Shakin' Stevens
Encyclopedia
Shakin' Stevens, also known as "Shaky" (born Michael Barratt, 4 March 1948) is a platinum
selling Welsh
rock and roll
singer and songwriter who holds the distinction of being the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s . His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although it was not until 1980 that he saw commercial success in his native land. In the UK alone, Stevens has charted no fewer than 33 top 40 hit singles in the sales charts.
, a suburb on the outskirts of Cardiff
in South Wales
to Jack and May Barratt. His father was a First World War veteran who by 1948 was working in the building
trade. The oldest of his siblings were born in the later part of the 1920s, and by the time of his birth some of them were already married and had children of their own. Jack Barratt died in 1972 at the age of 75, while May survived until 1984 and the age of 79. http://www.imeem.com/artists/shakin_stevens/bio/
Shaky married his wife Carole on 7 October 1967 and they have three children. At the time of their marriage, his official occupation was a milkman
, and they lived in a flat which formed part of an office block in inner-city Cardiff
. The office block was demolished several years later.
As a teenager in the mid 1960s Barratt formed his first amateur rock and roll band with school friends and became its vocalist and frontman. Originally named The Olympics, then The Cossacks, the short lived band finally renamed as The Denims and performed gigs in the local Cardiff and South Wales area.
In the late 1960s Stevens was associated with the Young Communist League
(YCL), the youth wing of the Communist Party of Great Britain
- playing at YCL events. At the time the YCL was associated with several leading music industry figures, including Pete Townshend
.
He is a lifelong supporter of his local football team Cardiff City
.http://www.the-football-club.com/famous-football-fans.html
(no relation). The Sunsets were a 1950s-influenced rock'n'roll outfit from Penarth
, South Glamorgan that had evolved from a band, previously called The Backbeats since 1958, who invited Stevens to join them after he had been an avid fan of the band for several years and occasionally hopped on stage to do a guest vocal.
An early break for Shaky and the band presented itself when they were given a support slot for The Rolling Stones
in December 1969. Despite landing a recording contract with Parlophone Records the following year and releasing a Dave Edmunds
produced album, the optimistically and prematurely titled A Legend, the band found success hard to come by, at least in their native Great Britain, though they had several hit singles in other countries. The band toured Germany and the Netherlands in between regular UK dates as the band's reputation for staging a vibrant and exciting show grew.
by Jack Good
who personally invited him to attend a London audition for his planned new West End
"Elvis!" musical. Three actors were to portray Elvis
's life during the course of the show and Shaky landed one of the lead roles, playing Elvis in his prime charting, army and movie star years, with young actor Tim Whitnall
covering the earlier formative years and veteran 1960s singer P J Proby taking over the part for Elvis's 'Las Vegas
' years.
The rest of the Sunsets waited in South Wales, doing occasional performances with drummer Robert 'Rockin Louis' Llewellyn taking the frontman duties, but fully expecting Shaky to return to the band and recommence touring after the show's planned short six month run. However, the expectations were overtaken by subsequent events. The media wise Good made sure that both the audition process and the early months of the show were widely and regularly covered by the British daily press and TV shows. The photogenic Shakin' Stevens came to such prominence that almost overnight all agegroups of the UK population knew who he was. During the "Elvis!" show's highly successful and then twice extended two year run Shaky made regular TV appearances, firstly on Good's revived British ITV
show Oh Boy and later on his follow up 30 week long series Let's Rock that was syndicated in thirty two countries including the United States. This led almost inevitably to his first major chart success with a cleverly reworked version of a Buck Owens
song "Hot Dog", which Owens would go on to re-record using Stevens's arrangement, which had been created by pedal steel guitar player B.J. Cole.
" and would follow up with ten more songs reaching the top five, including three number 1 hits with "Green Door
", "Oh Julie
" and "Merry Christmas Everyone
", while "You Drive Me Crazy" and "A Love Worth Waiting For" reached number 2 in 1981 and 1984 respectively. His 1984 hit "Teardrops", which reached #5 in the UK, featured Hank B. Marvin
on guitar and Stevens has often featured famous musicians such as Albert Lee
, Roger Taylor
, Bonnie Tyler
and more recently Tony Joe White
on his recordings. Chart successes also included his album Shaky reaching number 1 in the album charts. In the mid 1980s, Stevens reunited with former producer Dave Edmunds to record an album Lipstick, Powder and Paint and the Christmas smash Merry Christmas Everyone, which was a number 1 hit over Christmas
1985. Its original planned release was put back by a year to avoid clashing with the runaway success of Band Aid
's charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?
