I may be a bit of a Scottish geek, but I knew I’d made it big when I took a phone call from Robert De Niro
Still Young at Heart –Bobby Bluebell looks back on an amazing career in pop
DRESSED in a duffle coat and wearing standard NHS spectacles, Bobby Bluebell thrived as one of Scotland’s unlikeliest pop stars. As the lead singer of The Bluebells he graced the cover of teen magazine Smash Hits, appeared on Top of the Pops and dated Bananarama’s Siobhan Fahey. The pimply faced teenager co-wrote The Bluebells’ biggest hit, Young At Heart, with Fahey.
His career led him into the inner sanctums of music legends such as Sir Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan, and onto exclusive golf courses with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, to play a round with Hollywood icons Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper.
Now, as his band releases a new version of their debut album to mark their 40th anniversary, the musician has revealed some of his strangest adventures in the pop trade.
Among his most surreal introductions to fame was fielding calls from Robert De Niro after he and Fahey had moved in together.
That moment would lead to the American actor – famous for films such as Taxi Driver, The Godfather Part II and Goodfellas – being the subject of one of Bananarama’s best-known songs, their 1984 top ten hit Robert De Niro’s Waiting.
The 63-year-old guitarist – real name Robert Hodgens – said: ‘I was 19 when I met Siobhan. I was a geeky Woody Allen type and people thought that was odd, but the weedy intellectuals always get the beautiful girls.
‘Hours after meeting Siobhan I moved out of my parents’ place in Govan [Glasgow] and into the 11th floor flat she shared with the rest of Bananarama in a high-rise in London’s Holborn.
‘There was a pay phone in the hall. I’d answer and it would be Robert De Niro on the line.’
At the time, Bananarama – Fahey, Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward – had been in discussions with De Niro’s agents over their decision to write a song in tribute to him. They had hoped the actor would agree to appear in the song’s
I’d hear people like Boy George say, “Who’s the weirdo in the duffle coat?”
promotional video, but in the end they had to settle for unknown actors dressed like mafiosi.
‘Odd things like that happened to me all the time,’ Hodgens said. ‘It’s not every day you answer a pay phone in the hall and get to say to your girlfriend, “Robert De Niro’s waiting”.’
He and Fahey stayed together for three years. But even as The Bluebells went on to enjoy chart success, the musician found himself being sneered at by London’s music glitterati, including Culture Club’s Boy George.
Hodgens said: ‘In the early 1980s, the New Romantic scene was happening in London and Siobhan and I would go to trendy clubs like Blitz and the Mud Club. I met Siobhan because we were in the music business together.
‘She was a good looking girl with a Woody Allen-looking guy. It’s a classic Hollywood love story.
‘Siobhan’s sister worked i n Vivienne Westwood’s shop, but I had no money and I wore my duffle coat everywhere.
‘I was quite a shy boy so I would sit in the corner and if I went to the bar I’d hear people like Boy George say, “Who’s the weirdo in the duffle coat?”. I wasn’t a weirdo, but compared to what Boy George was wearing I must have seemed like one. I remember thinking, I’m the weirdo? You lot are all dressed like Robin Hood.’
While dating Fahey – whose group enjoyed hits such as Shy Boy and Really Saying Something – he grew in confidence.
‘The girls in Bananarama were stunningly gorgeous but they never thought of themselves that way or acted that way. They didn’t sell sex in any way,’ he recalled.
‘There was no chatting Siobhan up. We just hit it off. She came to a
Bluebells gig and I moved down the next day. It was that quick. I was living at home with my parents and it was a good reason to move out.
‘Siobhan and I are still great friends. It was a different experience hanging out at the Wag Club with Paul Weller and Kevin Rowland of Dexy’s Midnight Runners to being at home with your parents in Govan.
‘I wasn’t particularly confident, but you had to be confident to survive in a dog-eat-dog world.’
The Bluebells became one of a number of bands who broke into the mainstream and were dubbed ‘the sound of young Scotland’ by music press publications such as NME, Sounds and Melody Maker. Those who made it to the top of the pop charts included Orange Juice, Del Amitri, Deacon Blue, Texas, Aztec Camera and Simple Minds.
In the 1980s The Bluebells also enjoyed chart hits such as I’m Falling and Cath.
‘Elvis Costello became a fan of ours and took us into the studio to do a song,’ Hodgens said. ‘After that, everybody wanted to sign us because he was a hot producer. He’d already worked with The Specials and was a talent in his own right.
‘We got offered a record deal with phenomenal money, even in today’s money. You would be staggered.
