When you look through the annals of music history here in Staffordshire and also in the UK the name Clive Sydney Cook might not ring any bells or pluck any strings.
However if I was then to mention the name Legendary Lonnie, I am sure that many of you would take notice as this is the name which has become synonymous with his 63-years in the music industry.
With parents who were avid collectors of records and a mother who worked in the Gaumont cinema, Lonnie from Hartshill, had an early life filled with the inspiration which would eventually go into defining his career and the next seven decades.
Having learnt pretty much all there is to learn about playing the guitar, you might think it was the first instrument he picked up, yet on his path to emulating the blues and rock & Pop legends, such as Chuck Berry, Buddy Hollly and a host blues players, Lonnie got to grips with the Banjo.
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"I used to pick at elastic bands on a frying pan"
“For a few years before I ever took to the guitar I was plucking away at the banjo, and before then it was a case of twanging elastic bands stretched across a frying pan.”
Now 76, Lonnie has trod a career which has brought him into contact with some of the biggest names in the business, but it is the iconic origins of his name which have always remained closest to him.
“I was playing in a couple of skiffle bands at the time during my early music days, The Border Boys and later The Rocklanders, it was at that time that my friend started calling me Lonnie after the king of skiffle Lonnie Donegan. The name stuck from then on and in the 1970s I eventually started to be known as Legendary Lonnie, which was down to record store owner Mike Lloyd.
“When I signed to Charly records it was a choice between Lovely Lonnie or Legendary Lonnie, thankfully they went with the latter.”
It was those early playing days that Lonnie and his then band mates pioneered one of the earliest local electric bands.
“As The Rocklanders we were one of the first bands to go electric using electric amplifiers in our performances at the Gaumont cinema, Hanley where we would do 15-20 minute sets on a Saturday morning before the kids cinema club.”
From those early days of playing the frying pan to going electric, Lonnie’s career grew, going from strength to strength, as he learned the trade, dedicated to improving his skills - all the time!
Way We Were: The sound of music
“I spent time with a chap called Panton Morris, who was part of the Windrush generation"
"Panton used to play guitar on the streets and in the local pubs.
“From the late 50s through until the early 80s I played in a number of bands, there were the two I have already mentioned then I played with The Candymen, Peter and the Persuaders and eventually Lonnie’s Few.
“During the 50s and 60s we’d be playing five or six nights-a-week, it was in the 70s that the money was really good when we were travelling to perform.”
It was during this heyday of the British music scene that Lonnie travelled far and wide and came in to contact with some of the greats of the age.
“When I was with the Candymen we had released an EP on the Barclay label in France and went over there to play and I remember being down at a gig in London and sitting in front of me was Jimi Hendrix.”
It was while playing with Peter and the Persuaders in 1966 that Lonnie experienced his first big hits, with Wine Glass Rock penned by Lonnie himself and Cross My Heart which was written by singer Jackie Trent and both were supported in the publishing by her and Tony Hatch.
As his career skyrocketed Lonnie became involved with many other well-known personalities.
“During the 70s and into the 80s I was performing with Screaming Lord Sutch"
"I remember we played down at Hammersmith in front of 5,000 people and during recent times I did a two night gig alongside my band mates Mike Clowes and Lee Anderson at the Songbirds Kids Concert where we played to around strong 4,000 audience.”
While performing and creating his own music is at the heart of who Lonnie is, he also as some of you may recall ran his own record store from the 70 through to the 90s and for 17-years fronted his own radio show on BBC Radio Stoke.
“I ran my own record shop, I remember Elton John walking into the one on Church Street, Stoke to buy a record.
“One thing people may remember during my time on the radio is the theme tune to my show, which was my own song ‘Constipation Shake’”
With a number of well-known and much loved hits racked up such as the Elephant Dance and Wine Glass Rock, In 1994 Lonnie released his album Knock Me Down, Pick Me up which was also latter re-issued in New York.
It is a career which Lonnie looks back on both fondly and, given the lay of land today, with some disappointment in the way the local music scene is today when it comes to venues compared to back in the 60s and 70s.
“I’ve still got a passion for it all, playing and music, I still buy records but don’t do many gigs now. The clubs, pubs and music venues which used to be around have all closed down.
But despite Lonnie’s lamentation of the lack of live music venues across the city and region all that will be put to the back of the mind once again when he picks up his six stringed electric friend and turns out with band mates Lea Anderson, Ian Hickton and Mike Clowes to perform at the Rigger, Newcastle-under-Lyme for the annual Newcastle Jazz and Blues festival.
“We’ve been invited to perform at the festival for the past four-years, we go along and give the crowd a good show for 90 minutes.”
You can see Lonnie and his band mates play at the Rigger on May 27, 5pm.
For more information on the Newcastle Jazz and Blues, Music festival going on between 24th-27th May, go to https://www.newcastlejazzandblues.co.uk/ and you can find out more about Legendary Lonnie and what he up to by visiting http://www.legendarylonnie.com
Want to share your nostalgia story? Let us know - You can email adam.gratton@reachplc.com or Tweet him at @AdamcGratton We also have our own nostalgia Facebook group . And if you have pictures to share, tag us on Instagram at StokeonTrentLive .