", to which he did not contribute, having been out of the country touring at the time of recording. Despite Stevens's chart domination over the previous few years, he was not invited to perform at Live Aid
on 13 July 1985. That year he became the first artist to appear 50 times on Top of the Pops.
In a Record Collector magazine feature, writer Kris Griffiths wrote: "This was Shaky at the very zenith of his powers and, perhaps, the breaking-point of marketing overload from which there is only decline. Such concentrated commercial success and ubiquity came with a price." The hits continued but chart placings declined throughout the later 1980s and early 1990s. It was in the 1990s that Stevens took a lengthy break from recording and was stung by a court ruling, relating to unpaid royalties from the Legend album which had been re-released to some commercial success, requiring a substantial payout to former band members of the Sunsets. In 1999, Shaky returned to performing live and undertook tours all that year and the following year.
CD
/ DVD
album
in Denmark and a gold
album in South Africa.
In the sitcom I'm Alan Partridge
, Stevens's fictional endorsement of Partridge
's book Bouncing Back - in which he described it as "lovely stuff" - was supposedly critical to its success.
In 2005, he returned once again to the charts in the United Kingdom, with his greatest hits album The Collection, which reached the UK top 5. That year, he also appeared in the video
to Tony Christie
's and Peter Kay
's #1 hit single "Is This the Way to Amarillo
", alongside many other UK stars, including Ronnie Corbett
, Jim Bowen
, Michael Parkinson
and Geoffrey Hayes. He was the winner on the reality television
show, Hit Me Baby One More Time
. This was quickly followed by a re-release of his cover and his own biggest hit sung in the show, ("Trouble" covering Pink's version) / "This Ole House"), which reached #20 on the UK Singles Chart
in June 2005, his 33rd Top 40 hit in the United Kingdom.
Chris Evans featured a special Shaky Week on his Radio 2
show during early March 2008 to celebrate Stevens's 60th birthday and later in 2008, despite his aging years, Shaky embarked on a string of major concerts in the UK and Europe that started at Lulworth Castle
on 4 July. On 24 August 2008 Shakin' Stevens performed at a major concert in Poland featuring many European pop star
s of the 1980s, including Kim Wilde
, Thomas Anders
(ex-Modern Talking
), Samantha Fox
, Sandra Cretu
, Sabrina Salerno
and Limahl
. The concert formed a part of the Sopot International Song Festival 2008
and was presented live on the Polish television channel TVN
. To wind up 2008 Stevens followed his European tour with a short tour of Ireland and an appearance at London's O2 Arena, supported by a ten-piece band. His appearances in 2009 opened with a tour of Poland to coincide with the Polish release of the Now Listen album.
In mid July 2006, Shaky took to the stage at an open air concert 'The Big Buzz' in Swansea, Wales. He was top of the bill, and performed a repertoire of his hits, including "Oh Julie", "Marie Marie" and "Turning Away". He also performed two songs from his most recent album, Now Listen ("Now Listen" and "Baby It's You"). The concert also featured Dave Edmunds
and was broadcast live on BBC Radio Wales
.
Stevens's original band The Sunsets have continued to perform regularly over the years without him and still tour annually in the UK, Europe and Australia with a show of authentic vintage rock and roll. In recent years the band has been fronted by Shaky's younger nephew, Levi Barrett.
In April 2008, it was announced that Shakin' Stevens would be performing at 2008's Glastonbury Festival as the opening act on the Pyramid stage on Saturday 28 June, which he did, opening the day at 11am to a capacity crowd - several hours before the BBC started to film the day's performers for broadcast, although Stevens' performance still received media attention. On 8 December 2009 Shaky played a one - off gig at the O2 Academy Islington to promote the release of the "The Epic Masters
Box Set" (released 16 November 2009) which marks the thirtieth anniversary of his first hit "Hot Dog".
