The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Saturday
‘He’s the first I go to if I need to speak to someone’
Boudicca Fox-Leonard meets Jordan Higo and his grandfather Ronnie, who recorded a song together for a new TV series
Over 400 versions of Ben E King’s classic Stand By Me, released in 1961, have been recorded; performed by artists from John Lennon to Muhammad Ali. And now a new duo has been added to this stellar lineup: grandfather and grandson, Ronnie and Jordan Higo.
Singing is something the pair from Huddersfield have done together since the moment Jordan could speak. Over the years on car journeys, while Ronnie ferried his grandson to rugby matches all over the country, they would let their vocal cords loose.
“We’d sing silly songs like Right Said Fred and There’s a Hole in my Bucket. We used to sing Stand by Me, but change the words to ‘Granddad, grandad, stand by me’. Or, ‘Jordan, Jordan stand by me’,” says Ronnie.
So when the opportunity was offered for them to record one of their favourite tracks on the BBC’s new twopart series This is My Song, which explores singers’ personal reasons for wanting to record their particular track, it could only be that.
A report by Age UK last year found that five million grandparents take on childcare responsibilities, showing the pivotal role that 14 million grandparents play in the day-to-day lives of their grandchildren.
However it’s doubtful many of those children would, at the age of 23, go on to describe their grandfather as their best friend, but it’s how Jordan thinks of his 73-year-old grandfather. “He’s the first person I go to if I need to speak to someone,” says the barber (and proud Yorkshireman). They share the same playful humour and pride in their side of the Pennines. But Ronnie has been more than a grandfather and a friend. He’s been a father, too.
Jordan’s parents split up when he was only four months old. With his mother needing to go back to work as a nurse and on ever-changing shift patterns, Ronnie and his wife Pam stepped into the childcare breach. “I changed Jordan’s nappies,” says the retired school caretaker.
Consequently, while he has three other grandchildren from his other daughter, and great-grandchildren, their relationship is distinct. “The bond between me and Jordan is different because of all the time we’ve spent together,” says Ronnie. Time that he feels parents all too often don’t seem to have nowadays.
“So many are working. Or what you do see a lot is people looking at their phones. Put it down and talk to your children instead. Jordan does have a habit of doing that…” he says. Jordan swiftly adds, “He’s worse than me for going on Facebook!”
That there has never been a generational gulf of understanding between the two is in part due to Ronnie’s time spent as a caretaker, where he would be out in the schoolyard.
“A lot of young people are really good kids. I feel for this generation. When I was young in the Sixties there were plenty of jobs and apprenticeships. Now you go to university, and then what?”
In turn, Jordan says he has grown up with a connection to the older generation that he feels many of his peers have missed out on.
“I know my friends probably don’t have the same relationship that I have with my granddad. My mum and dad broke up when I was very young and, in a sense, I’m almost thankful that it happened. I have such a close relationship with my grandparents. I don’t think I’d be the person I am today without them. I have a lot of his traits. Good, and bad,” he says.
Confidence, generosity, empathy, respect are some of the qualities that Jordan’s sought to emulate. “He’s also a bit of a class clown and joker. But the main one was to treat people how you’d like to be treated yourself.”
And of course, there was always singing. The vocal coach on This is My Song observed that they had a very similar husky tone of voice, due to having always sung together.
Ronnie, a fan of the crooners, has sung his whole life. “I don’t always sing the right words. I met my wife Pam in 1961 and I was singing a song the other day and she said, ‘What did you say? That’s not right at all’. I’d been singing it wrong for the past 55 years!”
“I feel for Grandma having to hear it 24 hours a day,” Jordan says.
Jokes aside, getting the words right was the most stressful part of recording their track for the BBC show. Ronnie didn’t want to let Jordan down.
What had begun as a fun experience together took on new emotional depths as the pair realised that the recording would live on as a permanent reminder of their special connection.
“Grandad’s not going to be here forever. While it’s not something you think about daily, I did get emotional. It made me realise how lucky I am and what a great time we’ve had.”
Ronnie is more sanguine: “Everybody’s got to go. I look after myself. I don’t drink, don’t smoke,” he says. “And how many 73-year-old grandads get to do something like this?”
By doing the show Jordan hopes that other young people will see there are things to be learnt from those of different generations. And that they might be encouraged to forge a stronger connection to older members of their own families: “I see news stories about old people and loneliness and it must be an awful place to be.”
More than half of those aged 75 and over live alone, according to an ONS report from 2010, and two fifths of older people (about 3.9million) say the television is their main company, found an Age UK study in 2014.
“If people could spend more time with older people in their family this Christmas, that would be wonderful,” says Jordan.
In Huddersfield, there will certainly be a house full of song.
This is My Song will air on BBC One, Thursday at 8pm