Kathy Kirby

KATHY KIRBY: ICON

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Discovered and mentored by the great band leader Bert Ambrose, Kathy Kirby was groomed in the image of his ideal woman – a kind of late 1950s hybrid of Marilyn Monroe and Diana Dors, with crisply styled peroxide hair and startlingly glossy red lips. Ambrose’s concept was dated even by the time Kirby became a major television star on the strength of her early 1960s appearances inStars and Garters. But somehow – largely thanks to a winning and cheerful personality that knew instinctively how to reach a television audience beyond the camera and, crucially, a voice of spectacular power and emotional force, which commanded attention whatever she was singing – she transcended the stylistic straightjacket he imposed on her.

As so often in the annals of show business, Kathy Kirby’s life eventually came to mirror the more dramatic lyrics of some of her songs. This, combined with the unique qualities of her voice, dusted her with an almost mythical fascination, long after her active career had waned.

Ambrose had given Kirby her first break as a teenager, employing her on a short contract as a vocalist for his dance band after she had persuaded him to let her sing for him at the Palais de Danse in Ilford when she was just 16, in 1954. She spent the next few years paying her dues on the club circuit, singing with Ambrose on and off, and gaining valuable show-business experience. But it was not until he became her manager and took control of her recording and television career that things really took off, culminating in hit singles and albums for Decca, and some hugely popular television series. Their relationship soon developed privately and they would be together until his death in 1971, an arrangement that would have disastrous consequences for Kirby.

A new play, KATHY KIRBY: ICON, running at THE WHITE BEAR theatre, Kennington, sets the record straight about Kathy’s life,both in and out of the glare of publicity.

Listen to an interview by the actress who plays kathy on BBC Radio London. The interview is apprx 2hrs 13mins into the programme

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03412rf

28-09-2015 19;20;25

KATHY KIRBY – ICON

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now available as a paperback on Amazon

KATHY KIRBY ALWAYS WANTED STARDOM, AND FOUND IT AT THE AGE OF 16 UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF RENOWNED BANDLEADER BERT AMBROSE. BEFORE TOO LONG SHE WAS THE MAIN SINGER IN HIS BAND, AND NOT LONG AFTERWARDS HIS MISTRESS – DESPITE THE FORTY-YEAR AGE GAP.      SHE HAD EVERYTHING; A REMARKABLE VOICE, STUNNING LOOKS, AND WAS SOON A MAJOR TV AND RECORDING STAR. ‘BRITAIN’S ANSWER TO MARILYN MONROE’, THE NEWSPAPER SCREAMED CONSTANTLY.                       YET BY HER LATE THIRTIES SHE WAS A FALLEN STAR. SHE STOPPED PERFORMING COMPLETELY, BECAME A RECLUSE, AND EVENTUALLY DIED IN POVERTY. SO WHAT WENT WRONG FOR KATHY KIRBY? THIS PLAY ANSWERS THAT QUESTION.

Playing at the WHITE BEAR THEATRE  138 Kennington Park Rd, London SE11 4DJ, this coming October. Watch this space for further details.

SINGER WITH THE BAND

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SINGER WITH THE BAND

I grew up and Ambrose grew older

We were together when he died

I was left alone to cry

I don’t know who I am

Please let me speak to Lord Delfont

I have been swindled

A fortune has slipped through my fingers

‘Lord Delfont is on the other line

Can he call you back?’

Mr Eric Morley please;

‘Eric, I have been evicted from my flat

I have nowhere to go’.

‘But Kathy, my dear,

You must have thousands stashed away’.

Now they have sent me to St Lukes Mental Hospital;

‘Kathy Kirby’s here – in a mink coat,

I mean, has she come to entertain us?’

What’s the matter with your hair, Kathy?’

‘It’s mummy, she’s been pulling it out again’.

‘When I wear dark glasses, don’t you think I look like Norma?’

‘Norma?’

‘Norma Desmond, you know, Sunset Boulevard’.

Someone has stolen my legs

I cannot possibly go on stage

I am not the real Kathy Kirby

All the girls in the street have Kathy Kirby legs now.

I am being held prisoner in my flat

I am being possessed by Ambrose

The Queen Mother is in me.

“Well, tell her to piss off!”

http://www.kathykirby.info/index.php?id=4

MY SMASHWORDS INTERVIEW

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Smashwords Interview with Tom O’Brien

What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
Today just might be the day the postman doesn’t ring twice! In other words, no rejections today. (THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE was Jame’s Cain’s best seller and its title was inspired by the fact that his postman always rang twice if he was delivering a rejected manuscript!)
When you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?
Reading mostly. To be a good writer you have to be an even better reader. Other writers fascinate me; how they put a book or play together;what it is about their work that makes it great; what I can learn from them. I am often in awe of how good some writers are.
How do you discover the ebooks you read?
I am an avid reader of reviews, be they in newspapers or online. They don’t necessarily have to be good reviews, just interesting. With certain writers I don’t even bother with the reviews; when a new book comes out I just know I will like it.
Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
Yes, I do. It was a story about a security guard planning a robbery at a holiday camp ( I worked as a security guard at Pontin’s holiday Camp in Bracklesham Bay in Sussex at the time) and it was terrible. Complete rubbish! Needless to say it never saw the light of day.
 

Continue reading →

KATHY KIRBY – ICON

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Kathy Kirby had everything. A remarkable voice, stunning looks and was the highest paid female singer of the 1960s. So what went wrong? She stopped singing and became a recluse at the peak of her career, never performing in public again for nearly thirty years until she died in 2011.

Her rollercoaster life embraced a bit of everything – celebrity lovers, including an affair with Bruce Forsyth, a knife attack at her flat, a drug overdose, bankruptcy, alcohol abuse, admission to a mental hospital and a lesbian affair. She earned more than five million during her heyday – and her manager – and lover – Bert Ambrose spent it all for her.

My play KATHY KIRBY – ICON, a musical about her life, sold out its short run at The Camden Fringe Festival in 2012, where it received numerous 5***** reviews.  See   http://www.kathykirby.info/

Watch this space for news of further productions.

 

Visit my Amazon book page http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tom-OBrien/e/B0034OIGOQ/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1388083522&sr=1-2-ent