I can’t remember ever not being around music of some sort. Was taken to church as a babe in arms and I suppose my first concrete memories are of Sunday School and those kiddies choruses which are still embedded in my brain! Used to think Torrence was a place, as I recall – “the rain came down in torrents” from
Mr Noah Had an Ark, lol! My earliest memory of physically listening to records was from about the age of six. We’d moved to South Africa from the UK and my grandparents sent postal orders for birthdays and Christmas. I don’t think I had a choice as to how to spend my pound (those were the days!) – it was always straight to the music shop where a record that was considered appropriate was chosen, not by me. Initially 45’s, progressing later to LP’s – the exchange rate was the opposite way around to what it is now! Both my parents played musical instruments but my mother was the more natural of the two while my father was simply dogged in his determination to get it right and practiced religiously.
My father had his sound setup in the lounge which was off limits to small sticky fingers - he built us a cabinet with one giant speaker and a record player on the top. We were relegated to a ‘playroom’ which had been a pantry in a previous life - a recess off the dining room filled with books, records and games, and used to spend hours and hours listening to children’s records – on repeat. My sisters and I still know all the words to most of those songs – that is a thread that binds us, in all our disparity. There was one particular series by David Frost, a combination of spoken word and music; he took well-known nursery tales, Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Aladdin, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Sleeping Beauty, and made them hugely entertaining using seasoned actors (Judi Dench among them) and comedians for the voices – absolutely squeaky clean and hilarious. Even the adults quite liked them. I’ve listened fairly recently, and the production is fantastic - so cleverly done.
I think the most pop thing I heard was The Shadows - “Apache” comes to mind. Oh, and Jim Reeves, Hank Williams and Nat King Cole. There were a few singles of theirs lurking around, but it was always Classic FM, or the English Service on the radio and many a night I’d fall asleep to the distant strains of Borodin, Beethoven and Bach! We all had lessons in classical piano which I dropped, in rebellion - who's sorry now??
The first introduction I had to anything else, as a pre-teen, was probably John Denver, in youth group sing-a-longs, and Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond. I remember hearing Joan Baez at some point, which was so intriguing to me, and later, thanks to a friend’s big brothers, Neil Young, Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, CSN, Van Morrison, Pink Floyd, Bowie, Jethro Tull and a myriad more. Also courtesy of a free spirited friend of another youth group member, Alan Parsons Project, Strawbs, Klaatu and Pavlov’s Dog to name a few. I was sold. Completely missed Elvis and the Beatles – no frame of reference for them at all which is a bit weird, I must concede! Bear in mind we had no TV here until ’76 and I grew up without one anyway. The first time I even registered the Beatles was after having seen Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, the movie, which I had to sneak out to attend!