Noddy Holder
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| Noddy Holder MBE | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Neville John Holder |
| Born | 15 June 1946 , Walsall, Staffordshire, England |
| Genre(s) | Hard rock, glam rock, glam metal, heavy metal |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, bass |
| Years active | 1970–present |
| Associated acts | Dave Hill |
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| Fender Telecaster, Gibson SG Junior, Ovation Deacon |
|
Noddy Holder MBE (born Neville John Holder, 15 June 1946, Walsall, Staffordshire) is an English musician and actor best known as the vocalist, guitarist, and occasional bass guitarist with 1970s rock music group Slade.
He co-wrote most of the bands songs with bass guitarist and occasional keyboard player, violinist, guitarist Jim Lea, and has also been praised for his distinctive vocals.
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[edit] Early life and career
The son of a window cleaner, Noddy Holder attended the T. P. Riley Comprehensive School and passed 6 GCE O-level exams [1]. He left school at 17 half way through his A-level course to work in the office of a local car components firm. [1] He had formed a group called The Rockin' Phantoms with school friends at the age of 13. With money earned from his first job he bought a Hofner guitar and an amplifier[1]. After working as a roadie for Band of Joy along with Ross Crutchley, Steven Latham and Ben Randle, Holder turned professional with Steve Brett & the Mavericks. The band made three singles and a TV appearance.
[edit] Slade
The Mavericks' drummer Don Powell then persuaded Holder to join The N'Betweens. The group already included guitarist / bass guitarist Dave Hill and bass guitarist / keyboard player / violinist / guitarist Jim 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.
Slade are best remembered for the single "Merry Xmas Everybody"[2] 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[3]. "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[4].
[edit] Later career
Legend has it that, 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, which reached number 37 in the charts[5]. Though widely reported, Noddy Holder suggested that this was a fabrication, possibly of his own invention, on the Radcliffe and Maconie Show on Radio 2 on 4 October 2007 and it is not recorded in the charts of that time.[6]
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 (1999-2001) as music teacher Neville Holder, 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".
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.
From 2005 Noddy has appeared in an advertisement campaign for Nobby's Nuts and Crisps.
In 2006 Noddy made a guest appearance alongside Northampton Indie Rockers The Retro Spankees in a music video for the Misty's Big Adventure single 'Fashion Parade'.
Noddy Holder is a regular TV critic and reviewer for The Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie Show on BBC Radio 2, where the three often talk about Holder's rock star past. Mark often refers to Noddy as 'Sir Nodward of Holder'.
He also presents Dumber & Dumbest, which is broadcast in the UK on Five.
Noddy Holder was the third celebrity to be inducted onto the Birmingham Walk of Stars. His induction ceremony took place on 9 December 2007 at Birmingham's 2007 Canal Boat Light Parade.[7][8]
For Christmas 2007, he recorded 'Noddy Holders Favourite Christmas Songs,' a countdown of his favourite seasonal songs from various musicians, for the music channel The Hits.
[edit] Personal life
On 7 April 2004 in east Cheshire, 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 January 1995. From his previous marriage, to Leandra, Holder has two grown daughters, Jessica and Charisse (who married Darren Jones in November 1999 in Cheshire), both of whom work in television production. Holder and his family live in Prestbury, Cheshire, England, UK.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Slade: Feel the Noize! an Illustrated Biography by John Charlesworth, (1984), Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-0538-X
- ^ All-Time Biggest Hits about Christmas and The Festive Season, a list of hits about the festive season, EveryHit.com.
- ^ Merry Xmas Everybody - Slade, Sold on Song, BBC Radio 2.
- ^ Merry Xmas Everybody - Slade, Sold on Song, BBC Radio 2.
- ^ Anna Ford says goodbye Britain as she signs off after 27 years, Telegraph.co.uk, 29/04/2006.
- ^ http://www.everyhit.com/searchsec.php Failed search for this record
- ^ Noddy to get a Broad Street star - Birmingham Mail
- ^ BBC Black Country - Noddy gets his star
