' HAPPY HEAVENLY BIRTHDAY JOE'
31st May 2024
Remembering Joe today on what would have been Joe’s 69th birthday. One of the UK’s greatest ever entertainers, ‘incomparable’ in ev...
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REMEMBERING JOE 4 YEARS ON
2nd August 2023
Tomorrow 3rd August 2023 very sadly marks four years since Joe passed on back in 2019. Warm and cherished memories live on forever with ever...
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21
Aug
Aug
MEMORIAL FOR JOE
The enormous showing of everyone’s love and appreciation of Joe and his incomparable talent and genius over the days since he passed on 3rd August 2019 and at his funeral processions, firstly in Hull before his Requiem Mass and burial in Blackpool is so deeply & lovingly appreciated by Jamie and all the family.
In the days following Joe’s passing, his instructions to Jamie were followed to the letter and he was indeed honoured as he had wished. He went home to his beloved ‘Hessle Road’ before the public funeral service in Blackpool and being laid to rest in Layton Cemetery.
He was a true ‘man of the people’ in every sense of the word and he lived the most incredible, amazing life. A career in entertainment of over 50 years with 31 summer seasons in Blackpool, his adopted home town, is unrivalled. It’s of the utmost importance now to have a lasting memorial to the ‘Incomparable Joe Longthorne MBE’.
Joe was never keen on anything static in memorial to him and he always enjoyed travelling around. It is with this in mind and after much thought, Jamie has decided to commission a bronze statue in memory of Joe.
In tribute to him, the statue will be hopefully toured to many of the theatres Joe performed at during his career, with an expected completion date for the statue of early in 2020.
He dearly appreciates the various petitions & efforts which have been raised recently in Joe’s memory, however , he now asks that everyone will unite behind these plans.
21
Aug
Aug
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK
I have known Joe for a very long time.
He’s the ultimate come back kid and I find it very hard to even say the word WAS and put a full stop, rather than a dot...dot...dot.
No matter the painful struggle to stay well and working, he was always prayed for and in our thoughts for his next moment in the spotlight, where he was so brilliantly entertaining and emotionally connected .
I feel the world has lost one of the most gifted entertainers who combined his powerful and deeply emotional singing and stories as well as being able to throw us into an evening with world renowned superstars by his amazing impressions.
In my experience of knowing Joe, he has always been a very caring human being, even under the severe condition of his illness, he never failed to give his utmost in every performance. He was the king of “the show must go on.”
God bless you Joe. You may have left us but I’m sure you are rousing up some talented musicians and putting a set list together, but rest awhile first. Pick a spectacular cloud and rest.
You deserve it!
You will always remain in our hearts and until we all meet again, send us a little sunshine now and again.
Until then .... thanks to the songs you left behind, your music and showmanship will be watched and listened to by the wonderful and faithful friends who have followed you all the days of your life in the spotlight and the days before, when you were destined to become who you became.
You ARE missed!
Your Friend,
Engelbert.
21
Aug
Aug
DAME BARBARA WINDSOR
I was very lucky years ago when Joe agreed to do a duet with me on an album I recorded. Not only was he a lovely man I had known over many years, he was also a huge talent!
We sang ”You can’t take that away from me”.... !! God rest his soul and one thing they could never take away from Joe, was his incredible voice.
Much love Barbara Windsor xx”
21
Aug
Aug
DON BLACK OBE
"He has been an idol of mine from the first moment I heard him sing. I got goosebumps every time I saw him perform. I always felt proud to know him and when he sang my songs he made them sound better than anyone else.
The world is a poorer place today and I will cling to every precious memory of his friendship and colossal talent."
21
Aug
Aug
LORD JEFFREY ARCHER OF WESTON-SUPER-MARE
"I first heard Joe Longthorne some thirty years ago, when I was standing by a lift at the Café Royal in London, waiting to go home. I strolled across to listen more carefully to a remarkable entertainer, whose magnificent voice held me captivated for the next couple of hours. From that moment, I joined his legion of fans and was fortunate enough to become a friend, as well as an admirer'"
17
Aug
Aug
'MUSTARD SEED' (MATTHEW 17.14-20 READING FROM JOE'S FUNERAL SERVICE
Sharing this morning the Gospel reading from Joe's Funeral Mass...
