Joe Longthorne at home photo by Peter Owen

David Pearce talks to Joe Longthorne about fame, fortune and the MBE he recently received from Prince Charles…..


It was a sunny Saturday afternoon and a childrens’ talent show was underway in the local park. The winner was a six-year-old boy whose rendition of ‘If You Knew Susie’ got the votes.
He chose a yellow plastic toy car for his prize and rejected the alternative – a pound note. That annoyed his sister who told him the family needed the cash.
But now, more than 50 years later, Joe Longthorne still remembers the feeling he experienced for the first time that day as the audience applauded him. It was the launch of a glittering show business career that’s taken him all over the world.
‘You may earn a lot of money but it’s about that feeling you get – the feedback from the audience,’ he says. ‘You give something in your performance and they give something back in reply. That’s the buzz for me.’
Joe has a large and loyal army of fans and they’re not all ladies of a certain age. ‘They are friends to me,’ says Joe who is currently working an eight date tour in America. We are a team because some people who like what I do on stage have been very generous towards the charities I have supported. It’s a great thing about show business that it gives us the chance to help good causes.’
He calls Blackpool his adopted home town and his latest charity focus is on providing equipment for a ward at the town’s Victoria Hospital, but Joe has also contributed a great deal to causes as diverse as medical research, a hospital in Nepal, and the Prince’s Trust which helps young people in this country get a better start in life.
So he was doubly pleased when it was Prince Charles who presented him with the MBE at Buckingham Palace last year. ‘I think of it as a great honour but a lot of other people have joined with me in working for charity and we’ll do more in the future.’
There was no silver spoon start in life for Joe. He was born in Hull where his 89-year-old mother, Teresa Longthorne, still lives. He grew up in a family of nine children in the Hessle Road area. His forebears had been travelling people and he enjoyed riding a horse and cart with his father, a general dealer, his mother processed fish.
‘My dad rescued an old upright piano on bonfire night. He could play very well by ear and I learned the same way. I can’t read music. My mother was a good singer and I was always singing. I told them at school I was going to be a singer. Mind you, I wasn’t there a lot. I used to go now and again to see if it was still there. I never pass a busker without giving something. My mum and dad did that to get money for the family.’
At 14 Joe won Yorkshire Television’s Junior Showtime and began to learn his craft as an entertainer in pubs and clubs across the North of England. In 1981 he won London Weekend Television’s Search for a Star with his blend of singing and impressions. In 1985 the Variety Club voted him the ‘Most Promising Artist of the Year.’
He found huge acclaim in Australia, played the London Palladium and featured in the Royal Command Performance.
It was a brilliant time. You have to have a bit of fun in life and I had plenty. Substantial amounts of money were coming in. I had a massive house near the Thames, a yellow Rolls Royce – it looked like a banana on wheels - all the trappings.
But there was a dark side to Joe’s life. In 1989 he was diagnosed with lymphoma, a form of cancer affecting the blood. Not a man to quit easily, Joe soldiered on.
He admits: ‘I am no saint and my slate hasn’t always been clean. Drinking a lot got me into trouble when I was younger. I started smoking when I was 18 and I still do. Maybe I’ll quit this year, but I would never encourage anyone else to smoke.’
Working in America, Joe went back to his family roots and travelled widely in motor homes and caravans. ‘I always found that a very relaxing way of life.’
He enjoyed gambling. One night in Atlantic City there was a pot of 35,000 dollars on the card table. ‘I carried on playing but I also started drinking during the game. It all went.’
In the Nineties, financial problems loomed and Joe became bankrupt. ‘I had some so called advisers who had all been to the same school. When you are earning a lot you soon find people who want to tell you what to do with the money. I didn’t get the best advice.’
In 2006, cancer struck again and Joe received a bone marrow transplant which saved his life when leukaemia – another form of blood disorder – was diagnosed. The following year the Variety Club gave him a lifetime achievement award so that he joined the elite ranks of performers like Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland.
He’s made albums and music videos and received gold and platinum discs, although you won’t find them on show at his home, a rambling old detached house in the heart of Blackpool where chickens share the garden with his Labrador dog.
‘I’ve always been a people person. When I was kid I used to play and sing for senior citizens and I used to take my dog with me. They liked that. I never looked for a medal or a reward for it.’
At 57, Joe admits: ‘I have been foolish, sometimes, in my life. But I would not change any of it. My health is good and I have no intention of retiring. I’m optimistic about myself and the future.’

Watching a showbusiness legend.....this from Journalist Robin Duke, former entertainments editor of The Gazette, Blackpool, who spent nearly 40 years writing about the numerous stars who have appeared in the resort,a confirmed Joe Longthorne fan, he writes: I first saw Joe Longthorne on the opening night of his North Pier Theatre debut many years ago. It was the first time a summer season headliner had received a spontaneous standing ovation from the entire audience and it was easy to see why he received one with his then unique and remarkable ability to perform vocal impressions of dozens of performers - including his now famous Shirley Bassey/Tom Jones duet.
Since that night I have seen him perform enough times to be considered almost a JL groupie. I’ve seen him perform in huge venues eg Blackpool Opera House), social clubs like Layton Institute, cafe bars and cabaret outlets and he always - in sickness and in health - gives his all.
His legion of fans have stuck with him through thick and thin, not exactly throwing their underwear but always on hand with bunches of flowers, boxes of chocolates, bottles of champagne and stronger stuff, even shoes and suits. In return they are treated as friends of the family.
Today’s JL show features his own voice as much as his impressions and again it’s one of the best in the business - not always easy to explain to a generation which finds it difficult to comprehend that anyone outside of the ‘X Factor’ or ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ can have both an X factor and talent to spare. I’ve had the privilege to see him fronting a full orchestra and also to see him singing solo behind a piano. There aren’t many legends left but he’s one of them.”


This interview reproduced here with the kind permission of The Lancashire and North West Magazine first published in March 2013 edition,photograph by Peter Owen.

Joe Longthorne with his MBE at Buckingham Palace Dec 2013

Joe Longthorne receiving his MBE from HRH Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace Dec 13 2013