There are a series of celebrity names that come up whenever the history of music in working men’s clubs is mentioned.
The obvious ones get trotted out: Vera Lynn, Petula Clark and Tom Jones, for example, all have a hint of showmanship – not to mention that solid, project-to-the-back-of-the-room vocal technique – that gives away their roots as club performers.
Others are shared with the self-satisfaction of either the proud local or the music trivia fan: “Sam Fender started off in that room right there. Cracking voice.” “Did you know Sting used to play at the club down the road?! The members gave him his stage name.”
And then there are the stories that blend fact and fiction into musical mythologies: The Fall regularly got booed off club stages, the Manic Street Preachers cancelled a gig at a workmen’s hall, the Gallagher brothers ruined a snooker table (they definitely did not – I saw the evidence), Shirley Bassey peed in a club sink… (would rather not see the evidence on that one!)
Whatever the story, the knowledge that plenty of music stars started out in working men’s clubs is pretty established by now. Clubs are training grounds for talent, providing an opportunity to develop experience locally and a connection to a network of venues. For some musicians, it then becomes a mainstream culture from which to break away towards alternative scenes. Others keep it as a badge of pride, being a marker of authenticity and down-to-earth roots despite their celebrity status.
What happens if you run into one of them?…
Continue reading “Celebrity Encounters in Social Clubs; or, How to Make a Fool of Oneself”