Brian Hibbard (26 November 1946 – 17 June 2012) was a Welsh

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

from

Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale (; ) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr conurbation has a ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, best remembered as the lead vocalist in the original The Flying Pickets.

Early life and career

Hibbard was born into a

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

family in

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

, and had a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

upbringing. He was educated at Ebbw Vale Grammar School. After various jobs including teacher, steel worker, barman and

chimney sweep A chimney sweep is a person who inspects then clears soot and creosote from chimneys. The chimney uses the pressure difference caused by a hot column of gas to create a draught and draw air over the hot coals or wood enabling continued combust ...

, he formed The Flying Pickets with a group of other actors who had practised

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

singing while travelling by coach to their appearances. Their

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of Yazoo's track " Only You" was the Christmas number one in 1983 on the UK Singles Chart. Following the group's success, Hibbard pursued a career as a television actor, making a guest appearance in the 1987 ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' story '' Delta and the Bannermen''. His first regular TV role came in 1989, playing petty criminal "Chunky" in three series of Manchester-based comedy drama ''

Making Out Making out is a term of American English, American origin dating back to at least 1949, and is used to refer to kissing, including extended French kissing or ''necking'' (heavy kissing of the neck, and above), or to acts of non-penetrative s ...

'' (1989-1991), followed by a two-year stint in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'' as garage mechanic Doug Murray. Other soap appearances included brief stints in ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British television soap opera that is broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a List of fictional towns and villages, fict ...

'' as Bobby-John Downes, and as Henry Mason, a man who ran a children's home where

Billy Mitchell William Lendrum Mitchell (December 29, 1879 – February 19, 1936) was a United States Army officer who had a major role in the creation of the United States Air Force. Mitchell served in France during World War I and, by the conflict's end, ...

and Julie Perkins were in care, in ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

''. Other appearances include '' Minder'', '' The Armando Iannucci Shows'', ''

Satellite City A satellite city or satellite town is a smaller municipality or settlement that is part of (or on the edge of) a larger metropolitan area and serves as a regional population and employment center. It differs from mere suburbs, Subdivision (la ...

'',

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

soap Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...

'' Pobol y Cwm'' as well as the youth drama ''Pam Fi, Duw?'' and in the 1997 film '' Twin Town'' as the self-styled "Karaoke King" Dai Rees.

Personal life and death

Hibbard and his wife Caroline had three children. In 2000, Hibbard was diagnosed with

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

; he died of the disease on 17 June 2012 at the age of 65.
Archived
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hibbard, Brian 1946 births 2012 deaths Welsh male singers British male soap opera actors British male film actors Welsh socialists British socialists Actors from Ebbw Vale The Flying Pickets members Deaths from cancer in Wales Deaths from prostate cancer in the United Kingdom Male actors from Blaenau Gwent