When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
“O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
We wish to let everyone know that copies of Joe's Order of Service Funeral Booklet will be available very soon, with full details on how to order being published here and on Joe's official Facebook page.
13
Aug
Aug
FAREWELL TO JOE
The funeral cortege will leave Joe’s home in Layton at 11am and proceed through Layton High Street, towards Church Street and past The Music Hall Tavern, Winter Gardens, The Grand Theatre, Viva Blackpool and along the seafront past The North Pier to arrive at The Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church for a full Requiem Mass commencing at 12noon.Traditional funeral dress is requested , this is a public service as Joe wanted.
The burial is to take place in Layton Cemetery shortly afterwards and Jamie and the family would like to invite everyone back to Viva Blackpool to remember Joe in a suitable style which he himself would have approved of. #JoeLongthorne
11
Aug
Aug
11
Aug
Aug
JOE LONGTHORNE MBE FULL DETAILS OF FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS
Here are the full details for Joe’s funeral arrangements which gives everyone in his home city of Hull and his adopted home of Blackpool the opportunity to say their goodbyes to him.
His funeral is to take place over three days starting today Sunday 11th August 2019 when Joe’s cortège will drive to his sister Ann’s house in Hull where he will lay in rest overnight.
Tomorrow Monday 12th August 2019, at 11am , Joe’s funeral procession will proceed around his home streets of Hull . The route will be Cavil Place, Coltman Street, past the Ryder Club and on to Hessle Road where he is be conducted up and down the thoroughfare ,as he himself liked to do whenever he was back home. The procession will then go past his late parents’ home before returning to Heavenly Services Funeral Directors on Hessle Road. Joe will then travel back to Blackpool to rest at home overnight.
On Tuesday 13th August 2019 the funeral cortege will leave Joe’s home in Layton at 11am and proceed through Layton High Street, towards Church Street and past The Music Hall Tavern, Winter Gardens, The Grand Theatre, Viva Blackpool and along the seafront past The North Pier to arrive at The Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church for a full Requiem Mass commencing at 12noon.Traditional funeral dress is requested and this is a public service as Joe wanted.
The burial is to take place in Layton Cemetery shortly afterwards and Jamie and the family would like to invite everyone back to Viva Blackpool to remember Joe in a suitable style which he himself would have approved of.
Please note any floral tributes you may wish to send for Joe must be at the Funeral Directors by 5pm tomorrow Mon 12 August 2019 their full address is Box Brothers Ltd,13-15 Hawes Side Lane,Blackpool FY4 4AP.
09
Aug
Aug
THE TIMES JOE LONGTHORNE OBITUARY
In the Longthorne household there was a broken television, with no screen, no workings, just the frame. Young Joe would stick his head in it and sing for his mother: “Sugar in the mornin’, Sugar in the evenin’, Sugar at suppertime.” She would applaud and tell him that one day he was going to be a star.
It seems there was never a time when Longthorne did not sing. “Singing is the thing that makes me want to live,” he wrote in his autobiography, Sugar in the Morning. “I can remember listening to my mam singing, and then singing myself before learning to walk.”
Longthorne won a talent show when he was four, became a regular on ITV’s Junior Showtime variety programme at 14 and eventually had his own slot on television. He appeared on the Royal Variety Show and played sell-out concerts at the London Palladium and in Las Vegas and Blackpool, where he made his home.
A talented mimic, Longthorne could sing in the style of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Tony Bennett, Barry Manilow, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey and many others. Yet he was also an accomplished singer in his own right, with several hit albums to his name.
Dogged by cancer and ill health for years, he was still singing virtually right up to the end of a rollercoaster life of fame and fortune, drugs, financial problems and tabloid revelations of an illegitimate son who went to jail. Yet Longthorne remained upbeat. “I don’t sing for the money,” he said. “I sing because I want to sing.”
Joseph Patrick Daniel Longthorne was born in 1955 in Hull. The family lived in the Hessle Road area, where many travelling families had settled. His father, Fred, was Romany, a “general dealer” and metalworker who played the piano in local pubs. Joe would go out with his father on the horse and cart, while his mother, Teresa, who was from Irish travelling stock, worked in a fish factory and sang in bars. She had nine children, but only four survived childhood.
