Noddy Holder
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Noddy Holder (born Neville John Holder in Newhall Street, Walsall, Staffordshire on 15 June 1946) is an English musician and actor best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist with 1970s rock music group Slade.
He co-wrote most of the bands songs with bassist Jimmy Lea and has been praised for his distinctive vocals.
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[edit] Early career & Slade
After having worked in an office and as a roadie for Band of Joy, Noddy Holder turned professional with Steve Brett & the Mavericks. The band made 3 singles and a TV appearance before drummer Don Powell got Holder to join The N'Betweens. The group already included guitarist Dave Hill and violinist / bassist Jimmy Lea and the four of them went on to eventually become Slade.
Lea and Holder turned out to have the group's most successful song-writing combination, with Holder writing the lyrics and Lea the music for Slade's many hits.
Noddy Holder was the lead singer and front man of Slade. His loud raucous voice, his muscular rhythm guitar, the innuendo in his lyrics, his extroverted but always good-humoured stage personality made him stand out and along with his loud colourful dress sense, he became something of a 1970s pop icon. One of the most enduring images from that period is the sight of Holder bellowing into a microphone, wearing a mirrored coachman's hat.
Slade are best remembered for the single "Merry Xmas Everybody"[1] written by Holder and Lea. Holder recorded the single with Slade in 1973, and the song became the third Slade single to go straight in at number one in the UK chart[2]. "Merry Xmas Everybody" has remained seasonally popular with partygoers ever since and is regularly included as a festive classic on compilation albums. To date, in the UK alone, sales of this song have exceeded a million copies[3].
[edit] Later career
In 1983, Holder took a short break from Slade duties to record a cover version of the Shakin' Stevens hit "You Drive Me Crazy" with Anna Ford (Link: [4]).
After many years of hard work and success on the live circuit, Slade stopped touring in 1984 but continued making records. In 1989 and 1990 Noddy Holder and Dave Hill even put out 2 singles on the Mooncrest label using the name Blessing in Disguise. After Slade's 25th anniversary Holder left the band for good, feeling the urge to do something else in life.
[edit] After Slade & acting career
Since the singer's departure from Slade in 1991 , he has appeared in various TV shows, most notably The Grimleys, and had his own radio show on Piccadilly 1152 in Manchester in the 1990s. He also presented Noddy's Electric Ladyland on Men & Motors, was a team captain in BBC's A Question of Pop and was immortalised as a puppet on the TV show Bob the Builder.
In 1999 Noddy Holder's autobiography Who's Crazee Now? was published and he was awarded the MBE in 2000 for his services to music. The singer has also been the subject of the This Is Your Life TV show.
Holder's voice was famously used in 2000 to record the lift announcements at the Walsall New Art Gallery. Director of the gallery Peter Jenkinson said at the time:
"We are delighted that Noddy has agreed to record the lift announcements so that generations to come will be able to enjoy the unmistakable voice of Walsall's most famous son".
On 7 April 2004, he married TV-producer Suzan Price, with whom he has a son, Django (named after legendary gypsy jazz-guitarist Django Reinhardt), who was born in 1995. From his previous marriage, to Leandra, Holder has two grown daughters, Jessica and Charisse, both of whom work in television production. Holder and his family live in Prestbury, Cheshire, England.
In November 2004 he made a guest appearance in the second episode of Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere - where he played a garage mechanic called Mick Bustin.
In 2005 Noddy appeared in an advertisement campaign for Nobby's Nuts and Crisps.
Noddy Holder is now the regular TV critic and reviewer for The Mark Radcliffe Show on BBC Radio 2, where the two often talk about Holder's rock star past. Mark often refers to him as 'Sir Nodward'.
He also presents Dumber & Dumberest, which is broadcast in the UK on Five
