Episode 041 - Seven Inches Of History 003 - Anthony Newley - Why
About this episode
This episode explores the life and career of Anthony Newley, focusing on his unexpected rise to pop stardom and his true passion for theatre.
The accidental pop star who couldn't wait to get back to the theatre. Anthony Newley never really wanted to be a pop singer. He wanted to be in the theatre. The trouble was, the British public had other ideas, and in February 1960 they kept "Why" at number one for four consecutive weeks, making it very difficult for him to pretend the whole pop star thing wasn't happening. The route to the chart had been almost accidental. Newley had been cast as a rock and roll singer in a 1959 film called "Idle on Parade," recorded a few songs for it, and watched in mild surprise as one of them reached number three. The record industry noticed. So did the public. Before long, Terence Nelhams-Wright from Hackney, the boy who had played the Artful Dodger in David Lean's Oliver Twist, was one of the most recognisable faces in British pop. "Why" was written by Bob Marcucci and Peter De Angelis, a pair of American songwriters who knew exactly what the teenage market wanted. Newley gave it something extra though. That slightly theatrical quality in his delivery, the sense of a performer actually thinking about the words rather than just singing them, lifted the record above the merely competent. Four…
People in this episode
Host: Scott
Topics covered
- pop music
- theatre
- British culture
- music history
- celebrity
- songwriting
Keywords
- Anthony Newley
- pop star
- theatre
- music history
- British pop
- songwriters
- chart-toppers
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Idle on Parade, Oliver Twist, Stop the World, I Want to Get Off
Places: Hackney
More episodes of Rainbow Valley
- Episode 043 - The Making Of The Italian Job (1969)
- Episode 042 - Seven Inches Of History 004 - Adam Faith - Poor Me
- Episode 040 - Seven Inches Of History 002 - Michael Holliday - Starry Eyed
- Episode 039 - Seven Inches Of History 001 - Emile Ford and the Checkmates - What Do Want to Make Those Eyes At Me For?
- Episode 018 - The Making Of Cleopatra (1963)
- Episode 016 - The Hammersmith Nude Murders (1964 - 1965)
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