Steve Pratt chats to Alvin Stardust about his long career and what continues to inspire him.

MOST people, Alvin Stardust admits, think of him as the man in black with the sideburns and the big voice. But there’s a lot more to him than that – something he hopes to prove when he performs at the Georgian Theatre in Richmond this month.

“When I started I was playing blues, jazz and a bit of rock. Then I went into pop, then glam rock came in and established me. In the Eighties I was able to sneak back to what I was really like,” he says.

So his stage show reflects a career that began with a first hit in 1961, has taken in musicals, plays and TV and a recent appearance as the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium.

Backed by a five-piece band, he’ll be performing two sets – the first of rock- ’n’roll and rockabilly, and the second bringing back memories of hits such as Jealous Mind, Coo-ca -chool and Pretend.

You have only to look at his website to know that Stardust is always working, whether gigs like the Georgian, corporate dates or private functions.

“Unless you are some young band who’ve just got into the charts and beginning a massive worldwide tour, most of us don’t do tours. We’re performing all the time and take breaks.

I take time off during the summer holidays because my daughter is ten.

“I did theatre and telly for about 15 years and just a few gigs. A couple of years ago I decided to go out on my own. I was missing my music so I got a little band together. I’ve always liked three-piece bands – it’s pure rock. So it’s guitar, bass and drums, and I do a bit of acoustic. I feel about 16 again.”

He’s worked in various musical genres but “the Seventies image is so strong it’s hard to shake off”. You get the feeling he doesn’t try to get rid of it any more, happy to embrace the old songs as long as he can perform other music as well.

That’s reflected in the audiences.

“When I work it’s great because I get a mix – Sixties people who remember Shane Fenton, then Seventies people which is great because that was massive and then those who remember the later stuff. A real eclectic mix.”

He’s recently played the Americana Festival in Newark-on-Trent in front of 200,000 people with half-a-dozen stages offering a variety of music. He went on the country and rock platform, with a saxophonist and pianist playing with his regular band, with a Tex-Mex version of some old Fifties rock’n’roll among their offerings.

Following a deal with Universal Music last year there was an album featuring new material and old hits.

It sold well, he says, but there’s a lot more he wants to do.

Anyone passing through the village in West Sussex where he lives might hear the sound of music. This will be a jam session with Stardust and some of his musical neighbours, like Eric Clapton and Gary Booker.

“We all live five miles from each other, get together and have a jam.

There’s a jazz saxophonist from Ronnie Scott’s club who lives in the village too,” he says.

He “grew up with jazz”, he says.

And his versatility is illustrated by the fact that he made recordings with Frank Sinatra’s orchestra at Abbey Road when he was 17.

These days his attitude to performing is the same as when he first started, working in little pubs or working men’s clubs. He considers it a success if, at the end of the night, everyone has had a good time.

“I have never had a particularly good voice or been particularly goodlooking, but I was the one who got the breaks, so I want to go out and have a good time,” he says.

“If I fancy what’s on offer, I’ll do it.

I’m doing a gig in Austria with a little rockabilly band. I had an email asking if I was interested in going over and jamming with them. I’m not interested in the money, I just want to play. We do quite a few dates across Europe, both corporate and private.

“I just wait until I get the email asking.

We leather up when we do gigs and look like rock musicians. I’m fortunate I’ve been lucky to keep fit and well. I get up there and rock. We’re probably a bit ‘rockier’ than people are going to expect.

“We were doing a gig at a London hotel and did a sound check. Some guy said you can’t play that loud as there are old people in the audience.

But that night we went on and they were banging on the tables.”

• Alvin Stardust, The Georgian Theatre, Richmond, October 20.

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