CROONER Alan Lodge has found his smile again despite a terminal cancer diagnosis after his family rallied around him to help release his first music album at the age of 80.
Alan, from Cudworth, started singing aged just three and shot to stardom in the swinging sixties with his band ‘Alan Knight and the Chessmen’.
The band were on the rise during the sixties, even performing at the famous ‘2i’s Coffee Bar’ in London described as the ‘Home of the Stars’ where Cliff Richard and Tommy Steele were discovered.
The group comprised Alan on vocals, Ken Hickey on drums, Roger Davis on lead guitar, Harry Unsworth on bass guitar and John Whalley on rhythm guitar.
Alan eventually dropped down to a duo before becoming a solo artist.
He told the Chronicle: “When I was 16 we used to go to the pubs all around Barnsley with another band on a Saturday night and asked landlords if we’d be able to entertain.
“They used to look at us gone out until we said we’d do it for free.
“The landlord at The Star in Cudworth was the first person to pay us it was around £1.50 a night.
“The pub used to get choc-a-block. I joined The Chessmen in 1960 and we auditioned for an agent but at that time we were just doing local pubs.
“All of a sudden we managed to get gigs at Dewsbury and Cleckheaton Town Hall.
“We ended up supporting Gerry and the Pacemakers and we then performed at the 2i’s Coffee Bar in London.
“On most Saturdays we were residents at a big mecca called ‘Majestic’ that was with Kiki Dee who did ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ with Elton John.
“We also used to play at an American Army camp in Harrogate on some Fridays.
“I remember some local girls from Grimethorpe were there and I wonder if some of them can now remember that?”
He also had a brief encounter with The Beatles.
Alan added: “While we were in Soho in London, The Beatles drove by speeding away in an old Zephyr Six laughing away.”
Alan described himself as a ‘nearly pop star’ on a number of occasions but hadn’t sang for over 30 years before he released his album, That’s My Life, earlier this month.
His children, Toni and Dean Lodge, have been inspired by their dad to the point they have both joined bands themselves in the past and they went to see him perform across the country.
Toni, 52, from Monk Bretton, told the Chronicle: “I remember going to see him all over the place. I was really little and obviously no-one used to get their phones out in those days to record it so there’s no footage of it.
“Before lockdown, I bought him a studio session so he could sing all of his old songs but we never managed to make the CDs as he got ill.”
Alan had previously been diagnosed with cancer but managed to beat the disease only for it to return in July this year, just two weeks after his wife, Jackie, had beaten the cruel illness.
In a bid to lift his spirits, Toni got together with her brother and a music producer to make the album themselves and they passed it onto him last week.
“It was the first time he’s smiled in a long time,” Toni added.
“He’s always talked about his background and he’s got so many stories to tell. He’s played famous clubs in London and he’s well-known locally.
“We’ve now got 100 copies of the CD and it would be great for him to sell some.”
Alan added: “It was 2019 when Toni said she’d booked me a studio session in a recording studio.
“It’s taken all this time - with my cancer diagnosis and the lockdown - but it’s done.
“The producer clapped when I walked out of the studio after the first song.
“He said that Buble would have been proud of that.
“I finished an album of 14 songs five with Toni and one with Dean. They’re absolutely brilliant. Toni surprised me last week and brought over 100 CDs. It was a really nice shock.”
