YOUNG AT HEART

AFTER MORE THAN 40 YEARS OF SUCCESS, SINGER PAUL YOUNG HAS DECIDED TO REFLECT ON ALIFETIME OF TRIUMPHS IN HIS MUSICAL MEMOIR, BEHIND THE LENS. HE CHATS TO ANDY RICHARDSON

Soul star Paul Young made his name at the turnofthe 1980s.

Soaring to number one with No Parlez, he went on to star at Live Aid, singing the opening lines to Do They Know It’s Christmas and featuring at Wembley Stadium. Furthersuccess followed with his second album, The Secret of Association, as Young enjoyed an American Number Onehit with Every Time YouGoAway

He hit the road, touring 13 countries with Genesis, before playing Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday tribute and enjoying ahit with Zucchero on Senza Una Donna (Without AWoman). He also played alongside Queen at Wembley Stadium, performing Radio Ga Ga.

He rubbed shoulders with rock royalty,mixing with George Michael and Sir Paul McCartney,David Bowie and Bryan Adams, Dionne Warwick andZZ Top, among many,many others.

And now,after more than 40 years of success, Young has decided to reflect on alifetime of triumphs in his brilliant musical memoir,Behind The Lens.

“I suppose I’ve done so much. I started out working in thelocal car factory,near Luton, and then it all took off.Itseemed right to chronicle some of the things I’ve done. It’s been an extraordinary ride, and Behind The Lens tells the story of that journey,” he says.

Young is on theroad with his book, to promote that and anew album, also called Behind The Lens. He’ll be bringing his show to Telford’s Oakengates Theatre on

April 12, during which he’ll sing classic hits,tellstories and meet fans before the show

“We’re heading around the country with Behind The Lens and I’m going to anumber of towns for the first time. We’re playing quite afew shows in theWest Midlands, with Telford, Walsall and Cannock all on the list.”

The turning point for Young camewhen he signed asolo deal with CBSRecords, the home of Bob Dylan, among others.

“Back in the 80s, people imagined that when you get asolo record deal, the money truck arrives, you gethanded the keys to abigger houseand all your problems are solved. Ican tell you: none of that is true.

“When Isigned to CBS, my ‘advance’ was £15,000. That wasn’t much, even in the 80s! That slow march to asolo deal had been years in the making. I’d been on the roadfor six years with Streetband and The QTips, staying in seedy hotels and schlepping round the pubs. Iwas glad I’d done it; it had been the best possible apprenticeship for themusic business, and you couldn’t get that now.”

Young’s third single, Wherever ILay My Hat (That’s My Home) propelled him into the charts and the rest is history

“Iwas apprehensive for awhile because it seemed that it wasn’t gonna set the world on fire. It moved at asnail’s pace up the charts, literally shifting by two or three places aweek. But gradually it made it into the Top30, then the Top20. It was agonising.

“Each Sunday,we’d listen to the charts to see where we were –and we never knew when our progress was going to end. The last few weeks we were certain it would falter and stop short of the top spot. But then –when it happened –Ihad to pinch myself on aregular basis. The three of us, myself,Ged and Ian were in shock. This is something we realised we’d worked towards all our lives but weren’t sure it would ever happen. And at that moment, when it did, it was all hands on deck, back into the studio to finish thealbum.

“Weonly had half an album’s worth of material and some half-started tracks. Muff ’s thoughts were that, with abit of luck, No Parlez might get into the UK charts and secure asilver disc. None of us imagined it would go quintuple platinum and reach number one in the UK and go right across Europe.

“You have to remember that the singles chart was amassive thing back then. Iwas anew artist to most people and the fans were just getting to know me.

“Wefound out we’d got to number one with Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home) at the same time as thepublic. The UK chart controllers were so secretive; we were tuning into the radio on Sunday teatime, just like everyone else. The record company had bets that it would go to number one, but we didn’t know

“One of the other recordsthat had been crawling up the charts at the same pace was WarBaby,byTom Robinson, and we thought that might beat us. Just before the charts were announced, Muff had told me: ‘There’s every possibility you could be number one on Sunday,but we don’t know.We’ll all just have to keep our fingers crossed.’ That’s what it was like back then.

“So Iwas listening in. When the BBCplayed WarBaby at number two, we celebrated because we knew we’d got there. We knew we were at number one. That’s when everybody started ringing everybody.The phones went mental.”

Young’s life changed –and within ashort time, he was number one in the USA singles chart, with Every Time YouGo Away.The success of that, and No Parlez, was mind-blowing.

“The sheer scale of the success took us all by surprise, to be honest. It was bigger than anything any of us had every hoped for.First, No Parlez did well in the UK but then it started to happen all acrossEurope. Ihad dreams, of course, but my dreams weren’t this big. Ijustwantedtohave ahit record in the UK. The minute it took off in Europe, everything surpassed my expectations. That’s when it started to get alittle bit unbelievable.

“None of us could really get our heads round what was happening.” n Tickets for Paul Young at Telford Theatre, on April 12, are available at www.telfordtheatre.com

Time, however,has provided perspective. And now Young is celebrating 40 years sincethose successes with his new show, Behind The Lens.