Richard Hallifax An autobiography
Black Vinyl& White Soul
BLACK VINYL & WHITE SOUL An Autobiography By International Disc Jockey, Singer-Songwriter, Richard Hallifax
BLACK VINYL & WHITE SOUL Autobiography By international DJ, Singer-Songwriter, Richard Hallifax
Note to the reader: names of some people have been changed in order to protect their identities. © 2019 Richard Hallifax Printing: BoD – Books on Demand, Stockholm, Sweden Production: BoD – Books on Demand, Norderstedt, Germany Layout: BoD – Books on Demand ISBN: 978-91-7851-596-7
A short introduction by the author
Thank you for opening this book. What you are about to read
is an accurate account of my very interesting and unusual, but fantastic life. My story begins with my young life in England where I was used, abused, and went through school with undiagnosed dyslexia. Then on to the world of British show business, including some of my experiences whilst working on the BBC TV program “Top of The Pops”. How it was for me to work as an international Disc Jockey (DJ), and to meet celebrities such as John Lennon, Phil Collins, Elton John, and many others. I have included some romantic episodes too. Also the rollercoaster ride of life’s up’s and downs, but with the will to keep going no matter what. Why was it that I moved from a glamorous life in London to the wild forest in Sweden? It is my hope through sharing my life’s adventure with you that in some way the experience will enrich your own life. Parts of my story may even cause you to smile, so enjoy the read. Richard Hallifax
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Chapter 1 Born Again
The year is 1951; six years have passed since the end of the Sec-
ond World War. King George VI was on the throne and Clement Attlee was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Generally, the police did not carry guns and soldiers stood on guard duty outside the gates of Buckingham Palace (not inside). Steam trains, industry, and people burning coal to keep their homes warm combined to form air-pollution called “smog” that settled over London. In 1952 the great smog of London caused an estimated 4,000 people to die. Parts of London had not fully recovered from the German bombing of World War II and were still in ruins. At the time London was the world’s largest city, and can you believe it, the pop-music charts had not yet been invented. I was a home birth arriving in our house on Crofton road, in Ealing, west London on the 22ndof September 1951. I have heard that two midwives, together with my father, assisted my mother Lynette with the process of delivering me into this world. Of course, I have no recollection of the event, but evidently all went well. No one asked me if I wanted to live on planet Earth, but here I was – an innocent, newly-born child now in a world where there is a constant war going on between good and evil, and that I, or rather we, are caught up in the middle of the battle. Or perhaps I had been born again and had qualified for another chance at purification through reincarnation. In any event I was now here on planet Earth and this is where my story begins. As a young child, or sometimes as an old person, one remembers very little, but thanks to my parents often recalling how
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family life was when I was a small child, I have something to go on. For example, one day I was left alone in the back garden behind the house on Crofton Road together with the family dog – a Cairn Terrier, who bit me on the right-hand side of my face. The event must have been traumatic, because Mum and Dad repeated the story over and over of what happened to me, throughout my life. Mother and Grandmother having heard my screaming rushed out, and seeing my face covered in blood, picked me up, and waited with me at the front door of the house for my father to come home. Why they decided to wait instead of calling for a doctor no one knows. But, it has been said that my mother’s father did not trust doctors, so perhaps that is why. Dad arrived, and asking no questions, drove me straight to the local hospital. At first glance the medical team thought that perhaps my eye had been damaged. After having cleared up the blood they could see luckily that was not the case. However, I still have three small scars on my face where I was bitten, but as time has passed, they have reduced in size. Mum always said my scars made me look tough. As I like the idea of being perceived as tough, I don’t mind having the scars! Another story that was told over and over, was when I fell out of my pram headfirst onto a marble floor, which may be the reason as to why I am who I am! In 1952 my parents decided to move from Ealing and return to the area where they had first met. I will tell you how they met because it is a romantic, short story. Whilst in their late teens both where at a pond called Latchmoor, in Gerrards Cross, which is about 19 miles west from London, in south Buckinghamshire. My father had caught a fish, and finding my mother attractive he went over and they began to chat. I don’t know what my father said, but my mother fell instantly “in love” and took fathers fish home and slept with the fish under her pillow! Now how romantic is that. 7
Me together with my mother Lynette and my father Neville 1952. Photo private.
