Shakin' All Over

WE all know him as the multi-platinum selling Welsh Elvis – the loose-limbed, denim-clad star behind such hits as Green Door, Oh Julie and This Ole House.

But Shakin’ Stevens is determined to convince us that he is no novelty act.

Yes, he may have had a string of hits in the 80s, and not much since, but, he insists, he is a relevant current artist who is still re-writing the rock & roll rulebook.

‘Shaky’ – aka Michael Barratt – has ditched the stonewash (well, he is 62) and reinvented himself as a serious musician. Well, I say reinvented; ask Stevens and he’ll tell you he was serious all along.

The new work though, casts him in the mould of a classic rock and roots artist, performing with a 10-piece band.

He is currently appearing in a 30th anniversary tour – marking three decades since the release of his first UK hit Hot Dog. And it comes our way on Saturday.

Facts first: Stevens was a legend. With 33 top 40 hit singles, he is the 16th highest-selling artist in the history of the charts, and he shares with the Beatles (in the ’60s) and Elton John (’70s) the distinction of being the most successful UK singles chart performer of a decade – in his case, the 80s – when his shows were drowned out by screaming fans.

“We still get the die-hard fans but also new fans,” he says defensively.

“I had parents bringing their kids along when I was starting, and they are in their 30s and 40s now.

“But things have changed. I still do some of the hits but also songs from the albums, new songs and some surprises.

“I can’t wait to get out there and do it.”

But, Shaky fans, be warned: “People coming to the shows won’t see the ‘Shaky’ thing,” he says. “I do things in slightly different ways now. I’m surrounded by fantastic musicians, so there are also tenor sax and piano solos as well as mandolin and double bass. And we have tried and tested the show so we know we’ve got a good mixed bag.

“If people haven’t seen me live, it’s not like watching Top of the Pops or the stuff you see on YouTube. It’s a hard-hitting show and quite rootsy.”

While Stevens’ hits may go back 30 years, his career goes back far further.

The youngest of 11 children growing up in a suburb of Cardiff, he started his first band Olympics, with school friends. That was followed by stints with The Cossacks, which later became The Denims.

“I started when I left school and formed a group when I was 15,” he recalls. “We got a van and played church halls and Valleys clubs and colleges.

“I made a lot of records and they all flopped. They were hungry times but lots of fun.

“The days of waking up with smelly bodies, chicken legs and chips in the back of a van have long gone, but we had a ball.”

The music supplemented his pay as a milkman until he went professional with Shakin’ Stevens and the Sunsets, in 1968. A favourite on the South Wales scene, the band went on to support the Rolling Stones in 1969.

But they struggled to find commercial success here, despite being popular in Germany and the Netherlands.

A role in the West End musical Elvis! catapulted him to fame and solo stardom with a string of covers – starting with Hot Dog, and, in 1981, his first Number 1 hit This Ole House, thus beginning a decade of hits including Lipstick, Powder & Paint, A Rockin’ Good Way and the ubiquitous festive favourite Merry Christmas Everyone, featuring Shaky resplendent in chunky knitwear.

He became a pin-up to a generation – something he tries to deny now.

“I don’t think I was a heartthrob,” he protests. “My manager at the time told me to look into the camera so I had lots of posed-up pictures, but that was it. I suppose we all have our fantasies though. And they were fun times.”

When I ask him about the inevitable groupies, however, he clams up, and even threatens to end the interview.

While he was a star in the ’80s, the next two decades saw Stevens’ shaking his way into obscurity. Though he bounced back on the strength of ’80s nostalgia and his own self-belief.

If one moment defined his rebirth it was his slot at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival.

“It was great,” he recalls. “I was the first on the main stage on the Saturday. Those people don’t go to bed until 4am though, so I wasn’t sure they’d be up in time to see me. But lots were.”

Among the funniest stories from that day was the fan who had gone to the effort of carting an actual green door to Somerset, to wait patiently at the front of the stage for Shaky to come on – only for him to whiz through a handful of hits – but not Green Door.

“Everyone wants me to do the obvious but I don’t want to do that,” says Stevens. “And anyway, I haven’t played that for 15 years.

“I admired him for bringing a door all that way, though. And I’m sure he got over it!”

Last year Shaky almost took a trip not through the Green Door, but the Pearly Gates, when he suffered a heart attack after what was reported as some strenuous gardening. That he’s back on the road is evidence of his resilience and talent.

“I believe I was put here to sing,” he says. “And I intend to carry on; I’ve got a lot more to do.”

* Shakin’ Stevens plays the O2 Academy Oxford on Saturday. Tickets are £20.