On 10 December 2009, Stevens appeared in court in Ballymena
, Northern Ireland
, charged with assaulting photographer Hugo McNiece at the Tullyglass Hotel in Ballymena on 3 December. In January 2010 he was convicted of the assault and criminal damage in the case. He was fined a total of £300 and ordered to pay McNeice £479 to compensate for the damage to his camera lens. His conviction was overturned on appeal at Ballymena County Court in May 2011.
Stevens was rushed to hospital after he collapsed at his home in Windsor in July 2010. This resulted from exhaustion brought on by the stress of working on a new album. It was later revealed that Stevens suffered a major heart attack which caused him to be hospitalised for two months after strenuous work gardening in his home, in Windsor. He fully recovered and in 2011 embarks on an early part of the year 19-date 30th Anniversary Tour, followed by a further 26 dates in the 2nd leg of the tour later in the year. Shaky will be backed by a 10-piece band on the Anniversary Tour celebrating his success in the UK and Europe.
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
selling Welsh
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
singer and songwriter who holds the distinction of being the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s . His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although it was not until 1980 that he saw commercial success in his native land. In the UK alone, Stevens has charted no fewer than 33 top 40 hit singles in the sales charts.
Early days
Michael Barratt, who would adopt the stage name Shakin' Stevens, was the youngest of 11 children born in ElyEly, Cardiff
Ely is a community primarily dominated by council housing in western Cardiff, capital of Wales.-The Roman era:In Roman times, Ely was the site of a Roman villa, near the old racecourse...
, a suburb on the outskirts of Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
in South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
to Jack and May Barratt. His father was a First World War veteran who by 1948 was working in the building
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
trade. The oldest of his siblings were born in the later part of the 1920s, and by the time of his birth some of them were already married and had children of their own. Jack Barratt died in 1972 at the age of 75, while May survived until 1984 and the age of 79. http://www.imeem.com/artists/shakin_stevens/bio/
Shaky married his wife Carole on 7 October 1967 and they have three children. At the time of their marriage, his official occupation was a milkman
Milkman
A milkman is a person, traditionally male, who delivers milk in milk bottles or cartons. Milk deliveries frequently occur in the morning and it is not uncommon for milkmen to deliver products other than milk such as eggs, cream, cheese, butter, yogurt or soft drinks...
, and they lived in a flat which formed part of an office block in inner-city Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
. The office block was demolished several years later.
As a teenager in the mid 1960s Barratt formed his first amateur rock and roll band with school friends and became its vocalist and frontman. Originally named The Olympics, then The Cossacks, the short lived band finally renamed as The Denims and performed gigs in the local Cardiff and South Wales area.
In the late 1960s Stevens was associated with the Young Communist League
Young Communist League (Britain)
The Young Communist League is the name of both the youth wing of the former Communist Party of Great Britain and the current youth wing of the Communist Party of Britain ; an organisation that sees itself as the successor to the Communist Party of Great Britain.-Original Young Communist League...
(YCL), the youth wing of the Communist Party of Great Britain
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
- playing at YCL events. At the time the YCL was associated with several leading music industry figures, including Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
.
He is a lifelong supporter of his local football team Cardiff City
Cardiff city
Cardiff City may refer to:* Cardiff city centre* Cardiff City Council* Cardiff City F.C.* Cardiff City L.F.C.* Cardiff City Stadium...
.http://www.the-football-club.com/famous-football-fans.html
The Sunsets
He began his professional performing career during 1968, fronting Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets, created and managed by South Wales rock and roll promoter and impresario Paul 'Legs' BarrettPaul Barrett
Paul Franklyn "Legs" Barrett is the UK's best known agent and manager of 1950s style Rock and Roll artistes, an author and previously a singer and film actor...
(no relation). The Sunsets were a 1950s-influenced rock'n'roll outfit from Penarth
Penarth
Penarth is a town and seaside resort in the Vale of Glamorgan , Wales, 5.2 miles south west from the city centre of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff and lying on the north shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay...
