Vince Tracy's Podcasts

Is there a connection between the first Electric cars, our current scenario and the UK 1972 miners strike and all the attendant problems in the years in-between? This is a podcast in which we look to see where the dots can be joined.

A great memory for me was meeting the wonderful Brenda Lee over the airwaves from my radio show in Spain.Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and country music, she had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed only by Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Ray Charles. She is known for her 1960 hit "I'm Sorry", and 1958's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", which has become a Christmas standard.At 4 ft 9 inches tall (approximately 145 cm), she received the nickname "Little Miss Dynamite" in 1957, after recording the song "Dynamite" when she was 12, and was one of the earliest pop stars to have a major contemporary international following.

Sir Henry Cooper was a British southpaw heavyweight boxing champion, best remembered for a 1963 fight with a young Muhamed Ali who was then known as Cassius Clay. Sir Henry gives us his version of a very dodgy tampering episode when he was on the verge of winning but which he lost lost when the fight was called off due to a cut. Cooper was the undefeated British and Commonwealth  heavyweight champion for twelve years, and held the European heavyweight title for three years. In 1966 he fought Ali, by then the World Champion a second time and was again stopped due to a cut. Cooper twice was voted BBC Sports Personality of the year and after retiring in 1971 following a controversial loss remained a popular public figure. He is the only boxer to have been awarded a knighthood.

Teddy Taylor, aka Kingsize Taylor, was the man who taught the Beatles how to rock n roll It's always a pleasure to talk with Ted and we refer in this podcast to a Facebook group to which we both subscribe.

Jet Harris is a legend. Jet has had an illustrious career as an original member of TheShadows, as Jet Harris with Tony Meehan and as the first musician to play an electricbass in the UK. Jet played on most of the early Shadows hits including the wonderfulApache and has re-issued his great hit Diamonds on his new album.

In August 1966 Mike joined Manfred Mann, an established chart-topping group, as replacement for Paul Jones, who was leaving to start a solo career. Comparisons between d'Abo and Jones became a media preoccupation at the time of the switch, butd'Abo wasted little time dwelling upon it. "I enjoy being with the group," he told Pete Goodman. "We really do have anenormously wide range of musical tastes among us."D'Abo's first big hit with Manfred Mann was "Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James". It was nearly recorded with "Mr Jones" in the title before it occurred to the group that it might beinterpreted as being an implied reference to Paul Jones. D'Abo first recorded the As Is album (with the attaching single "JustLike a Woman"). He composed and produced Chris Farlowe's "Handbags and Gladrags", a hit single which was also notably recorded by Rod Stewart and Stereophonics and subsequently became the theme music to the BBC television show The Office.

Mike Sarne was born Michael Scheuer at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London. Famous in the 1960s as a singer, he is best known for his 1962 UK novelty chart topper, "Come Outside" (produced by Joe Meek), which featured vocal interjections by Wendy Richard. In the mid 1960s Mike introduced the ITV children's quiz series, Junior Criss Cross Quiz.Films he has directed include: Joanna (1968) and most notably Myra Breckinridge (1970), an adaptation of Gore Vidal's book of the same name, starring Raquel Welch, Rex Reed, Mae West and Farrah Fawcett in her first big screen role. A more recent film is The Punk and the Princess (1994) an adaptation of Gideon Sams' young adult novel The Punk, about the romance between a teenage punk rocker and an upper class Sloane Ranger girl. He also directed a documentary about the Glastonbury Music Festival in 1995.

Trinidad López III was an American singer, guitarist, and actor. His first album included a cover version of Pete Seeger's "If I Had a Hammer", which earned a Golden Disc for him. The song reached number one in 36 countries, and was a radio favourite for many years. I almost met Trini in person when I had been visiting family and friends in Palm Springs and Trini had been in town just a few nights before we'd arrived. I learned that  Trini Lopez formed his first band inTexas at the age of 15. Around 1955/56 Lopez and his band worked at The Vegas Club, a nightclub owned by Jack Ruby, the man who assassinated Lee Harvey oswald.  I was very thankful that Trin took the time to take my call and for him, it was in the wee small hours of the morning. Trini appeared in the 1967  film the Dirty Dozen

I was joined in the #Altea #Oci #Radio by #Impressionist #PaulMelba and a great number of listeners phoning to speak to my guests Captain Mike and his wife about #Bolton #PortSunlight and #Unilever

Singing legend Elkie Brookes joined Vince from her UK home on November 2nd 2007. A lovely lady with many different aspects to hersuccessful life and her great hit Pearl's a Singer is only part of her story

Len Barry had those great hits 1-2-3 and Like a Baby and he kindly joined Vince on the line from his home on 1st September 2008. Another great American star who I really enjoyed meeting over the airwaves. I think the words he spoke are even more poignant today and well worth a listen.

Remembering a radio interview with the brother of Sir Paul McCartney. Mike was a member of the 60s group Scaffold and he is also a very distinguished photographer amongst manyother talents. He is the official Wirral Cultural Ambassador.In the studio with me is the late Paul Melba.

Remembering my interview with one of the best #guitarists in the world. #AlbertLee is rated by #EricClapton as the best in the world. He was an honorary #Cricket and an honorary #€verleyBrother. His own band is #HogansHeroes

#BillHarry is a most accomplished author and founder of #Merseybeat magazine. He is an integral part of the Merseybeat story. Friend to many #Liverpool beat groups from #TheCavern

Vince spoke with Britain's greatest ever Judo fighter winning medals at the World Championships and Olympic Games. He was also World Champion in the TV Superstar event where he was master of the squat thrusts and king of the dips on the parallel bars. Brian has strong views regarding the challenging times the UK is now experiencing.

Why do footballers take off their shirts when they-ve scored a goal. Join the sports panel discussing this phenomenon of human behaviour!

Where do you go to mylovely? In my view a pivotalsixties classic. I was chuffedto meet Peter Sarstedt over the airwaves on 12th September 2007

Kingsize Taylor was a huge influence on the music played in Liverpool and tells us about his life around Liverpool during the Merseybeat days! He also refused to take Cilla Black to Hamburg with his band for all the right reasons.

Career Overview The 1970s: Carrack's recording career began with the progressive rock band Warm Dust between 1970 and 1972. Carrack was the keyboard player for Warm Dust Carrack and Warm Dust bassist Tex Comer helped to found the pub rock band Ace. Carrack wrote and sang "How Long", Ace's debut single and a hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1975. In 1977 Ace disbanded and Carrack began working as a backing musician for Frankie Miller. This was followed by a turn as a member of Roxy Music, playing keyboards on their 1979 reunion album Manifesto. The 1980s: after leaving Roxy Music full time, Carrack issued his first solo album, 1980s Nightbird. It was not a commercial success. 1n 1981, Glenn Tilbrook recruited Carrack to join Squeeze as a replacement for long-time keyboardist Jools Holland...........

World-famous comedy imressionist joined Vince to pay tribute to Sir Ken Dodd.Paul tells us of the early days when he met Doddy near the Jam Butty Mines in Knotty Ash, Liverpool