My cousin the rock star.

This is him in the late 80s – Gary Strange (real name) – my first cousin. He’s the one in the pink jacket. His mum and my mum were sisters. We don’t look alike, maybe because his mother married a dapper little man called Les, whereas mine married a thick-set Irishman called Pat. I haven’t seen Gary for years but I remember him being in bands from about 1970 onwards. Like 99% of rock musicians, he never quite hit superstardom. Though he and his band No Dice did support Status Quo on their Rockin’ All Over The World tour in 1978. About ten years later, he hooked up with Stock, Aitken & Waterman to record this old Frankie Valli hit. It narrowly failed to make the charts. Gary’s years of hard slog without quite conquering the world was probably the reason I was never in a band. That and my complete absence of musical talent.