, South Glamorgan that had evolved from a band, previously called The Backbeats since 1958, who invited Stevens to join them after he had been an avid fan of the band for several years and occasionally hopped on stage to do a guest vocal.
An early break for Shaky and the band presented itself when they were given a support slot for The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
in December 1969. Despite landing a recording contract with Parlophone Records the following year and releasing a Dave Edmunds
Dave Edmunds
David 'Dave' Edmunds is a Welsh singer, guitarist and record producer. Although he is primarily associated with Pub rock and New Wave, and had numerous hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has always been towards 1950s style rock and roll.-Early bands:As a teenager Edmunds first...
produced album, the optimistically and prematurely titled A Legend, the band found success hard to come by, at least in their native Great Britain, though they had several hit singles in other countries. The band toured Germany and the Netherlands in between regular UK dates as the band's reputation for staging a vibrant and exciting show grew.
"Elvis!" and a hit record
In 1977, after seven years of constant touring and recording, Shaky had been spotted during a London Sunset's gigGig (musical performance)
Gig is slang for a musical engagement in which musicians are hired. Originally coined in the 1920s by jazz musicians, the term, short for the word "engagement", now refers to any aspect of performing such as assisting with performance and attending musical performance...
by Jack Good
Jack Good (producer)
Jack Good is a pioneering former TV television producer, musical theatre producer, record producer, musician and painter of icons.-Career:...
who personally invited him to attend a London audition for his planned new West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
"Elvis!" musical. Three actors were to portray Elvis
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's life during the course of the show and Shaky landed one of the lead roles, playing Elvis in his prime charting, army and movie star years, with young actor Tim Whitnall
Tim Whitnall
Tim Whitnall , is a British actor, musician, playwright and screenwriter probably best known for his portrayal of the alien Angelo on the British CITV sitcom Mike and Angelo....
covering the earlier formative years and veteran 1960s singer P J Proby taking over the part for Elvis's 'Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
' years.
The rest of the Sunsets waited in South Wales, doing occasional performances with drummer Robert 'Rockin Louis' Llewellyn taking the frontman duties, but fully expecting Shaky to return to the band and recommence touring after the show's planned short six month run. However, the expectations were overtaken by subsequent events. The media wise Good made sure that both the audition process and the early months of the show were widely and regularly covered by the British daily press and TV shows. The photogenic Shakin' Stevens came to such prominence that almost overnight all agegroups of the UK population knew who he was. During the "Elvis!" show's highly successful and then twice extended two year run Shaky made regular TV appearances, firstly on Good's revived British ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
show Oh Boy and later on his follow up 30 week long series Let's Rock that was syndicated in thirty two countries including the United States. This led almost inevitably to his first major chart success with a cleverly reworked version of a Buck Owens
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. , better known as Buck Owens, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos...
song "Hot Dog", which Owens would go on to re-record using Stevens's arrangement, which had been created by pedal steel guitar player B.J. Cole.
The 1980s and 1990s
In late 1979, Shaky signed what was to be his most successful management deal with music industry doyenne Freya Miller, who immediately advised Stevens to sever his association with The Sunsets and continue developing a more lucrative solo career. Under Miller's deft hand, in 1981, Shaky scored his first UK chart topping number 1 with "This Ole HouseThis Ole House
"This Ole House" is a popular song written by Stuart Hamblen, and published in 1954.-Background:Hamblen was supposedly out on a hunting expedition when he and his fellow hunter, actor John Wayne, came across a tumbledown hut in the mountains, many miles from civilization...
" and would follow up with ten more songs reaching the top five, including three number 1 hits with "Green Door
Green Door
" Green Door" is a 1956 popular song with music composed by Bob Davie and lyrics written by Marvin Moore. The lyrics describe a nondescript establishment, with a green door, behind which "a happy crowd" play piano, smoke and "laugh a lot", and inside which the singer is not allowed.-Possible...
", "Oh Julie
Oh Julie
"Oh Julie" was a UK number one single for one week for Shakin' Stevens in January 1982. It was also his biggest global hit.It is Stevens' third number-one single and his first as a writer. The B-side, "I'm Knockin'", was also written by Shakin' Stevens and both tracks benefit from arrangements...