Our new home wasn’t far from the Gerrards Cross area where Mum and Dad had first met. It was a small bungalow located in an area surrounded by trees in a small lane called Broken Gate Lane. Even though I was “knee-high to a grasshopper” (in other words, very short), I do remember the blue-bell flowers covering the ground in the nearby woods. In 1954 my sister Nicola was born. Looking to the future with an expanding family Mum and Dad bought a larger, new house on Latch Moor Avenue, also in Gerrards Cross. This was my second move; one good thing was that my mother’s mother, “Granny”, lived very close to our new home. I recall cycling on my three-wheeler bicycle on the then stony road to visit her; it was always fun to visit Granny as she had a wooden rocking horse which I loved to ride on. The neighbours also had children the same age as my sister Nicola and me. They, together 8
with our parents, came up with a modern idea (at the time) for babysitting, and invested in a walky-talky telephone system, so that both couples could hear the other’s children when they were out, if we children awoke from sleeping. The idea was that if one of us cried, the parents of the other family who were at their home would go and check up on the children at the other home. This worked well for a while until our parents forgot to turn off the device, private matters where overheard and this caused embarrassment, which resulted in a breakdown in the relationship between the parents of both families, so the idea was soon abandoned. What was overheard must have been serious as I do not recall the friendship with the neighbours ever continuing! Aged five, I moved for the third time, to another house. My family’s new home was situated on a hill close to the village of Chalfont St. Peter, also in the county of Buckinghamshire. It is worth noting that both Gerrards Cross and Chalfont St Peter lie in the foot hills of the Chiltern Hills, and the two towns are also close to one another (2 to 3 miles apart), so friends and family who lived in either of the two places where never far away! We lived in an area of Chalfont St Peter called “Chalfont Heights”, named so because it was an elevated area accessed by a road that went up a hill. The name of the road we lived on was called Lewis Lane, which at the time was a winding, stony road with potholes that led up to our house situated at the highest point. From the second floor of the house we had a view overlooking the valley, and I remember how pretty it was at night seeing the lights from other houses on the other side. When the move was being carried out some of my toys: a three-wheel bicycle and a toy peddle car, were offloaded in to the garden from the removal lorry when a small boy of my age came running from a house across the road and wanted to try out my toy car. He climbed straight in and I called him a “spoilt brat” and told him to “get out”. Dad overheard this and I was 9
severely told off. The next morning, I was sent over the road to apologize. The boy’s name was Robert, and unbeknown to me at the time, this interaction was the beginning of a life-long friendship. Robert and I shared everything; we played, slept over at each other’s houses and did some things we shouldn’t have, like stopping the traffic on the lane to make our own road improvements; we even dug more holes than were already there, and filled them with water! We loved watching when the cars splashed their way through, however, as you can imagine this was not popular with the adults who had to drive through the muddy water and then spend time cleaning their cars. One time when we passed a red-letter box, Robert and I noticed a pile of tarmac that the road workers had left behind, and thought it would be fun to “post” the pieces of tarmac into the letterbox. At that young age we did not understand that there may have been important letters lying in the post box for the post man to collect. A few days later in the local shop we overheard two elderly women saying that the police were looking for young people who had put tarmac in a letter box; we were terrified and never did it again. Honest!
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Cover photo: Justin Hallifax
Black Vinyl& White Soul An autobiography Richard Hallifax International DJ & Singer-Songwriter
This is a story of survival. The author, at times, had to rely on his ability to think fast in order to get out of a situation. This interesting and accurate account of his life may cause you to both laugh and cry. His life’s journey will take you through his challenging childhood, how tough it was to go through school with undiagnosed dyslexia. Then later as a young adult his experiences whilst working in British Television and the music industry where he met many of the world’s legendary pop stars, including Beatle John Lennon. His story goes on to demonstrate the consequences that panned out from every single decision the author made throughout his life, and how everything in his professional life can be traced back to a chance meeting in a pub. Although his new career as a DJ became his salvation, it almost brought him moral ruin as he constantly battled with temptation in an industry where his religious beliefs were tested to the limit. He then takes us to Sweden where he accomplished his greatest achievements, here he formed a family and continued his success as a DJ, TV and radio presenter. But along the way there were many ups and downs which later resulted in divorce, sending him to some “very low depths”. Yet despite this he swallowed his pride and worked in a place so far removed from his natural creative personality that it was, for him, akin to being confined in a prison. However his story does not end there! Through another chance meeting his life takes another turn, this time leading to happiness and the chance once again to use his creative talents. The author’s determination to never give up no matter what life through at him will fascinate and inspire you! Photo: Timothy Butts
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ISBN: 9789178515967