Tony Blackburn

Antony Kenneth Blackburn OBE (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and television presenter, whose career spans over 60 years. Blackburn first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, initially broadcasting on the BBC Light Programme. Blackburn was the first disc jockey to broadcast on BBC Radio 1 at its launch, on 30 September 1967, and has had several stints working for the corporation. He has also worked for Capital London, Classic Gold Digital and BBC Local Radio, and currently BBC Radio 2 and British Forces Broadcasting Service. As a DJ, Blackburn is known for his championing of Motown and soul music as well as his popular presenting style. In 2002, Blackburn was the first winner of the British reality TV series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Blackburn was born in Guildford, Surrey, on 29 January 1943. In 1946 the family moved to Poole, Dorset, where his youngest sister, Jacqueline, was born, suffering from polio and unable to walk. Blackburn's father, Kenneth Fleming Blackburn, was a GP and his mother, Pauline Cubitt (née Stone), was a nurse. He was educated at Castle Court School in Corfe Mullen, near Poole in Dorset. He gained entry to Millfield in Somerset on a "half" sports scholarship and captained the school's cricket team. Blackburn left before taking any examinations, but gained O-levels following private tuition, and enrolled for an HND course in business studies at Bournemouth Technical College. After beginning his career as a singer, Blackburn then worked as a DJ for the offshore pirate radio stations Radio Caroline and Radio London, before joining the BBC in the summer of 1967, initially broadcasting on the BBC Light Programme. After a simulcast with BBC Radio 2 hosted by Paul Hollingdale, Blackburn was the first DJ to be heard on BBC Radio 1 when it officially launched at 7 a.m. on 30 September 1967, with his first words on the new station being: "And good morning everyone! Welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio 1!" The Move's "Flowers in the Rain" was the first complete record he played. Blackburn recalled in 2014: "My job was to entertain and tell corny jokes, not have opinions or talk politics. If I wanted to wish the Queen a happy birthday, I had to get clearance from above." In the early years of his Radio 1 career Blackburn often employed an audio clip of a barking dog, "Arnold", over an extract of Johnny Dankworth's 1964 tune "Beefeaters", which he had previously used at Radio Caroline and Radio London. At first he was associated mainly with mainstream pop, but he later championed soul music. It was largely due to him that "I'm Still Waiting" by Diana Ross, which was initially just an album track, was released as a single in the UK in 1971 and reached number one. He was a regular host of Top of the Pops for more than a decade and he appeared with fellow DJs Jimmy Savile, Noel Edmonds and Kenny Everett on the 500th show special, where he performed the spoken part of "Won't Somebody Dance with Me" and danced with singer Lynsey de Paul.[citation needed] In 1968, he fronted his own show, Time For Blackburn, produced by Southern Television for the ITV network. "The Radio 1 DJs were a massive attraction. We were mobbed everywhere we went", Blackburn told Simon Hattenstone, referring to personal appearances. "It was all a bit mad, but great fun", he told Judith Woods in 2014. "The DJs were built up to be stars in our own right, and as a result we were as famous as the artists we played." In 1973, when his pantomime performance was interrupted by a power cut, he said the miners should "go back to work". He was admonished by management and taken off-air for two weeks. In an interview for the Radio Academy's Radio Talk podcast in 2013, Blackburn said that it is "not advisable" for a broadcaster to reveal their political allegiances. In this interview, he said that he is "not a great lover of the TUC or of unions ... but I keep it to myself now." He was in a group called Tony Blackburn and the Rovers which at one point included Al Stewart; they performed in Bournemouth and the surrounding areas. His singing career failed to take off, although three studio albums and fourteen singles were released, of which two, "So Much Love" and "It's Only Love", made the UK Top 40 in 1968 and 1969 respectively. "So Much Love" suffered from a shortage of copies because "the pressing plant went on strike, so nobody could get the record", he once recalled. "I don't think the strike was anything to do with the record, though it might have been... quality control or something." In 1972, he released a self-titled album on the RCA label. Two of the tracks were released as singles: "Chop Chop", written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, and "House of Cards", written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Green. His version of Doris Troy's "I'll Do Anything" was recorded in 1969 for his second album, Tony Blackburn, which was released on the Polydor label. This version of the Gamble and Huff song was re-discovered by Northern soul fans when it was pressed up as a white label and became a hit on the scene's dancefloors. The single was re-released as a single under the pseudonym Lenny Gamble on Casino Classics in June 1978, with the pseudonym being a portmanteau of songwriters Leon Huff and Kenny Gamble.[citation needed] All of Blackburn's singles, including "I'll Do Anything" and "House of Cards" were released in 2012 on a CD compilation album The Singles Collection 1965–1980 on the Cherry Red label.[better source needed] In 2007, Blackburn featured on a dance remix of "I Am A Cider Drinker" by English Scrumpy & Western band, The Wurzels. He also appeared in the video. In June 1973, Blackburn took over Jimmy Young's mid-morning slot, when Young moved across to Radio 2. At this occasion, he introduced "The Golden Hour". The feature was to prove durable, being carried on by Simon Bates and Simon Mayo when they subsequently took over that time slot, in addition of being later featured in Chris Moyles' breakfast show. Over several years of the 1970s, Blackburn was a co-presenter on the BBC's summer programme Seaside Special, alongside other well-known names from BBC Radio, such as Dave Lee Travis and David Hamilton. At the start of 1980, he took over from Ed Stewart as the presenter of Junior Choice, broadcast on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 8 am to 10 am, while continuing to present the Sunday chart show until early 1982, being succeeded by Tommy Vance. During 1982, BBC Radio 1 dropped the name Junior Choice and the show became Tony Blackburn's Saturday Show and Tony Blackburn's Sunday Show. Blackburn hosted both shows until he left the station on 23 September 1984, after seventeen years of broadcasting. In addition to his Radio 1 weekend show, he joined BBC Radio London in 1981, where he presented the afternoon show. It was here that he showed his appreciation of soul music. "Soul music is sexy music, raunchy music. I didn't want it to be a niche thing, I wanted to bring it to a mass audience. I wanted cab drivers to listen to it because I think pop soul is fabulous, I do, really", he told Simon Hattenstone. He left the station after over 40 years in December 2023. From the mid to late 1980s, Blackburn presented the show "Soul Station" on BFBS Radio. Blackburn had a difficult relationship with fellow DJ John Peel, whom he recalled saying: "'People don’t realise how much you’ve done for soul music', and I said: 'I bet you’d never say that publicly', and he said: 'Oh no!'" In 1984, he took over Radio London's weekday mid-morning show, playing a pure soul format. He joined Capital London in 1988, and was involved in the launch of Capital Gold London station, presenting programmes such as the Breakfast show, Weekends, Drivetime then the Weekday evening show playing his own choice of music, where he remained until 2002. He hosted similar shows on Jazz FM in London