Welsh wonder is still going strong

Shakin’ Stevens will be reinventing hits such as The Ole House, Green Door and Oh Julie in a rootsy / Americana style when he visits Brum

THROUGHOUT history, the human race has always had an affinity with an underdog story – David and Goliath, Rocky and Carl Weathers and Leicester City FC in 2016. And in the early Sixties in the sleepy suburb of Ely, Cardiff, an underdog story of monumental proportions was starting to form. At the time, Michael Barratt was in his early teens, singing in school and working in the wood yard on Saturdays.

From the age of 15, he was forming bands, performing in pubs, clubs and church halls, eventually even getting them a gig at the famous 2i’s.

Starting from nowhere, and with “just pure determination” as he puts it, ‘Shaky’ soon became an unrelenting force in British music, being one of the most successful acts of the Eighties, and the most successful charting Welsh artist of all time.

“I’m a great believer that you only get what you put in – and I put it in everything I could,” says a defiant Shaky, who still shows no sign of slowing down, with a new European and UK spring tour on the horizon.

“When I started we were travelling in vans. We couldn’t afford B&Bs, so after the gig the band would all climb in the back of the van with our fish and chips and then wake up in the morning, all the gear around us, and you’d think ‘oh god,’’’ he laughs.

“Then we’d go have a shave, a wash down and onto the next gig. So it’s perseverance – I was determined to get there in the end. It took me a long time to get there, but here I am.”

His latest tour, Greatest Hits – and More!, sees him travel across 18 cities in the UK, as well as all over mainland Europe.

“There will be hits,” he says excitedly. “Some I haven’t sung for a long time. Songs from my record collection and of course newer tracks from the Echoes Of Our Times album.’’

Shaky has had UK 33 hits, with 15 going top 10, and he asys they have been “brought up to date, but still recognisable”, but it’s the ‘more’ part that I’m particularly interested in.

“Well we tried out some classic hit songs in Sri Lanka – and they worked, so people will be hearing some songs live for the first time in a long time, but I think if you say what you’re going to do you sort of ruin the surprise,” he says warily.

I suggest that it’s quite an achievement that after 40 years of being a recording artist, people are still coming out to see him live. How does that make him feel?

“Fantastic! It’s really good that they’re still coming and even better that as my music moves on they move on with me. [Back in the day] it was mums and dads that were the fans, and then they introduced the kids to the Saturday TV shows and Top Of The Pops, then they brought their kids to the gigs.

‘‘On the last tour I met a couple of people backstage who were not kids anymore! They were in their 30s and 40s and telling me they’re still coming because they love it – and they’re the core of my audience. The added bonus is that they also want more of the new material, which they have really taken to.”

Echoes Of Our Times, released in late 2016, was his highest charting