Name Joe Longthorne | Role Singer | |
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Albums Especially For You, All The Songs I Love Similar People Elkie Brooks, Des O'Connor, Shirley Bassey, Matt Monro, Freddie Starr |
Joe longthorne mbe don black s 70th birthday concert bbc radio 2
Joseph Patrick Longthorne MBE (born 31 May 1955, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire) is an English singer and impersonator of Romani ethnicity, who has performed in several Royal Variety Performances.
Contents
- Joe longthorne mbe don black s 70th birthday concert bbc radio 2
- Joe longthorne sings tom jones and shirley bassey wmv
- Albums
- Songs
- References
Longthorne was born into a show business family; he has a son named Ricky who was named after an early friend and manager of Joes's, Ricky Hamilton. His parents were both travelling show people. Joe is from a very famous street in Hull, Hessle Road, known for its fishing community. Joe considers himself as a "Hessle Roader", local term in Hull. When he was six, he came first in a talent show and his prize was a toy motor car. At fourteen he landed a part in Yorkshire Television's series Junior Showtime, and remained with the show for over two years. He then turned professional and earned a living in Northern working men's clubs. It was through the London Weekend Television series Search For a Star in 1981 that Longthorne was first launched onto the British televiewing public as a singer and impressionist, and his success on the show led to appearances at the London Palladium and a month-long season at London's Talk of the Town.
The following year Longthorne received the Variety Club's award for most promising artiste. In 1985 he was invited to headline a season at the Drury Lane Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. He made a further breakthrough on British television in 1987, starring in Live from the Palladium and Des O'Connor Tonight. Longthorne also released three platinum albums for Telstar, The Joe Longthorne Songbook, Especially For You and The Joe Longthorne Christmas Album. He has even sold out at hotels in Las Vegas. He is well known for his rendition of Dame Shirley Bassey, which is astonishing to hear in person. When Joe mimics a singer, for example Dame Shirley Bassey, his facial expressions change into the character of the artist he is impersonating. It was around the time of his appearance at the Royal Variety Performance in 1989, that he was diagnosed with lymphoma.
After responding to treatment, Longthorne embarked on a tour of Australia. and appeared on The Mike Walsh Show. Longthorne continued performing into the early 1990s with sell-out performances at the Royal Albert Hall, the Sydney Opera House and the London Palladium. His music videos Live in Concert and A Man and His Music were steady sellers in the 1990s, but financial problems from past mismanagement that led him to bankruptcy in the later part of the decade.
His illness degenerated into leukaemia, and he underwent a bone marrow transplant. In 2006, Longthorne performed again at the London Palladium, and in 2007 the Variety Club awarded him their Lifetime Achievement Award, which placed him amongst past recipients such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald, Wayne Dobson, Freddie "Parrot Face" Davies and Gary Wilmot.
In August 2009, Longthorne appeared in a tribute show to Don Black, at the London Palladium.
He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to charity.
He currently lives in his adopted hometown of Blackpool, Lancashire.
Joe longthorne sings tom jones and shirley bassey wmv
Albums
Songs
If I Never Sing Another Song
When Your Old Wedding Ring Was New
My Mother's Eyes
Love Is All
Mary In The Morning
To All The Girls I've Loved Before
Just Loving You
You Will Be My Music
Let's Not Lose It
Always On My Mind
It Was Almost Like A Song
One Love In A Million
You're My World
It's Only Make Believe
If I Only Had Time
Crying In The Rain
Let The Heartaches Begin
Answer Me
Wonderful World
Say It With Flowers
My Prayer
Don't Laugh At Me
End Of The World
Joanna
Love Letters
I Will Drink The Wine
I Wish You Love
Bridge Over Troubled Water
What's Going On
I've Waited So Long
I Wanna Be Where You Are
A Legend In My Time