British actor Johnny Briggs has had a long, distinguished
career in the business of show. Born in 1935 he graduated from the Italia Conti
Stage School and was immediately thrust into movies, appearing in dozens of
gritty dramas (Cosh Boy, the Leather Boys), war epics (633 Squadron, Sink the Bismarck!)
and comedies (Carry On Up the Khyber, Bless This House) before landing the role
that would make him famous: for 30 years he starred in Coronation Street (world's
longest-running TV soap opera) as factory owner and Deidre Barlow-shagger Mike
Baldwin.
But we’re not interested in his film and TV work, are we?
No. What we’re celebrating today is his one attempt at vinyl immortality. For
in 1983 Johnny released a single on the tiny (and short-lived) MVM record label:
Warm backed with Livin’ on the Road.
This dismal offering sold about three copies: Corrie fans
must have been bewildered by the fact that the bluff, gruff Mike Baldwin
emitted such a thin, reedy vocal when he tried to sing. Warm? Barely tepid at
best; lukewarm more like.
Although the writing credits on both sides of this dull
slice of eighties pap went to Cass and Casstree, the sleeve rightly credits one
Cass Casstree (as opposed to a brace of him/them) with having written the words
and music and played keyboards on this insipid ballad. Bury-based Casstree has
spent decades trying to have a hit: he wrote Sharon Benson’s 1988 flop Our
Love’s Alive (she would later record a ‘hip’ version of the EastEnders theme,
retitled I'll Always Believe In You), and still works as a professional
musician, appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2005 and gigging regularly in
his home town.
But back to Johnny; look at him on the cover, with his
flicked back hair and gold medallion hanging over his tight, open shirt. Doesn’t
he make you Warm? You’d think he would learn from this appalling crime, but in
1995 he would team up with co-star Amanda Barrie to record a simply dreadful
version of the Frank and Nancy Sinatra classic Something Stupid which, when
released as the B-side to the Corrie cast singing Always Look On the Bright
Side of Life, reached number 35 in the UK singles charts. There’s just no
accounting for taste.
Enjoy..and big thanks to Mick Dillingham for reminding me of this monstrosity.
I was afraid until the end that you'd miss Somethin' Stupid. I remember seeing him perform it with his CS colleague on telly, and just assumed it was some tie-in for the show, as Robbie Williams had done the song at the same time (with Nicole Kidman?)
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