This article from The Blackpool Gazette published 11 October
2013.....

Joe Longthorne is not one to put his feet up and take it easy.

The Blackpool entertainer has announced a series of Sunday shows at VIVA, starting next year. Called “Joe Longthorne Presents…” the 58-year-old will stage monthly all-star concerts at the venue with some eye-catching guests already booked in.

Longthorne kicks off the season with a double barrelled weekend of shows on February 8 and 9, with the first show featuring Liza Minnelli’s ex David Gest.

Gest is probably best known in this country for his turbulent marriage to the American actress (which lasted less than a year and ended with Gest suing her for $10 million, claiming she had been violent and physically abusive during their marriage … the case was later dismissed).

But a lesser known fact is that the man can sing and he’s bringing to VIVA David Gest’s Legends of Soul Live Concert. As well as Gest himself, the line-up includes Dennis Edwards and Temptations Review, Sheila Ferguson, Eddie Holman, Percy Sledge, Gwen Dickie of Rose Royce, plus a special guest appearance by Longthorne.

The following day (February 9), Longthorne has lined up Richard and Adam, the Welsh classical singers who found fame on Britain’s Got Talent and whose album The Impossible Dream spent ages at number one in the charts earlier in the year.

Lined up for Sunday March 30 is legendary American crooner Buddy Greco, who released his first single in 1946 and is still going strong at the age of 87.

“We’re proud to be bringing these real big name artists to Blackpool,” said VIVA director Martin Heywood. “It’s amazing considering we’re still a new venue on the scene, we’ve only been in town a year, and we hope it will firmly put us on the map.”