Marty Wilde

England in the late 1950s had its share of rock & roll stars -- Cliff Richard was the most successful and was still at it in 2004, some 46 years later, with a knighthood to show for it on top of everything else; and the late Billy Fury is still revered by those aware of the music. In between them, chronologically, stands Marty Wilde. Born Reginald Leonard Smith in Blackheath on April 15, 1939, he grew up in Greenwich, in southeast London. The son of a professional soldier, he lived in various parts of England throughout his childhood. He reached the middle of his teen years living in London, just at the point that Lonnie Donegan, playing in a jazz band run by Chris Barber, had jump-started the entire skiffle boom with "Rock Island Line" which, in turn, fostered the beginnings of a rock & roll boom in England -- an aspiring singer, Smith was a natural prospect as he was already proficient on the ukulele and simply switched to guitar. By 1957, in the wake of Tommy Steele's sudden rise to stardom, London was filling up with would-be rock & rollers, including the 17-year-old Smith, who was performing at the Condor Club in Soho one night -- for a pound a night plus a meal -- where he was spotted by Larry Parnes. Parnes was the most successful manager on London's newly spawned rock & roll scene, and, among other attributes, was known for choosing highly expressive stage names for his artists, intended to insinuate themselves on the audience's memory -- he had already scored with Tommy Steele (aka Tommy Hicks), Vince Eager, and Duffy Power, among others. Reg Smith was signed up, renamed Marty Wilde, and proved so popular on the subsequent package tour where he was booked, that it was no problem getting him on to television, and then signed to Philips Records. His first single,...