Paul Weller To Appear On The Return Of The Old Grey Whistle Test!

"Whispering" bob Harris is to host The Old Grey Whistle Test once again in a radio revival of the classic BBC music show.

Artists who performed on the original series, including Sir Elton John, Robert Plant and Paul Weller, will return for the Radio 2 series, which marks the programme's 40th anniversary.

Whistle Test is credited with giving early exposure to acts such as Bob Marley, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and Steely Dan. The BBC Two programme ran from 1971 to 1987 and was a showcase for the "serious" rock acts beloved by Harris.

Starting in August, the 16-part radio series, Old Grey Whistle Test 40, will feature classic archive, new performances recorded at the famous Maida Vale studios, and interviews with artists who appeared on the original series. The line-up will include Roger Daltrey, Mark Knopfler, Yusuf Islam, Emmylou Harris and Simple Minds.

Harris, 65, described the new show as "a massive reunion, featuring superstars of British and American music".

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John Weller Obituary From The Independent...

For thirty years, John Weller managed the career of his son Paul, through the salad days and success of The Jam in the Seventies and early Eighties, the ups and downs of The Style Council and Paul’s re-emergence as a solo artist in the Nineties. Theirs was a unique father-son relationship in the music industry, built on John’s unwavering belief in Paul’s talent and shared values like hard work and pragmatism.

John could be blunt, and once refused to have lunch in a record company’s executive dining room, remarking to the managing director: “I didn’t come here to eat, I came to do business.” But his bark was worse than his bite.

John’s success was all the more remarkable since he started in his forties after years working in factories, on building sites and driving a taxi. When The Jam signed to Polydor in February 1977, for a £6,000 advance and a six per cent royalty rate, John admitted he didn’t have a bank account and asked for cash instead of a cheque. A&R man Chris Parry duly we…

Paul Weller's Son, Natt Gives A Candid Taxi Interview

Where else to meet the musician son of the agelessly groovy Modfather but at London’s trendy Met Bar? And there’s more than a hint of moody Mod style about the Japanese parka that Paul Weller’s eldest child Natt has slung over his Vivienne Westwood top.

Yet there all similarity ends, for singer-guitarist Natt has inherited the exotic beauty of his mother – former Wham! and Style Council backing singer Dee C Lee – rather than the famously angular features of his father.

‘Everybody always goes, “Luckily he took after his mum…”’ laughs Natt, whose mother is from France and St Lucia and whose great-great grandma was Japanese. Hence Natt’s fascination for Japan, where he moved in 2006 for a year to learn the language.

To pay for his studies, he modelled and deejayed, ‘I felt like an outsized monster,’ confides Natt, 21, a 6ft 1in beanpole. He returned a fan of Japan’s popular culture – from manga cartoons to punk-goth music – and with a different spelling to his name, which now features two ‘…

Paul Weller Makes Guest Appearance At Blues Fest In London With Ronnie Wood!

Paul Weller joined Ronnie Wood and Friends at the Royal Albert Hall for Blues Fest! Along with Mick Taylor, Paul and Ronnie paid tribute to Mississippi's Jimmy Reed with a performance of the Blues classic, "Shame, Shame, Shame."

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