‘We got offered deals by three record companies even before we were good enough to go into the studios. When The Bluebells signed our deal, I was travelling with Altered Images and had met people like Spandau Ballet. Mark Knopfler and Bryan Ferry would be in the recording studios with us.’
He added: ‘We’d go to Top of the Pops and people liked us because we were good people. We were nice and accommodating. We had a sense of humour and there was no prima donna behaviour.
‘We could adapt to any situation and considered it all an adventure.’
His refreshing attitude to fame led to lifelong friendships with rock legends such as former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney.
He said: ‘When we had our first hit single, we got an actual telegram from Paul and Linda McCartney.
‘They said they loved our record and asked if I wanted to come to a party. The rest of the band were in Glasgow and Siobhan couldn’t make it, but I decided to go along. I bought eight cans of Skol lager and a bottle of wine because that was what you did when you went to parties back in Glasgow.
‘I arrived at his house in Mayfair wearing my duffle coat and I had the carry-out with me in a plastic bag. There was a red carpet and police and photographers and when I got to the door this guy said, “Where do you think you’re going?”.
‘I told him I was going to see Paul because he had invited me to a party. Eventually his daughter Mary came out and said, “Wait there. I’ll go get my dad”.
‘Paul came out and just laughed. He asked, “Did you really bring a carry-out?”. Then he turned around to all the celebs and the paparazzi and said, “See, there’s one person who is not a hanger-on. These Scots know how to turn up to a party”.
‘It was a posh night with champagne and canapes, but Paul and I got on great and have done since.’
Hodgens’s adventures also led him to travel the world as a songwriter,
championed by his publisher, Dave Stewart of Eurythmics.
As well as hits with The Bluebells, he collaborated on tracks with Altered Images, Sinead O’Connor, Shakespears Sister, Echo & The Bunnymen and Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. He has also helped out on the latest Texas single, Hi.
He said: ‘I went around the world for songwriting assignments.
‘I’d walk into a room, get the guitar out and play a song for them.
‘It was like the X Factor times ten. I’d travel hundreds of miles and might be there for five minutes.
‘One time I arrived in Los Angeles with no luggage. All I had was my passport. The guy at customs asked where my luggage was and I said, “Don’t you have shops here?”.’
It was while in Los Angeles that Stewart invited him to play golf with some friends.
He said: ‘Dave met me and didn’t say a word about who else we were playing with. I got to the tee and then realised that we were playing golf with Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson. Dennis Hopper is a really good golfer.
‘I played terribly. I was so nervous every shot went behind me. It was the shock of the situation.
‘At the end, Jack told me, “Never name-drop in LA”. I think he was saying, “Don’t go around telling people that you were playing golf with me”. But at least I can say that Jack Nicholson told me never to name-drop. I was there at Dave’s house in London when he was jamming with Bob Dylan. It was a great day and Bob was messing around and a good laugh.
‘Meeting people like Jon Bon Jovi and Billy Connolly in America made me feel like Woody Allen in the film Zelig, where his character meets all these important people, only mine were from musical history.’
The Bluebells split in 1986 before reforming in 1993 when a Volkswagen TV advert featured their song Young At Heart. It propelled the re-released song to No1. Having found love a second time, the musician now lives in Glasgow with his wife and two children.
He also has a new band, Fat Cops, whose members include JK Rowling’s husband Neil Murray on vocals and Pub Landlord comedian Al Murray on drums.
The Bluebells are also enjoying renewed interest thanks to the reissue of their 1984 album Sisters by the Scottish label Last Night From Glasgow.
In a nod to the band’s heyday, the album is available in several coloured vinyls as well as CD and download formats.
However, Hodgens believes The Bluebells continue to be sneered at when it comes to their place in Scottish music history.
‘After we had a No1 with Young At Heart in the 90s, people were really annoyed at us,’ he said.
‘There seemed to be a backlash because it had been an advert and was a big hit and the song was so catchy it got on people’s nerves.
‘All of a sudden we were on the outside again. The pop scene snobs saw us as Cliff Richard, Marmalade and the Bay City Rollers.
‘I thought, fine. I like Marmalade. Every time there is a list of 100 top bands from Scotland it is like we are erased from history.
‘My dad worked in the shipyards and told me he didn’t care what I did as long as I didn’t do that.
‘Our songs will make us money for the rest of time. It reminds me of what Dave Stewart would say when people told him Eurythmics weren’t cool any more. He’d say the money was in the bank.’
At least I can say Jack Nicholson told me not to name-drop