How TV host chased off today’s pop stars
IS THERE anything lovable Bradley Walsh can’t do? The ex-footballer and stand-up comedian is becoming the new Sir Bruce Forsyth and if his form is anything to go by he will be every bit as famous as Brucie in due course.
Popular with the ladies, the 56-year-old is a familiar face on television as both an actor and a presenter and as the host of the variety show Tonight At The London Palladium.
He has starred in Coronation Street and now presents popular quiz show The Chase. But Walsh has just pulled off his greatest reinvention yet with news that his album Chasing Dreams was the biggest selling debut album by a British artist in 2016.
It is a fact the former pantomime stalwart finds hilarious – a typically self-effacing response to success that explains his popularity. “I just laughed when I found out,” he says. “I’m probably the oldest new artist Sony has ever signed.”
Yesterday Walsh was presented with his gold record, marking 100,000 sales – the only debut to go gold in 2016, beating the likes of Brits critics’ choice winner Jack Garrett, 25, and former One Direction singer Zayn Malik, 24.
With its covers of songbook classics such as Mr Bojangles the album by a man almost old enough to be Malik’s grandfather is hardly cutting edge but it does feature his own material: the title track is an original song written by Walsh.
“Niall Horan (Zayn’s former bandmate) was sending me messages, laughing his head off. And I got big congratulations from Simon Cowell. He thoroughly enjoyed it,” says Walsh who may be amused by his own success but believes that it is explained in part by the fact that there is still a place for “something you can hum along to”.
HE SUGGESTS that many new artists “miss the point” and thinks younger stars are too focused on being cool and have forgotten the basics of melody and “proper old-fashioned tunes”.
He is planning an album tour and will appear at the Wigan Jazz Festival this year. “It won’t be a massive tour because my entire year is now taken up with contracts for television but it will be in theatres, that sort of feeling,” he explains.
Walsh, who first came to prominence on television in 1994 when he won a role as part of the presenting team on the National Lottery, has a cross-generational appeal because of his reputation as a talented all-rounder.
To mark the 1,000th episode of The Chase last year he was invited on to the set of Good Morning Britain where he caused comedy chaos by climbing over the back of the sofa to prove that the backdrop was a projected loop rather than a real window. “What a wonderful view of the Thames that is,” he declared while presenter Susanna Reid collapsed into giggles. “But if you watch it the same bus and the same boat will come by four or five times!”
Born in Watford, Walsh went to a comprehensive where he shone at sport. At the age of 18 he became a professional footballer for Brentford but ankle injuries ended his career prematurely. He then became a sheet metal worker and says: “You can achieve anything you want if you put your mind to it.”
Married to choreographer Donna Derby since 1997, he has a son, Barney, 20, as well as a daughter Hayley, 34, from a previous relationship.
He also worked as a Pontins bluecoat in Morecambe, Lancashire, which gave him acting experience and after presenting the National Lottery he hit the big time by becoming the host of game show Wheel Of Fortune for a year as well as appearing as a celebrity guest on Lily Savage’s Blankety Blank.
WALSH left the world of light entertainment to try his hand at acting and appeared in 52 episodes of ITV soap opera Night And Day before being approached for a role in Coronation Street. He played factory boss Danny Baldwin for two years. His character was due to be called Vic but he asked for the name to be changed to Danny after his late father.
He then won the role of detective Ronnie Brooks in the ITV crime drama Law & Order: UK and appeared as the recovering alcoholic for five years.
He signed a three-album deal with Sony last year. “I’m not known as a singer although I have sung for many, many years,” he says.
“Singing with those guys and girls in the 54-piece orchestra was extraordinary. We don’t have anyone in this country who is doing that. That is part of the market that was missing.” Fortunately for his many fans that is no longer the case.