Joe Longthorne
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Joe Longthorne (Born 31 May 1955 in Kingston-upon-Hull), is a British singer of Romani ethnicity, who has performed in several Royal Variety Performances.
In the 1980s, Longthorne was a regular turn on the top rated sunday night variety show, Live From the Palladium and at one time had his own half hour show which was produced by Central Television and screened across the ITV network. As well as an impressive track record on tour, he has also enjoyed just as much success with his records, enjoying 11 different album releases, over the last three decades (selling thousands of copies in the process). He is also known as an impersonator of others, including fellow singing star Shirley Bassey, who famously commented that he "does me better than I do myself" and a particularly brilliant Tom Jones.
Longthorne has been beset by a number of health problems and is known to have been undergoing treatment for leukaemia for many years. In the last years he has had a bone marrow transplant and in April 2006 triumphantly returned to the stage in his adopted home town of Blackpool. As of 2007, he is engaged in a UK tour and recording his latest album with Tim A. Duncan in Berlin Studios, in Bispham, Blackpool whom he recorded his first album with which attained Platinum status in the UK. This is their third collaboration.