The singer from Hull who topped the charts for 10 weeks straight in the 1950s
Hull is a city which has a great musical history that links to artists like David Bowie, The Housemartins and modern shoegaze, but it doesn’t brag about it.
Just today (at the time of writing), local legend Paul Jackson is being laid to rest after he sadly passed away a few weeks ago. Jacko, as he was known, ran the iconic venue The Adelphi, which has been the focal point of the Hull music scene for years now, a stage where The Housemartins signed their first ever record deal, and where one of the city’s most iconic gigs was held when Fatboy Slim played the venue’s 35th birthday.
“There were 180 people here for that gig. The rule from Norman [Cooke] was he’ll do it, no cameras though; nobody takes any photographs,” said Paul Sarel, the venue’s general manager, adding, “The only person to break the rule was Norman because the PA went down because there was so much sweat in the room, and the safety device kicked in. It took about five minutes to fix, but during that time, the audience started to sing ‘Caravan of Love’, which is this a capella song by The Housemartins. He goes, ‘Ahhh, oh my god, I’m sorry I’m breaking all my own rules’, and he started filming it.”
Going back even further than that, a lot of David Bowie’s earliest music wouldn’t exist were it not for Hull, as Mick Ronson and other members from the Spiders From Mars hailed from the ‘City of Culture 2017’. Ronson was one of the greatest guitarists to ever pick up a six-string, and he was able to take glam rock to a whole new level.
“Mick was sullen and cautious on the day David and I met him, not really sure of what he was getting himself into,” recalled producer Tony Visconti. “Soon after, his guitar playing completely captivated us, and his northern humour had us in stitches. For me, I expected this man to become a guitar hero.”
You can go back even further than that, and Hull continued to roll out talented musicians. David Whitfield was a great singer who had a string of hits, with one of his most popular coming in 1954, when this humble performer from Hull was able to not only climb to the top of the charts but stay there for ten weeks.
He did this with the track ‘Cara Mia’, a borderline operatic number he put together with the help of the composer Mantovani and his orchestra. The public was completely bowled over by how great this track was, and that’s reflected in the numbers that it turned over in the charts. It’s worth noting that not only was this song at the top of the charts for ten weeks, but it was also the first song to ever do as much as well.
Singers from the UK were still struggling to make a name for themselves in the US, and it wasn’t until The Beatles came along that the blueprint was well and truly laid out for bands to successfully cross the pond to make a name for themselves. However, Whitfield saw some success in the States, as people enjoyed the track, and he even landed himself a spot on The Ed Sullivan Show.
There are a lot of things that Hull is famous for, such as the Hull Kingston Rovers, officially the best rugby league team in the world (at the time of writing), chip spice, a cracking yearly fair, and some of the greatest venues (and venue owners) to ever exist. However, one thing that we need to shine more of a light on is our rich musical history, as we were setting records with records way back in the ‘50s.
