BRENTpeople
Swing sensation Louis Hoover grew up in Brent and has played Frank Sinatra in a hit West End show.
Where did you live in Brent?
Was your family artistic?
Why Frank Sinatra?
We lived in Robson Avenue,Willesden. My mother and father owned a café called the Devonshire Restaurant opposite Willesden Bus Garage. It was an old Edwardian coffee shop with wooden panels and was popular with the bus drivers and shoppers. Willesden was very multi-cultural even then; I’d play in the street and hear Irish and Jamaican music drifting over from people’s houses. In those days I was Stephen Sparling; I only changed my name later on in my career.
Both my older sisters were singers. My oldest sister Ann, who performed as Candy Sparling, had a few top ten hits in the early Sixties as a solo artist. One of the songs was ‘Can You Keep a Secret?’ and was a big hit. I was actually used to journalists and film crews outside the house from a young age. My other sister Lesley was a great singer as well and had a long career performing on cruise ships. My parents were not pushy, but they wanted us to make the most of our talents and abilities.
My parents took me to see him three times, and I’d sing along to his records in my bedroom. After he died in 1998 I was asked to put together a show on him and other swing artists. It became ‘The Rat Pack’ and has been in the West End for ten years with me performing as Sinatra. It has even been a big hit in America. It’s amazing to think a boy from Willesden could end up selling back Sinatra to the Americans!
How did you start performing?
How did your career develop?
I went to Malorees Junior School in Kilburn.Then later to Cardinal Hinsley School in Harlesden, which had a great drama teacher called Eileen Brophy. She saw my potential and turned up on my parents’ doorstep one evening saying I should be at stage school. I applied to Arts Education School in the Barbican, got in and was even given a grant from Brent Council to pay most of the fees. I studied drama for three years, which included regular ballet classes. I kept quiet about the ballet to friends back in Willesden; it was the 1970s and a long time before anything like ‘Billy Elliot.’
After my studies I was a green coat for Warner Holidays in Yarmouth and in Ibiza, which was a great experience. Later I joined a pop group called Wall Street Crash who had 11 hit albums in Europe. But I’d always loved swing and jazz and was still performing at Ronnie Scott’s. Later on I recorded a few records on Scott’s label.
Louis Hoover as Frank Sinatra
Louis Hoover is in ‘Rat Pack Live’ at the Adelphi Theatre, The Strand, until 2 January, visit www.louishoover.co.uk JANUARY 2010
THE BRENT MAGAZINE
9