The Long and Winding Road

A chapter from my memoir.

It was December 1975, a few days before Christmas, when the boss told us all to go to the 'Fill ya Boots' pub at lunchtime. He said that he had a very nice surprise for us all as a thank you for all of our hard work. We presumed that he was going to give us all a well-deserved and much-needed cash bonus.

Myself, Tony, Degsy, and Marylou, were the only employees in what was basically a family business. The boss's parents were involved in the running of the firm, as was his wife Mo. However, they were not going to be present at the pub. The only other person who was present was a co-director and company accountant, Derek.

We all presumed that the cash bonus to come was to be given to us, along with our final salary for the year. We were also all hopeful that the boss, Arthur, was going to cover our Christmas lunch. At the allotted time, we were all present and correct sat around a small dining room small table. There was an air of happy expectation of what was to come. We never imagined for one moment that what we were about to receive would be beyond our wildest dreams.

Arthur came into the room and stood close to the table we were all sitting at. He appeared even more ebullient than normal, no doubt in anticipation of demonstrating his own generosity.

Derek, the co-director cum accountant, rose to stand next to Arthur. Derek bent forward to open his attache case which sat on top of the table. He lifted out four A4 manilla envelopes and handed one to each of us, myself, Tony, Degsy, and Marylou.

We each tentatively reached inside our envelopes and slid out a single sheet of paper that would change all of our lives forever. As we cast our eyes over the printed details on the sheet our jaws dropped and our eyes widened in a mixed expression of stunned shock and great surprise. This was far more than any of us could have ever expected. And to think that after almost two years of hard work, we were finally being rewarded with...Before I tell you what the gift was, let me go back a little.

I first met Arthur sometime in the early seventies after I responded to an announcement in the Madchester Echo. The short piece stated that the Madchester Sound Studio was looking for new songwriting talent, and invited young wannabees with stars in their eyes, just like me, to go along to the studio on Letsby Avenue, in Coppertown, for an audition. I went and I met the A and R Manager, Arthur James Ridall.

Arthur was a portly, chummy sort of guy with a big friendly smile. And he immediately put me at my ease and recorded parts of a couple of songs I had written. I parted with my three-pound audition fee and parted company. I never heard any more from Arthur nor the Madchester Sound Studio and set about dealing with the pressing matter of a desperate need to earn a weekly wage as an apprentice motor mechanic in Knotty Pine.

In 1974, wandering around 's city center looking for a new job, I found myself wandering along Crook Street and suddenly saw a big window poster advertising Staggering Music. Intrigued a little I went inside and was met by none other than Arthur. He almost immediately offered me a job as a record salesman and I accepted.

The job was based in a place called the Midwest Chambers, near Enderby, and consisted of me running around the whole of Greater Madchester in Arthur's old green Wartburg, trying to sell records to local record shops.

The job also involved doing outside recordings in pubs like the infamous Pig and Whistle in Painton Village, running down to a multinational pressing plant in Walthamstow, London. At other times I was a tea boy cum record sleeve fold and glue boy, and at one time, I was even pressed into wallpapering Arthur's father's living room on Prince's Drive.

Staggering Music had an excellent start on the local music scene and made many records for local bands, comedians, and cabaret acts. After about two years, the coffers at Staggering Music were well and truly full.

One particular local band that made a big impression at Staggering was a group of four young lads from The Shambles, called 'New Attention'. These lads were introduced to Ronnie and Steve, two very successful producer songwriters who Arthur had gotten to know when he was in London trying to make a name for himself as a pianist and singer-songwriter.

Ronnie and Steve recorded New Attention performing an album full of songs, got them kitted out in fashionable denim jeans and striped shirt outfits, got a load of publicity photographs done, and then sold the group on to the RCA record label.

New Attention became Blister and went on to enjoy great success in the UK and in Australia, Germany, and Japan. The group had five hit singles and three highly successful albums.

At some point, just before the jerk of the knee that was to catapult Buster to fame and fortune, Arthur decided to up sticks and follow Blister to where he thought the big money was. Back at Staggering Music headquarters none of us employees were any the wiser as to what was to come next.

Ok, so back to that wonderful, noble act of Christmas generosity on the part of Arthur at the Fill Ya Boots pub.

When we opened those manilla envelopes and slid out that single sheet of paper, it was to discover that Arthur had decided to reward all of our hard work for very little pay, with a share of the company!

We could not believe that we were now all, effectively, co-owners of Staggering Music. At the age of just twenty-one, I was over the moon at such amazing good fortune. Sadly, my ecstasy was as short-lived as a chocolate fireguard.

As it turned out we never got any cash bonus, nor indeed our last salary cheque. To cap it all, Arthur disappeared with his wife Mo never to be seen again, along with all of the money in the company bank account. Myself, Tony, Degsy, Marylou, and Dereck the co-director, were left holding the can, as co-owners, now responsible for all of the missing money and company debts. We had all been well and truly set up as patsies.

Fortunately, the liquidators accepted our story of what had happened and we were let off the hook. However, we were still all out of a job, right at Christmas, and without our final salary cheque.

Before Christmas Day 1975, the doors to Staggering Music were closed forever. On the 3rd of September 1976, I got married and that was the very last time I saw Tony for forty years. I never saw any more of any of the other Staggering Music employees ever again.

Many decades later, with the advent of the internet, I came across Arthur with the story that he simply closed down Staggering Music to spread his wings in London.

Not too many years ago, I did see something on the net about Arthur being involved in education, pointing out to hopeful school kids the pitfalls of a music business full of sharks. I did wonder if he felt any sense of irony when he said that.

As for me, well in the aftermath of the Staggering Music charade, I took myself to London to work for EMI. In the following years, I joined a theatre group performing operetta as a tenor (Calamity Jane, Vagabond King) and I formed a Cheshire-based folk duo with my lifelong friend, Andrew.

In about 1990, I recorded my first album, Nobodies Pet (out now on Bandcamp).

In the nineties, I became a teacher of music as well as a part-time actor on Tv and in film. I appeared in pretty much all the famous soaps (Coronation Street, Brookside, Emmerdale Farm, etc) and series (Prime Suspect, Between the Lines, To Play a King, Hetty Wainthrop Investigates, etc.) I even managed to play a small part in the Beatles video 'Free as a Bird'. And I played a part in the film 'The Dresser', with Tom Courtney and Albert Finney.

In 2003, I moved to the south of Spain and became very much a part of the live performance and recording music scene, and I even opened my own piano bar, Yesterday. At about this time, I recorded my second album, Live and Unsigned, which is now out of print.

In 2014, I came across Mr. Lance Quinn, an American guitar virtuoso and producer (Bon Jovi, Ramones, Franky Valli, Petula Clark, Englebert Humperdink, Jimi Hendrix, etc, etc). Lance and I became a performing duo and co-producer/songwriter. I also worked as a talent scout and producer on my own account. I managed to tutor and produce one of my discoveries and got him to a standard where he appeared on La Voz (The Voice) on Spanish television, where he got through to the finals.

In 2014-15, I recorded my third album (Lost and Found, out now on Bandcamp) with Guy Forrester at Linden Recording Studios, in Cumbria, UK.

Finally, in 2020, I was forced to retire due to ill health. However, now I am recovered to the point that I can look forward to performing once again in the not-too-distant future.