John Edward Flux, (31 October 1945 – 23 October 2021) professionally known as Johnny Edward, was a British

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

, writer and

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

, also known as the creator of the children's television character

Metal Mickey Metal Mickey is a fictional five-foot-tall robot, as well as the name of a Spin-off (media), spin-off television show starring the same character. The robot character was created, controlled and voiced (using a Vocoder) by Johnny Edward. The ...

Career

Musician

He was born in

Gillingham, Kent Gillingham ( ) is a town in Kent, England, which forms a conurbation with neighbouring Chatham, Kent, Chatham, Rochester, Kent, Rochester, Strood and Rainham, Kent, Rainham. It is the largest town in the borough of Medway and in 2020 had a populat ...

, England. As a

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

, Flux joined the R&B group

The Manish Boys David Bowie was an English singer-songwriter and musician who started his career as a member of a band called the Konrads, under the name David or Davie Jones, in 1962. Since starting his solo career in 1964, his solo band has gone under many n ...

, whose lead singer became David Jones, later known as

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

. Billed as John "Purpleknees" Edward, in March 1965

Parlophone Records Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

released " I Pity The Fool", a

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 a

Bobby Bland Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer. Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was describ ...

song. With Bowie focused on numerous projects, and the single unsuccessful, the group broke up.

Pirate DJ

Flux and saxophonist Woolf Byrne joined

pirate radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...

station Radio City. Based at Shivering Sands Army Fort, his theme tune was

The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters between 1958 and 1959) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the pre-Beatles era from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. They served as the bac ...

tune "Sweet Dreams". After successfully applying for a position at

Wonderful Radio London Radio London, also known as Big L and Wonderful Radio London, was a top 40 (in London's case, the "Fab 40") offshore commercial station that operated from 23 December 1964 to 14 August 1967, from a ship anchored in the North Sea, off Frin ...

, he agreed with the programme director Ben Toney to start in November 1965, billed as ''John Edward'' – his Christian names. Never having a regular slot, he stayed with the station until July 1966.

Instant Sound

During the late 1960s / early 1970s, he ran The John Edward Entertainment Agency with his wife Sue and booked such bands a
Heatwave
with; John Fellows , Terry Shea , Richard Steen , Martin Samuel and Peter Allatt . John wrote and produced the Heatwave single, 'Sister Simon (Funny Man)' b/w 'Rastus Ravel (Is A Mean Old Man)' (PEN 738) released on Larry Page's

Penny Farthing Records Penny Farthing Records was a British independent record label, established in 1969 by the British record producer Larry Page as a progression from his mildly successful 1960s record label, Page One Records. The label signed some artists of note. ...

label for his company, Instant Sound Productions. The single featured

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his prolific solo career. AllMusic describes Wakema ...

on keyboards and

Doris Troy Doris Troy (born Doris Elaine Higginsen; January 6, 1937 – February 16, 2004) was an American R&B singer and songwriter, known to her fans as "Mama Soul". Her biggest hit was " Just One Look", a top 10 hit in 1963. Life and career She was ...

with Maggie Stredder, Gloria George and Marian Davis, The Ladybirds, as back-up singers. Both sides of the record were aired on Radio Seagull by Paul Stiles on his 01/25/2012 Midweek Madness show.

Hollywood Records

Returning to the music business, he set up independent label Hollywood Records as a vehicle through which to write and produce his own songs via a series of unattached artistes. Being a

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

man, Edward hated the soft-

kitsch ''Kitsch'' ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as Naivety, naïve imitation, overly eccentric, gratuitous or of banal Taste (sociology), taste. The modern avant-garde traditionally opposed kitsch ...

style of production at that time in the early 1970s, and wrote the kitsch-Italian '' Save Your Love'' stating that ''"the song was written as a joke, to give the finger to

Save Your Kisses For Me "Save Your Kisses for Me" is a song recorded by British group Brotherhood of Man, written by Tony Hiller with band members Lee Sheriden and Martin Lee. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 1976 held in The Hague, winning the contest. The song be ...

