Rock steady

1:35pm Wednesday 6th August 2008

I didn't ask Joe Brown if his house near Henley-on-Thames has an attic, but I can't help wondering if there is a portrait of him stashed up there that is ageing in the style of Dorian Gray.

Whatever the explanation, the fact is that the singer, songwriter and musician who had a string of top ten hits in the 1960s with his band Joe Brown and the Bruvvers would be laughed out of the door if he ever tried to collect his free bus pass.

Even after all these years, he still suffers from stage fright: �I always get nervous. Always. And I think that is part of the deal. It�s the sort of thing that gives you the edge.�

True, his familiar cheeky chappie face has a few crinkles around the eyes and the hair looks suspiciously as though it might owe a few dues to Grecian 2000, but there is still something boyish about him, from his slim figure through to his spiky hairstyle that hasn't changed through four decades.

More to the point, unlike many stars of the sixties who faded away never to be heard of again, Joe has quietly but steadily carried on working through TV, film, theatre, and is still packing em in at the 200 gigs he performs each year.

This summer he'll be serenading the crowds at Cropredy in a show with his old mucker and contemporary Dave Edmunds who he has known "for years" and who he describes as "a nice man, a good guy".

"Cropredy is a great festival. Last time we did it there was absolutely no problem, no violence, no trouble, no arrests. It was really cool and everyone was having such a wonderful day there.

"During the afternoon it rained for a short time and when it stopped this beautiful rainbow appeared overhead. There was this hippy guy sitting there who was very happy and er, floaty if you get my meaning.

"I was chatting to him asking Have you had a nice time, mate?' and he said Oh, it's been great today. It's fantastic here.' "Then I pointed out the rainbow and said Look at that, ain't it beautiful?' and he looked up and he said Cor Blimey, they think of everything, don't they?' "That says it all about the festival, you know?" he joked.

After 40 years in the business, you'd be hard pressed to find a top venue where Joe hasn't performed or a musician that Joe doesn't know or hasn't worked with.

He started his career in the late 50s working with icons such as Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Johnnie Cash and Billy Fury, boasted The Beatles as his warm-up act in the 60s and has gone on to just about every notable artist and band since.

Couple this amazing musical heritage with the fact that he is frequently described as one of the best-liked blokes in the business and you come to the conclusion that his address book must read like a Who's Who of rock music.

"Yeah, except quite a few of them are not here any more," he pointed out. Among others, he is referring to his late friend former-Beatle George Harrison.

They were such close buddies that George chose Joe to be his best man when he married his second wife Olivia in 1978.

"I still miss him," he said sadly. "When I first moved to Henley there were loads of us all living in this area.

"George, Mick Ralphs from Bad Company, Gary Moore, Dave Edmunds, Alvin Lee (the front man from Ten Years After) Ian Paice and Jon Lord from Deep Purple.

"I used to be able to get up in the morning, grab my guitar and go and sit with George or one of the other guys and play," he added.

These days, Deep Purple keyboards maestro Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice are the only two left - the others having moved away.

Jon and Ian's wives twins Vicky and Jacky "were very friendly with my late wife Vicki and looked after her a lot when she had cancer," Joe explained.

Joe was devastated when his first wife, the well-respected session singer Vicki Brown, finally lost her battle against the disease in 1991 but he is now "very happily married" to Manon who he says is "wonderful".

"Jon and Ian are very good friends and we see each other every couple of months," he said.

"Deep Purple is a really heavy metal band, but you go round Jon's house and it's Come in, dear boy. Glass of Champagne?' and all that. He is not like his image at all," he added.

But despite the A-list showbiz contacts, one of Joe's most endearing traits is that he has managed to remain decidedly unstarry.

He spends most of the year touring with his band, playing to audiences at theatres around the country.

Many artists have pretty outlandish requests or riders' as they are known before they will agree to perform, so what rock and roll excesses does Joe insist upon backstage?

"We just ask for some grub for the boys but there's no booze at all on our riders," he said. "There's no way you can do this physically if you are going to go mad. In my younger days, maybe but not now."

Two tours of 50 or 60 dates each year is a pretty punishing schedule for a 67-year-old, so what do his friends in the business have to say about it?

"I'm a bit mad and I should have packed it up years ago. I will stop as soon as I start embarrassing myself. At the moment it is what I love doing. So why not? People say retire' and I ask and do what?'.

"Since we completed our last tour, I have been in the studio making an album. And now we have finished that we are back on tour again. I don't get tired of it."

He first came to prominence as a guitarist and went on to win acclaim for his vocals and song writing with a string of hits such as A Picture Of You and I'm Henry The Eighth.

He's turned his hand to a number of other instruments over the years, such as the ukulele, mandolin and fiddle but is typically modest, ascribing his long-lived professional success to application.

"I just get on with it and always look at it like a job. People are always asking What advice can you give young people coming into the business?' and I say to start with, get there on time.

"And make sure before you even step onto a stage that you check everything out beforehand, like if you are a guitar player you make sure all your strings and leads are OK.

"If you have got a bit of talent it is just the icing on the cake. The rest of it is all down to hard work and rehearsals.

"Someone said to me the other day Just remember that song There's no business like show business' and that is true. It is a bloody business at the end of the day and you have got to do your job," he added.

Even after all these years, he still suffers from stage fright: "I always get nervous. Always. And I think that is part of the deal. It's the sort of thing that gives you the edge."

Despite his youthful looks, he's now a grandfather of six with another on the way, the product of his own two children Sam, 44 and Pete, xx, from his first marriage, foster son Richard and his second wife's two daughters.

Sam is a successful singer in her own right who had her first hit in 1989 with Stop! while Pete is a highly-regarded guitarist and music producer who plays in Joe's band.

So did he try to talk his kids out of a career in the music industry, knowing what a tough business it is? He finds the idea extremely amusing.

"No way. I know that telling kids not to do something is the best way to make them want to go ahead with it anyway.

"Look at me. My dad was always saying Put that bloody guitar down. That'll never get you anywhere.'

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