EXTRACT FOR
Voices
(Author Unknown)

This book is divided into four sections, namely:-



Pop Mania

Country Roads

Colour Me Blues

Jazz Inc



SECTION 1 - POP MANIA



A COLLECTION OF REMINISCENCES BY POP ARTISTS



With the help of Brian Jones and Gene Pitney









POP MANIA



Grateful thanks:

To Brian Jones and Gene Pitney for their help in bringing the people to me so they could speak about their lives, deaths and afterlives.

To Mary Holliday for her invaluable input in this extraordinary book

To Terry Wakelin, still the rock and anchor in my life;

To my spirit companions for laughter and more love than a human could ask for.

Most of all, to the many artists who took time out from their spirit lives to come and talk. 



A small admission here, one that occurred to me just about the time I was thinking of wrapping this book up. Back when I was a pre- and very young teenager, I sent a letter to a teen magazine to ask whether any of the stars on the enclosed list would come to my birthday party. I had a charming note back saying they would be too busy to come.



It's time to say... thinking about it, all the names on my list have now come to see me, now they have time (and so do I) to talk with them. Wishes can come true, you just need to believe...



The artists who have left messages in the order they arrived: (The titles are the songs they chose for their message heading.



2006:

Freddie Mercury - Bohemian Rhapsody



2007:

Brian Jones - Ruby Tuesday

Dusty Springfield - Son Of A Preacher Man



2008:

John Lennon - Imagine

Del Shannon - Runaway

Billy Fury - Wondrous Place

Gene Pitney - Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart

Lonnie Donegan - Rock Island Line

Rick Nelson - Hello Marylou

Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues

Alma Cogan - Hernando's Hideaway

Marc Bolan - Ride A White Swan

Bob Marley - No Woman No Cry

Jim Morrison - Riders On The Storm

Buddy Holly - That'll Be The Day

George Harrison - My Sweet Lord

Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze

Lawrence Payton (Four Tops) - Yesterday's Dreams

Otis Redding - (Sitting On) The Dock Of The Bay

Ray Charles - Georgia On My Mind

Guy Mitchell - Singing The Blues

Roy Orbison - Only The Lonely

Sam Cooke -You Send Me

Bobby Darin - Dream Lover

Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley

Cass Elliot - Monday, Monday

Johnny Ray - Just Walking In The Rain

Marvin Gaye -  I Heard It Through The Grapevine

Ike Turner - River Deep, Mountain High

Frankie Laine - I Believe

David Whitfield - Answer Me

Frankie Vaughan - Green Door

Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace



2009:

Perry Como - Catch A Falling Star

Anthony Newley - I've Waited So Long

Carl Perkins - Blue Suede Shoes

Ritchie Valens - La Bamba



2010:

Harry Chapin - W O L D

Mel Appleby - Respectable

Karl Mueller - Runaway Train

Flanders and Swan - The Hippopotamus Song

Nat 'King' Cole - Unforgettable

Janis Joplin - Piece Of My Heart

Kirsty McColl - Walking Down Madison

Dean Martin - Memories Are Made Of This

Alan Breeze - I've Got a Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts

Michael Hutchence - Need You Tonight

Marie Lloyd - The Boy I Love Is Up In The Gallery

Floyd Cramer - On The Rebound

Ian Dury - Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3



2011:

Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street

Kurt Cobain - Smells Like Teen Spirit

John Walker - No Regrets

Phyllis Hyman - Never Say Never Again



2012:

Richard Manuel - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

Donna Summer - I Feel Love

Robin Gibb -Massachusetts 

Shannon Hoon- No Rain



2013:

Max Bygraves Tulips From Amsterdam



2017:

Amy Winehouse Rehab

Levi Stubbs ??" Look Of Love

Vesta Victoria ??" Waiting At the Church



2018:

Chuck Berry ??" Maybelline

Michael Jackson - Thriller





2006





Bohemian Rhapsody



Freddie Mercury



5th September 1946 ??" 24th November 1991



In 2006 I bought tickets for a Queen Tribute evening for my friend Mary and myself. 

    The next time I visited Mary, she pulled a video from the shelf and said, "Let's watch the real thing, shall we?"

    As we were watching Freddie parading across the stage, every inch the showman, we became aware of someone standing behind the sofa where we were sitting. I asked who it was and got "guess." We tried our usual Twenty Questions but the person got impatient and said right in my ear, "you're looking at him!" I jumped so hard it hurt!

    He watched for a while and then said "show-off, wasn't I?" and I said "No, showman, not show off." He seemed pleased with that. 

    Freddie came and went for a while; then I heard from a medium that he had taken on the task of helping young musicians and singers who were making their demo tapes, work he could and does do very well.

    I still get visits from this charismatic beautiful man; he drops by to see if I am all right, to exchange a few words and then he is gone again, back to his first love, working with music.

    There has not been a direct message from Freddie. I know well that he resented his early passing, he hated the disease which took him, he wished for much more time on this side of life and a chance to do all the things he really wanted to do. It seemed to him he was cut down in his prime although he accepts it was his time to go. He appreciates the fact that the music lives on, he smiles at the 'tribute' bands and hopes they keep Queen music alive but, as he says, they will never replace the real thing.