Brotherhood of Man Brotherhood of Man were a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s with three number one hits in the UK. They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with " Save Your Kisses for Me". Created in 1969 by songwriter and record producer ...

among other tracks that made me chew the carpet"''. In 1975, he heard West Midlands-resident Italian

waiter Waiting staff (British English, BrE), waiters () / waitresses (), or servers (AmE) are those who work at a restaurant, a diner, or a Bar (establishment), bar and sometimes in private homes, attending to customers by supplying them with food an ...

Renato Pagliari audition for ITV's talent show ''

New Faces ''New Faces'' is a British television talent show that aired in the 1970s and 1980s. It has been hosted by Leslie Crowther, Derek Hobson and Marti Caine. It was produced for the ITV network by ATV, and later by Central. Original series: ...

.'' Teaming Pagliari with British-born female singer Hilary Lester, Edward renamed them

Renée and Renato Renée and Renato were a female/male vocal duo, who had a UK number-one hit in December 1982 with " Save Your Love". The follow-up single " Just One More Kiss" peaked at No. 48. Their third single, "Jesus Loves Us All", failed to reach the UK ...

to record the song. "Save Your Love" entered the UK Singles Chart in October 1982 at number 54. However, it began to pick up sales during the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

period, and seven weeks after its debut was at the top of the chart, resulting in it being played on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'' and many

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

s. Lester, whom by now Edward had placed in another Hollywood Records band, did not appear in the

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

, replaced by a more-Italianate looking model. "Save Your Love" was a UK Number one

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

, remaining at the top of the chart for four weeks before being knocked off by

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...

' "

You Can't Hurry Love "You Can't Hurry Love" is a song originally recorded by the Supremes on the Motown label. It was released on July 25, 1966 as the second single (music), single from their studio album ''The Supremes A' Go-Go''. Written and produced by Motown p ...

". It was the first song produced by an

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

to ever reach the UK Number one position. The Edwards written contractually enforced follow-ups, "Just One More Kiss" stalled at Number 48, and "Jesus Loves Us All" did not chart, breaking the duo up. Edward recorded a special Radio London Fab 40 countdown at Christmas 2005.

Metal Mickey

Edward created the 1960s inspired robot

. Voiced by Edwards with a

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

of "boogie, boogie, boogie", his favourite treat was Atomic Thunderbusters, which had the appearance of lemon

bonbon A bonbon, sometimes bon-bon, is a small chocolate confection. They are sometimes filled with liqueur or other sweet alcoholic drinks and sold wrapped in colored foil. Ingredients Through the Western world, bonbons are usually small candies but v ...

s. First shown on the

Southern Television Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited. However, in 1966, during the application pr ...

produced '' The Saturday Banana'' in 1978, friend and former

The Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), Th ...

drummer

Micky Dolenz George Michael Dolenz Jr. ( ; born March 8, 1945) is an American musician and actor. He was the drummer and one of two primary vocalists for the pop rock band the Monkees (1966–1970, and reunions until 2021), and a co-star of the TV series ''T ...

picked up the rights to produce and then direct the first episodes of '' The Metal Mickey TV Show.'' Set in a family-home environment with the grandmother played by

Irene Handl Irene Handl () (27 December 1901 – 29 November 1987) was a British character actress who appeared in more than 100 British films; she also wrote novels. Life Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the younger of two daughters of an Aus ...

, the show had a peak ITV Saturday teatime viewing figure of 12 million people, and ran for three series from 1980 to 1983.

Death

Edward was working on relaunching Metal Mickey to new audiences, with his former voicing/operator role taken over by Liverpudlian actor Lee Jackson, supported by his on-screen wife Yvonne Delahaye. Edward died in 23 October 2021 at age 75.

References

External links

Metal Mickey official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edward, Johnny 1945 births 2021 deaths British male guitarists Pirate radio personalities Offshore radio broadcasters British record producers British television writers British male television writers British male songwriters