" and "Merry Christmas Everyone
Merry Christmas Everyone
"Merry Christmas Everyone" is a popular festive song by the Welsh singer-songwriter Shakin' Stevens.Written by Bob Heatlie and produced by Dave Edmunds, this was Shakin' Stevens fourth, and most recent, number one on the UK singles chart...
", while "You Drive Me Crazy" and "A Love Worth Waiting For" reached number 2 in 1981 and 1984 respectively. His 1984 hit "Teardrops", which reached #5 in the UK, featured Hank B. Marvin
Hank Marvin
Hank Brian Marvin is an English guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows. The group, which primarily performed instrumentals, was formed as a backing band for vocalist Cliff Richard...
on guitar and Stevens has often featured famous musicians such as Albert Lee
Albert Lee
Albert William Lee, born 21 December 1943 in Leominster, Herefordshire, England, is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked both in the studio and on tour with some of the most famous musicians which stretch through a very wide of genres...
, Roger Taylor
Roger Meddows-Taylor
Roger Meddows Taylor , known as Roger Taylor, is a British musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the drummer, backing vocalist and occasional lead vocalist of British rock band Queen. As a drummer he is known for his "big" unique sound and is considered one of...
, Bonnie Tyler
Bonnie Tyler
Bonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer, most notable for her hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".-Early life:...
and more recently Tony Joe White
Tony Joe White
Tony Joe White is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit "Polk Salad Annie"; "Rainy Night in Georgia", which he wrote but was first made popular by Brook Benton in 1970; and "Steamy Windows", a hit for Tina Turner in 1989...
on his recordings. Chart successes also included his album Shaky reaching number 1 in the album charts. In the mid 1980s, Stevens reunited with former producer Dave Edmunds to record an album Lipstick, Powder and Paint and the Christmas smash Merry Christmas Everyone, which was a number 1 hit over Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
1985. Its original planned release was put back by a year to avoid clashing with the runaway success of Band Aid
Band Aid (band)
Band Aid was a charity supergroup featuring British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year. The single...
's charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?
Do They Know It's Christmas?
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure and released by Band Aid on 29 November 1984....
", to which he did not contribute, having been out of the country touring at the time of recording. Despite Stevens's chart domination over the previous few years, he was not invited to perform at Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
on 13 July 1985. That year he became the first artist to appear 50 times on Top of the Pops.
In a Record Collector magazine feature, writer Kris Griffiths wrote: "This was Shaky at the very zenith of his powers and, perhaps, the breaking-point of marketing overload from which there is only decline. Such concentrated commercial success and ubiquity came with a price." The hits continued but chart placings declined throughout the later 1980s and early 1990s. It was in the 1990s that Stevens took a lengthy break from recording and was stung by a court ruling, relating to unpaid royalties from the Legend album which had been re-released to some commercial success, requiring a substantial payout to former band members of the Sunsets. In 1999, Shaky returned to performing live and undertook tours all that year and the following year.
The 2000s
Stevens hit a low point in January 2002 when he was very publicly convicted of a drink-driving charge and banned from driving for two years, but in 2004 things started to look up again when he had a further platinumMusic recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
/ DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
in Denmark and a gold
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
album in South Africa.
In the sitcom I'm Alan Partridge
I'm Alan Partridge
I'm Alan Partridge is a BBC situation comedy starring Steve Coogan, of which two series of six episodes each were produced — the first in 1997 and the second in 2002...
, Stevens's fictional endorsement of Partridge
Alan Partridge
Alan Gordon Partridge is a fictional radio and television presenter portrayed by English comedian Steve Coogan and invented by Coogan, Armando Iannucci, Stewart Lee and Richard Herring for the BBC Radio 4 programme On The Hour...
's book Bouncing Back - in which he described it as "lovely stuff" - was supposedly critical to its success.
In 2005, he returned once again to the charts in the United Kingdom, with his greatest hits album The Collection, which reached the UK top 5. That year, he also appeared in the video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
to Tony Christie
Tony Christie
Tony Christie is an English musician, singer and actor. He is best known for his track, "Is This The Way To Amarillo", a double UK chart success.-Career:Tony Christie has sold over 10 million albums Worldwide...
