Forbidden to Smile," "The Son of Gary Glitter." Children's television seriously considered banning him from appearing in case he frightened the young viewers, but nothing could halt "My Coo Ca Choo." The single rose to number two before finally being held off the top spot by fellow veteran Gary Glitter. "Jealous Mind," which did go all the way to number one, more than compensated for that disappointment and over the next year, into the summer of 1975, Shelley and Stardust produced another five, almost equally memorable, hit singles: "Red Dress," "You You You," "Tell Me Why," "Good Love Can Never Die," and "Sweet Cheatin' Rita." The hits stopped after that, but Stardust had already made plans for the future. He had already dropped the leather and the scowl, while his last two singles, in particular, had revealed a sensitive side to the once-demonic performer.

With an audience which now included as many parents as children, he turned his attention towards the rock & roll revival circuit and remained a successful live draw well into the early '80s. Stardust then engineered a quite remarkable comeback, signing to the Stiff Records label and returning to the chart with "Pretend." It reached number four during fall 1981 and while Stardust then lapsed back into silence, it was only fleeting. In May 1984, "I Feel Like Buddy Holly" returned him to the U.K. Top Ten, to be followed by "I Won't Run Away" and the festive favorite "So Near to Christmas." He celebrated 25 years of chart success the following year when "Got a Little Heartache" breached the Top 60. It was to prove his final hit; after that time, he remained a fixture on the live circuit, also appearing in occasional television and stage roles. Alvin Stardust died in October 2014 after a short battle with prostate cancer, just two weeks before the release of Alvin, his first studio album in more than 25 years.

Alvin Stardust — Listen for free on Spotify Alvin Stardust Play on Spotify The name, the sound, and the image were brand new, but when Alvin Stardust first appeared on the British scene in November, 1973, glowering in a tight leather cat suit and professing his love for his little coo-ca-choo, more than one observer took one look at him and said, "I know that face." And they did. More than a decade prior, during 1961-1962, this same figure was going under the name of Shane Fenton and scoring with two of the most memorable hits of the pre- Beatles '60s: "I'm a Moody Guy" and "Cindy's Birthday." Since that time, he had sunk into obscurity, haunting the nightclub circuit with an increasingly tired oldies set, until a meeting with songwriter/producer Pete Shelley suddenly brought him back up to date.

Although neither Fenton nor Shelley would ever duplicate the sheer hypnotic magnificence of "My Coo Ca Choo," the record which brought the Alvin Stardust persona into the public eye, they still proved to be one of the most reliable and constantly enjoyable hitmaking teams of the mid-'70s, while Stardust 's refusal to retreat back into the shadows saw him establish himself among Britain's most loved entertainers. Shelley wrote "My Coo Ca Choo" long before he decided who would perform it; all he knew was he wanted someone "who could sing rock & roll, but who looked pretty mean." At the time, after all, the entire country seemed to be consumed by glam rock, with all the perceived superficiality which that portended. Shelley wanted someone who would be seen as the complete opposite of all that. He found it in Shane Fenton. Redolent as it was of a much earlier era, Fenton's own name, of course, could not be revived.

Alvin Stardust, however, sounded utterly up-to-date and, although there were certainly some teething problems in the weeks before "My Coo-Ca-Choo" was launched (most notably the decision to dress the singer in a pink jumpsuit for his first TV appearance), by the time the record began threatening the Top 40, the Alvin Stardust image was firmly in place. By the time the media at large realized who he really was, an entire generation of pop fans were so entranced that it really didn't matter. With a '50s-style haircut, tight black leather, and a permanent scowl, crouched in a stance midway between a fighting fit boxer and the ghost of Gene Vincent , Stardust was the most threatening-looking pop star of the age.

Even before the Magnet Records publicity department began to move, the media was already showering him with epithets: "The Man in Black," "The Untouchable," "The Star Who Is Forbidden to Smile," "The Son of Gary Glitter." Children's television seriously considered banning him from appearing in case he frightened the young viewers, but nothing could halt "My Coo Ca Choo." The single rose to number two before finally being held off the top spot by fellow veteran Gary Glitter. "Jealous Mind," which did go all the way to number one, more than compensated for that disappointment and over the next year, into the summer of 1975, Shelley and Stardust produced another five, almost equally memorable, hit singles: "Red Dress," "You You You," "Tell Me Why," "Good Love Can Never Die," and "Sweet Cheatin' Rita." The hits stopped after that, but Stardust had already made plans for the future. He had already dropped the leather and the scowl, while his last two singles, in particular, had revealed a sensitive side to the once-demonic performer.

With an audience which now included as many parents as children, he turned his attention towards the rock & roll revival circuit and remained a successful live draw well into the early '80s. Stardust then engineered a quite remarkable comeback, signing to the Stiff Records label and returning to the chart with "Pretend." It reached number four during fall 1981 and while Stardust then lapsed back into silence, it was only fleeting. In May 1984, "I Feel Like Buddy Holly" returned him to the U.K. Top Ten, to be followed by "I Won't Run Away" and the festive favorite "So Near to Christmas." He celebrated 25 years of chart success the following year when "Got a Little Heartache" breached the Top 60. It was to prove his final hit; after that time, he remained a fixture on the live circuit, also appearing in occasional television and stage roles. Alvin Stardust died in October 2014 after a short battle with prostate cancer, just two weeks before the release of Alvin, his first studio album in more than 25 years.

