Do ya think I’m tipsy?
SINGER GOT BOOZED UP BEFORE HIS TV DEBUT Star Rod on how he stumbled into fame
Stumbling on stage as a tipsy teenager, Rod Stewart had no idea that he’d just fallen into the limelight for the rest of his life.
In 1964, the young Mod made his TV debut on music show Ready, Steady, Go! to sing his f irst single – Good Morning Little Schoolgirl – in a rather memorable fashion.
Rod said: “Only eight months in the business and I’m on the telly. My mum was really proud of me. “The morning I was due on, I got tanked up in the pub so, by the time my spot came, I was really gone. I had to come down this ladder and walk over towards the camera. Only I never made it. I stumbled and fell down the ladder.”
And Rod, then aged 19, was just one of a flurry of future superstars to go on the show in their first tentative, if in this case clumsy, steps in the music business. From Tina Turner to David Bowie, a new book – Ready, Steady, Go! The Definitive Story of the Show That Changed Pop TV by Andy Neill – reveals the secrets of what went on behind the scenes.
Within six months of its 1963 launch, Ready, Steady, Go! became one of the most popular programmes on the box, attracting up to 14million viewers. And during the three years it was on air, teens stayed in on Friday night waiting for the familiar Manfred Mann theme tune of 5- 4-3-2-1 and excitedly anticipating which artists hosts Keith Fordyce, Cathy McGowan and Dusty Springfield were going to greet on the stage.
One such band was The Rolling Stones, who made their big RSG! debut in August 1963.
Mick Jagger said: “Ready, Steady, Go! was the best rock ’n’ roll TV show of all time. It just seemed more vibrant and real and could, sometimes, be sensational.”
“It was exciting to be on, while other shows – Thank Your Lucky Stars, Top of the Pops, Ed Sul l ivan – were l i ke commercial vehicles.”
The show was adored by teenagers, who related to its informality. And, by 1965, it was filmed entirely live as producer Vicki Wickham and her young group of colleagues, none of them older than 25, transformed the landscape of music TV.
But some stars were intimidated by the presence of Jagger, who used to go to the Green Room to hang out sometimes when the Stones weren’t on the show.
Shy teenager Lulu was one. She said: “At 16, 17, I hadn’t grown up. I tried to act cool but was frightened. I was always afraid of Mick – he’d come up, give me that leer and say, ‘ Ullo, Lolo.’ But I did get to know Mick and the other Stones and they were very sweet.”
Ready, Steady, Go! ended in December 1966.
The morning I was due on, I got tanked up in the pub