Alvin Stardust

Bernard William Jewry was born, in September of 1942, in London. While he was still a child, his family moved north to live in Nottinghamshire.

Bernard was a roadie with the group, Shane Fenton and The Fentones, and when Shane Fenton (nee John Theakstone) died, as the result of having rheumatic fever as a child, he was invited to become the new Shane Fenton.

The combination had four relatively minor hits covering a period of twelve months from October of 1961. The last of these, “Cindy’s Birthday”, was also the largest, ascending to No.19 on the singles chart in Britain. It was actually a cover of Johnny Crawford’s recording that had risen to No.8 in America, just a few months earlier. Johnny played Mark McCain in the highly popular television series, ‘The Rifleman’. In the series, his father, Lucas McCain, was portrayed by Chuck Connors; back in what truly was the golden age of television.

Once Shane Felton and The Feltones had disbanded, little was heard of Bernard. That is, until the early 1970s when he re-emerged having acquired the persona, Alvin Stardust, in the era of glam rock.

Alvin’s first single, “My Coo-Ca-Choo”, entered the British chart in November of 1973 and, in spite of peaking at No.2, was to spend some five months there.

Nineteen seventy-four was to be Alvin’s most successful year. He took “Jealous Mind” to No.1, “Red Dress” to No.7, “You You You” to No.6, and “Tell Me Why” to No.16.

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Alvin’s only real achievement, in 1975, was to have “Good Love Can Never Die” reach No.11. Thereafter, a hiatus of some six years ensued before “Pretend” rose to No.4. The song had been a hit for Nat ‘King’ Cole, in 1953, and Gerry and The Pacemakers, in 1965.

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Three more years passed before “I Feel Like Buddy Holly” (No.7) established him as an extant recording artist, yet again.

In late 1984, “I Won’t Run Away” followed, reaching its zenith, at No.7, in early 1985.

In Australia, Alvin’s “My Coo-Ca-Choo”, was virtually his only hit, having risen to No.2, as it had in Great Britain. To my knowledge, he remains an unknown to the vast majority of Americans.

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