CATtales

My guest today is one of music’s octogenarians. Music icon and MBE, Marty Wilde has just made headlines around the world for being the first person in the entertainment industry to receive the COVID vaccine but he is better known for being the first British artist to achieve the incredibly rare feat of 8-decades of chart success. He’s never lost the appetite for song-writing and performing, and has just released his first ever Christmas single – a Double-A side with daughters Roxanne and Brit Award winning Kim Wilde, and a sprinkling of festive help from The Shadows’ Brian Bennett. So get into the festive cheer and listen to some of the secrets behind Marty’s song writing success and enjoy the magic of the season with Christmas Fantasia and Christmas All Over The World.

Purchase Double-A single: http://smarturl.it/vuic4k

Winning the hearts of a million teenagers in the 80s as the lead singer of synth-pop group Kajagoogoo, Limahl wowed us with debut smash-hit single Too Shy. Two more Top 20 hits quickly followed but after producing only one enormously successful album, he was unceremoniously sacked by his band mates in one swift phone call. Embarking on a solo career, Limahl bounced back with an incredible hit and title track to the film Neverending Story and continues to make music to this day, releasing an album earlier this year and re-working his lovely festive track; One Wish For Christmas, to reflect Covid-Britain.

Multi-platinum award winning Right Said Fred are one of the UK’s most enduring pop exports. 
Brothers Fred and Richard Fairbrass have a list of achievements to their credit including number 1 hits in 70 countries, global sales total 30 million, and over 100 million plays on Spotify.
The first band to reach the number one slot in the US with a debut single since The Beatles, they’ve played in front of the Queen, Nelson Mandela and the Bollywood Awards, and their music has been featured in over 100 films, TV shows and commercials. 
I’m Deeply Dippy about them but they’re Too Sexy for this Cat.

Badfinger is a band that has had more than its fair share of drama and tragedy over the years, to say the least! 

With a history that is more suited to a Tarantino film, Badfinger has been dogged with law suits and suicides but has risen from the ashes with its latest incarnation lead by long-term band member Bob Jackson. 

I haven’t met Bob in person but we’ve been friends on social media for many years so I was delighted to finally get hear his tale about how he’s been influenced by The Beatles and David Bowie, how he didn’t expect his musical career to go beyond the age of 26, and how Badfinger managed to ‘break bad’.

I’m Walking On Sunshine today with the musician who’s had a worldwide hit that that catapulted Katrina & The Waves to the forefront of the music industry in 1985 with over 2.5 million plays on US Radio and was the soundtrack of a host of films. But for many, Grammy nominated Katrina will be the American who won the Eurovision song test for the UK in 1997 with Love Shine a Light and has continued her Eurovision ties since then.  Delightful company, there’s no doubt that we’d be heading to the bar after this interview to continue our conversation about music, the business in lockdown….and who is starring alongside her in her next video. 

Ian Anderson is the cat that walks by himself despite leading one of the most iconic, not to mention successful, bands of all time. Charismatic frontman, virtuoso flautist and composer, Ian has been steadfast through Jethro Tull’s many musical incarnations which, with its idiosyncratic blend of progressive rock, hard rock and folk music, has clocked up some 30-odd albums and sales totalling more than 50 million. After more than fifty years at the bottom, at the top and various points in between, Jethro Tull is still performing internationally, restrictions permitting, even if Ian does continue to tread the solitary path whenever he can.

Del Bromham has performance in his blood. He began playing guitar at the tender age of eleven and formed dynamic hard-rock band Stray whilst he was still at school. In a career now spanning an incredible six decades, Del has rubbed shoulders with many of the greats, toured with Iron Maiden, and is still writing, recording and performing fresh and exciting music.  The only original member still with the band, the man of a million riffs lets the music do the talking as we chat about the challenges of putting on Covid-compliant gigs, the ‘gifts’ of songwriting, why his latest album is possibly his best work to date, and all about white feathers. 

My guest today is the hugely talented and critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Boo Hewerdine. The musician’s musician, Boo is widely regarded as one of the UK’s best singer songwriters and his cult band, The Bible, still excites passion amongst music lovers, despite being disbanded in the early nineties. Boo has consistently made his mark on the music scene with his solo performances and songs that have been covered by over 50 other artists, including Eddi Reader, kd lang, Natalie Imbruglia, Marti Pellow, and Suggs. His song Patience of Angels was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award, he’s produced records for The Corrs, scored the films Fever Pitch and Twenty Four Seven and has even had one of his songs featured on Emmerdale.

We chat about song-writing, leaving a legacy and dropping a volauvent down Jools Holland's piano!

The UK Sub's Charlie Harper is a creative guy and just can't stop the flow. When he's not touring the world with one of the most iconic punk rock bands in history he's raising money for charity by...well...painting...errr...cats!  Now, many people may not think of cats as very punk but, let's be honest, anyone who has owned or come into contact with a cat will know that nothing has more 'attitude' than those little feline creatures. And here, at CATtales, we love them...how could we not? So, when Charlie put his artistic talents into producing a cat painting especially for us, we were holding onto our tails with anticipation! And the result was a stunning, fun, piece of art that truly captures the spirit of CATtales and is as unique as the show itself. Now, you can WIN your very own unframed A4, fine art print of Charlie’s cat! The print will be produced using a professional Giclée process within a rigorously colour-managed environment on Hahnemühle Photo Matte paper, which has an archival figure of over 200 years – so you can be sure it will always look as fabulous as the day it was painted. For details about the ts&cs and how to enter the draw, head over to cattales.co.uk/win, follow the links and Charlie’s cat print could be yours! Good luck! 
#win

Charlie Harper is an absolute one-off. Back in the seventies this former hairdresser took the UK Subs from London’s punk clubs to Top of the Pops and whilst other punk veterans have become idols, Charlie has become an icon. Now over seventy, he’s still performing with the band, still throwing himself around the stage and still entertaining audiences who refuse to grow old. But when he’s not on the road touring, he’s writing his autobiography and has a penchant for painting cats.