~ Dave Thompson, Rovi Read More Show less Alvin Stardust obituary | Music | The Guardian Alvin Stardust obituary Glam rock singer who found life beyond the 1970s as a television presenter and actor Alvin Stardust in 1981. Photograph: ITV/Rex Thursday 23 October 2014 13.42 EDT Last modified on Thursday 23 October 2014 20.35 EDT Share on Messenger Close It was in the era of 1970s glam rock that Alvin Stardust, who has died aged 72, became a household name. Thanks to a dramatic appearance on Top of the Pops in 1973, his debut single My Coo Ca Choo climbed to No 2 in the British charts and blossomed into an international hit. The follow-up, Jealous Mind, went to No 1. During the 80s, Stardust’s allure proved durable enough to take him back into the Top 10 with Pretend (1981), I Feel Like Buddy Holly (1984) and I Won’t Run Away (1984).

Yet before he adopted the chartbusting persona of Alvin Stardust, who resembled a glittery 70s version of the 50s rocker Gene Vincent, he had already had a trial run at pop stardom as Shane Fenton, lead singer with Shane Fenton and the Fentones . The group scored a handful of minor hits at the start of the 60s, beginning with 1961’s I’m a Moody Guy. In 1962, they managed to crack the Top 20 with Cindy’s Birthday, and that year Fenton appeared in the Michael Winner -directed movie Play It Cool alongside Billy Fury and Helen Shapiro. However, the Fentones split up after a subsequent string of flops. He was born Bernard Jewry in east London, to Bill, a salesman, and his wife, Margaret, but the family soon moved to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. His father got a sales job that came with a large three-storey house, and Margaret started providing lodgings for performers from the local Palace Theatre . Doubtless it was here that the young Bernard acquired an early taste for the showbusiness life.

Sent to Southwell Minster Collegiate grammar school as a boarder, he had his enthusiasm for blues, jazz and rock’n’roll fired by listening to the American Forces Network and Radio Luxembourg. He became close friends with a local band, Johnny Theakstone and the Tremeloes, and would help carry their equipment. However, their lead singer Theakstone died suddenly, the result of a childhood illness that had weakened his heart. The Tremeloes split up, but were subsequently contacted by the BBC’s Saturday Club show. They had received an audition tape sent in by Theakstone, under the pseudonym Shane Fenton, and were now inviting the band to perform on the show. Jewry was asked if he would impersonate the fictional Fenton, and he was happy to oblige. The group went down well enough to be invited back for numerous BBC broadcasts, which led to them signing a contract with Parlophone in 1961. His transformation into Alvin Stardust came about through another bizarre identity-switch.

The songwriter and producer Peter Shelley, co-founder of Magnet Records with Michael Levy (now Lord Levy, the former chief fundraiser for the Labour party), had written and recorded My Coo Ca Choo under the invented name Alvin Stardust. Shelley then had to pretend to be Stardust when Magnet’s PR department landed the fictional performer a promotional slot on TV. When the song charted, Shelley realised they would need a permanent Alvin Stardust to do the job properly, and Hal Carter, agent for Shane Fenton, suggested his client. After his early huge chart success, Stardust’s career seemed to be fading when punk rock came along, but he proved remarkably resilient. Pete Waterman supplied him with a song, Pretend, but several labels turned him down for sounding “too seventies”. Dave Robinson, boss of the wilful Stiff Records, stepped in and signed Stardust. Pretend became one of his biggest hits, and they followed up with Wonderful Time Up There (1981), I Want You Back in My Life Again (1982) and Walk Away Renee (1983).

Stardust then left the by-now-ailing Stiff for Chrysalis, where he scored in 1984 with Mike Batt’s song I Feel Like Buddy Holly and I Won’t Run Away. In the 90s, he set out to pursue his long-cherished ambition to act. He appeared on radio, fronted his own Sunday morning children’s show for ITV, It’s Stardust, and was seen on TV in Hollyoaks, Doctors and The Grimleys. He racked up a list of theatre appearances in productions including Uriah Heep in David Copperfield – The Musical, The Phantom Of The Opera and Side By Side By Sondheim. He played the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the lead in The Billy Butlin Story at the London Palladium. Having previously been married to the actor Liza Goddard – their relationship foundered after Stardust’s sudden conversion to Christianity, apparently following his meeting with some American Baptist missionaries on a train to Waterloo – Stardust married the actor and and choreographer Julie Paton, whom he met during rehearsals for Godspell.

In 2010, Universal released Stardust’s album I Love Rock’n’Roll, comprising new recordings of his old hits alongside some new songs. He had recently been working on a new album, Alvin, for release this autumn, his first new studio collection since 1984. He is survived by Julie and their daughter Millie; a daughter, Sophie, and stepson, Thom, from his marriage to Goddard; and two sons, Shaun and Adam, from his first marriage, to Iris Caldwell. • Alvin Stardust (Bernard William Jewry), singer and actor, born 27 September 1942; died 23 October 2014

Question: Alvin Stardust first found fame under what name?
Answer: Shane Fenton