's and Peter Kay
Peter Kay
Peter John Kay is an English comedian, writer, actor, director and producer. His work includes That Peter Kay Thing , Phoenix Nights , Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere , Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and other independent productions which have included two sell out tours.-Early career:Peter Kay...
's #1 hit single "Is This the Way to Amarillo
Is This the Way to Amarillo
In the United States, a version by the writer of the song Neil Sedaka made to number 44 in the Billboard charts in 1977, and the title was shortened to "Amarillo".-Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay version:...
", alongside many other UK stars, including Ronnie Corbett
Ronnie Corbett
Ronald Balfour "Ronnie" Corbett, OBE is a Scottish actor and comedian of Scottish and English parentage who had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the British television comedy series The Two Ronnies...
, Jim Bowen
Jim Bowen
Jim Bowen is an English stand-up comedian and TV personality. He is best known as the host of the ITV gameshow Bullseye, which he hosted between 1981 and 1995.-Early life:...
, Michael Parkinson
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
and Geoffrey Hayes. He was the winner on the reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
show, Hit Me Baby One More Time
Hit Me Baby One More Time
Hit Me, Baby, One More Time was a 2005 reality show first aired by ITV on British television and later, as a new version, by NBC in the United States; both were presented by Vernon Kay. During each programme, five former pop stars sing their biggest hit along with a cover version of a contemporary...
. This was quickly followed by a re-release of his cover and his own biggest hit sung in the show, ("Trouble" covering Pink's version) / "This Ole House"), which reached #20 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in June 2005, his 33rd Top 40 hit in the United Kingdom.
Present day
In May 2007, Stevens released a new album entitled Now Listen with the album being released first in Denmark. In December 2007, Stevens re-entered the UK charts with a re-issue of "Merry Christmas Everyone" twenty two years after its original launch, reaching a UK chart position of 22.Chris Evans featured a special Shaky Week on his Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
show during early March 2008 to celebrate Stevens's 60th birthday and later in 2008, despite his aging years, Shaky embarked on a string of major concerts in the UK and Europe that started at Lulworth Castle
Lulworth Castle
Lulworth Castle, in East Lulworth, Dorset, situated south of Wool, is an early 17th century mock castle. The stone building has now been re-built as a museum....
on 4 July. On 24 August 2008 Shakin' Stevens performed at a major concert in Poland featuring many European pop star
Pop Star
"Pop Star" is a 2005 single from Japanese singer Ken Hirai. The single went on to top the 2005 Oricon Charts and is known for its remarkable music video, featuring Ken in seven different personas, including a raccoon and his own manager. The Video also helped Ken break into the US and Canadian...
s of the 1980s, including Kim Wilde
Kim Wilde
Kim Wilde is an English pop singer, author and television presenter who burst onto the music scene in 1981 with the number 2 UK Singles Chart new wave classic "Kids in America". In 1987 she had a major hit in the United States when her version of The Supremes' classic "You Keep Me Hangin' On"...
, Thomas Anders
Thomas Anders
Thomas Anders is a German singer, composer and record producer. Anders was the lead singer of Germany's popular pop-duo Modern Talking in 1984–1987 and in 1998–2003.-Early years:...
(ex-Modern Talking
Modern Talking
Modern Talking was a German dance pop duo consisting of Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen. Their music has often been classified as Europop. They have been referred to as Germany's most successful pop duo, and have had a number of hit singles, reaching the top 5 in many countries...
), Samantha Fox
Samantha Fox
Samantha Karen "Sam" Fox is an English dance-pop singer, actress, and former glamour model. In 1983, at the age of 16, she began her topless modeling career on Page Three of The Sun, and went on to become a popular pin-up girl...
, Sandra Cretu
Sandra Cretu
Sandra Ann Lauer, stage name Sandra is a German pop singer, who dominated European charts with eighteen top 20 hits during the 1980s and early 1990s, with the help of her then-husband and musical partner, Michael Cretu. During a brief height of popularity, she even outsold Madonna in a number of...
