VETERAN SINGING STAR IS STILL IN TUNE
Mal Pope planning to bring out three new records
He said to me ‘if there is anything you need to talk about and can’t talk to anyone about give me a call’. His creative light shone on me, he’s enthusiastic. He has so much to give
MAL POPE do“I turned wn the chance to go to John Reid and Freddie Mercury’s birthday party – he was my manager, Elton’s manager and Queen’s manager. I had to go to school so I couldn’t go MAL POPE
HE’S worked with everyone from Elton John to Cliff Richard over the past 50 years, but most people outside of Wales may not have heard of him.
Mal Pope is an underrated songwriting master and has penned hundreds of songs – including a movie soundtrack – during his career.
The Swansea entertainer, 61, first shot to stardom aged 12 after signing with Sir Elton John during the 1970s and grabbing the attention of legendary Radio 1 DJ John Peel.
Mal, who has just had the rights of his songs back from the Tiny Dancer star’s Rocket Record label, said he had to reinvent himself over the years to stay current.
He said: “1973 in my mind was not a long time ago – it was life-changing. I went on the train from High Street to London after having a letter from John Peel.
“By October, I signed up to Elton John’s record label.”
He added: “I was 15 at Abbey Road with Elton. I did stay at his house and went to Watford Football Club and played Subbuteo with him.
“He said to me: ‘If there is anything you need to talk about and can’t talk to anyone about give me a call.’
“His creative light shone on me, he’s enthusiastic. He has so much to give.”
Mal was advised by the singersongwriter Judie Tzuke, 65, to request Sir Elton give him the rights of his songs back after she successfully did so.
He said: “My songs were originally published by Rocket. I have been in regular contact with Elton John’s publisher Jim Doyle.
“I asked him and he said he would ask Elton – he said ‘fine’, and I could have everything back.
“He’s such a lovely guy and has so much to give.”
When Goodbye Yellow Brick Road singer Sir Elton was previously in Swansea in 2008, Mal met up with the star for the afternoon.
“It was fantastic, he was asking about my dad who was still alive at that stage,” he recalled.
The father-of-four has worked with everybody from Sir Cliff Richard to The Hollies, sung with Welsh stars Bonnie Tyler and Aled Jones, and toured with Art Garfunkle.
But Mal, who was managed as a young artist by John Reid along with Sir Elton and the band Queen, revealed he missed out on major celebrations due to his age.
He said: “I turned down the chance to go to John Reid and Freddie Mercury’s birthday party – he was my manager, Elton’s manager and Queen’s manager. I had to go to school so I couldn’t go.”
For all the people he has met over the decades it wasn’t a singer who impressed him the most but Reverend Samuel Billy Kyles who was on hand when civil rights activist Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated.
Mal said: “He was with Martin Luther King in Memphis when he died and he put a blanket to cover his body.
“I asked to interview him in Memphis and for a blessing before I left.”
He said during his time in the United States he also got to meet some of the family of the King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley.
“I met his Auntie Annie in the 2000s and the Reverend Frank Smith who taught Elvis the guitar,” he said.
Over the years he has worked in broadcasting on both TV and radio, as a performer and has turned his hand to writing musicals.
Mal also hosted The Mal Pope Show, where he interviewed stars like the Bee Gees and The Stranglers.
He said the downside of other ventures was that the impact of earning regular money meant it stifled his songwriting.
“When you have to pay the bills, you have to get a regular job,” he said. “When you lose a regular income, it makes you creative. You can get artistically lazy.”
He added: “I would never have written a musical if I hadn’t lost a radio job. Money makes you comfortable.
“But it you want to make a record to touch people you have to make a record.
“I have three records planned over the year: next week, Easter time and the summer. I’ve had a lot of breakthrough records being picked up.
“I do not want to be known as the heritage singer, I am making the best records I have played.”
He said he missed out on megastardom as he was “in the right place with the right people at the wrong time” as he was a singer-songwriter at a time when punk was really taking off.
Mal said there is one singing legend he would still like to perform alongside.
“Tom (Jones) is an icon,” he said. Former Manselton and Dynevor School pupil Mal said despite touring all over the globe he has not ever forgotten his roots.
He also thinks back to how it began after learning to sing in the chapel, which he would attend multiple times on a Sunday in his youth.
Mal went to school with the footballer Jeremy Charles, Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris and entertainer Kev Johns.
“Swansea is a magical place and a lovely place to grow up,” he said.
“It’s very unusual that a kid from Swansea should have that opportunity. How do you see it through? I feel like I have got something to do and feel like I haven’t done it and will keep going until I do.”