, Sabrina Salerno
Sabrina Salerno
Sabrina Salerno , also known in her singing career as Sabrina, is an Italian singer, television hostess, model, actress and record producer...
and Limahl
Limahl
Christopher Hamill better known by his stage name Limahl is an English pop singer. He rose to fame as the lead singer of the 1980s pop group Kajagoogoo, before embarking on a briefly successful solo career, which reached its peak with the 1984 hit "The NeverEnding Story", taken from the film of...
. The concert formed a part of the Sopot International Song Festival 2008
Sopot International Song Festival
The Sopot International Song Festival is an international song contest held in Sopot, Poland. It was the biggest Polish music festival altogether with the National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, and one of the biggest annual song contest in Europe...
and was presented live on the Polish television channel TVN
TVN (Poland)
TVN is a major Polish commercial television network. The broadcaster was co-founded by Polish businessmen Mariusz Walter and Jan Wejchert. The network launched on October 3, 1997. TVN belongs to the TVN S.A...
. To wind up 2008 Stevens followed his European tour with a short tour of Ireland and an appearance at London's O2 Arena, supported by a ten-piece band. His appearances in 2009 opened with a tour of Poland to coincide with the Polish release of the Now Listen album.
In mid July 2006, Shaky took to the stage at an open air concert 'The Big Buzz' in Swansea, Wales. He was top of the bill, and performed a repertoire of his hits, including "Oh Julie", "Marie Marie" and "Turning Away". He also performed two songs from his most recent album, Now Listen ("Now Listen" and "Baby It's You"). The concert also featured Dave Edmunds
Dave Edmunds
David 'Dave' Edmunds is a Welsh singer, guitarist and record producer. Although he is primarily associated with Pub rock and New Wave, and had numerous hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has always been towards 1950s style rock and roll.-Early bands:As a teenager Edmunds first...
and was broadcast live on BBC Radio Wales
BBC Radio Wales
BBC Radio Wales is the BBC's national radio station broadcasting to Wales in the English language. Operated by BBC Wales, it began broadcasting on 12 November 1978 following the demise of the old "Radio 4 Wales" when BBC Radio 4 became a national network and moved from medium wave to long wave...
.
Stevens's original band The Sunsets have continued to perform regularly over the years without him and still tour annually in the UK, Europe and Australia with a show of authentic vintage rock and roll. In recent years the band has been fronted by Shaky's younger nephew, Levi Barrett.
In April 2008, it was announced that Shakin' Stevens would be performing at 2008's Glastonbury Festival as the opening act on the Pyramid stage on Saturday 28 June, which he did, opening the day at 11am to a capacity crowd - several hours before the BBC started to film the day's performers for broadcast, although Stevens' performance still received media attention. On 8 December 2009 Shaky played a one - off gig at the O2 Academy Islington to promote the release of the "The Epic Masters
The Epic Masters
The Epic Masters is a box set compilation comprising ten remastered albums by Shakin' Stevens. Released on 16 November 2009, the set contains nine albums originally released by Epic Records between 1980 and 1990, plus an exclusive CD of 12" extended mixes...
Box Set" (released 16 November 2009) which marks the thirtieth anniversary of his first hit "Hot Dog".
On 10 December 2009, Stevens appeared in court in Ballymena
Ballymena
Ballymena is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland and the seat of Ballymena Borough Council. Ballymena had a population of 28,717 people in the 2001 Census....
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, charged with assaulting photographer Hugo McNiece at the Tullyglass Hotel in Ballymena on 3 December. In January 2010 he was convicted of the assault and criminal damage in the case. He was fined a total of £300 and ordered to pay McNeice £479 to compensate for the damage to his camera lens. His conviction was overturned on appeal at Ballymena County Court in May 2011.
Stevens was rushed to hospital after he collapsed at his home in Windsor in July 2010. This resulted from exhaustion brought on by the stress of working on a new album. It was later revealed that Stevens suffered a major heart attack which caused him to be hospitalised for two months after strenuous work gardening in his home, in Windsor. He fully recovered and in 2011 embarks on an early part of the year 19-date 30th Anniversary Tour, followed by a further 26 dates in the 2nd leg of the tour later in the year. Shaky will be backed by a 10-piece band on the Anniversary Tour celebrating his success in the UK and Europe.