His parents’ marriage was described as a “combustible mix”, although Longthorne’s website talks of “a very warm, safe upbringing”. Although they struggled for money, the family always had a working television set — as well as the broken one. Longthorne recalled that they could get rental sets for a week’s free trial and in one year the family tested 52.
He loved dressing up in outfits that he found at his grandmother’s second-hand clothes shop. “I’d wear everything,” he recalled. “Hats, shirts, skirts, trousers, shoes and wigs. There was just so much stuff to play with, to try on and to try out new characters.”
His mother encouraged him to sing and to do impressions, beginning with Al Jolson and, unsurprisingly, Steptoe and Son. He found himself in demand in pubs, old people’s homes and even at funerals, sometimes standing on top of coffins to sing.
He passed an audition for Junior Showtime singing I Believe and playing the spoons, even though he was too young to read the scripts. He spent two years on the show and appeared in a televised version of the pantomime Cinderella. It was only later that he learnt he was dyslexic. He built an adult following on the club circuit in the northeast and then further afield, with his father acting as his manager. His career took off when he reached the final of the ITV talent show Search for a Star in 1981.
Other television appearances followed: he won a Variety Club award as most promising artiste in 1983, was a regular on The Les Dennis Laughter Show and had his own series in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At the peak of his career, however, Longthorne had lymphoma diagnosed. “Cancer is not a word you expect to hear when things are going so well,” he said. “I felt invincible and suddenly out of the blue I felt helpless. I had two choices: to give in or fight. I chose the latter. I got up, dusted myself off and got on with life.”
He went on touring, but struggled with recurrences of cancer. Around the same time financial problems left him on the point of bankruptcy, with more than £1 million of debt. He was also drinking heavily, taking drugs and suffering from depression. He had a nervous breakdown and took an overdose.
Life took a turn for the better when he met James Moran at a party in Blackpool in 1998. Longthorne had realised earlier in his life that he was bisexual and ultimately felt comfortable with it. He is survived by Moran, whom he married quietly in December, and by a son, Ricky Moore, whom he had at 18 with Susan Moore, a factory worker. They were not in regular contact.
In his spare time Longthorne enjoyed sitting in his garden with his cats and free-range chickens and playing music. After concerts he would make a point of meeting his fans, shaking hands and signing autographs. He said he had two mantras: “There’s no business like Joe business” — and “Memories live longer than dreams”.
Joe Longthorne, MBE, singer and musical impressionist, was born on May 31, 1955. He died of cancer on August 3, 2019, aged 64
06
Aug
Aug
JOE LONGTHORNE MBE FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS
We are now able to announce full details for Joe’s funeral arrangements which give everyone in his home city of Hull and his adopted home of Blackpool the opportunity to say their goodbyes to him.
His funeral is to take place over three days starting this Sunday 11th August 2019 when Joe’s cortège will drive to his sister Ann’s house in Hull where he will lay in rest overnight.
On Monday 12th August 2019, at 11am , Joe’s funeral procession will proceed around his home streets of Hull . The route will be Cavil Place, Coltman Street, past the Ryder Club and on to Hessle Road where he is be conducted up and down the thoroughfare ,as he himself liked to do whenever he was back home. The procession will then go past his late parents’ home before returning to Heavenly Services Funeral Directors on Hessle Road. Joe will then travel back to Blackpool to rest at home overnight.
On Tuesday 13th August 2019 the funeral cortege will leave Joe’s home in Layton at 11am and proceed through Layton High Street, towards Church Street and past The Music Hall Tavern, Winter Gardens, The Grand Theatre, Viva Blackpool and along the seafront past The North Pier to arrive at The Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church for a full Requiem Mass commencing at 12noon.Traditional funeral dress is advisable and this is a public service as Joe wanted.
The burial is to take place in Layton Cemetery shortly afterwards and Jamie and the family would like to invite everyone back to Viva Blackpool to remember Joe in a suitable style which he himself would have approved of.
Please send any floral tributes you may wish to send to Box Brothers Ltd,13-15 Hawes Side Lane,Blackpool FY4 4APto arrive between 3pm-5pm on Monday 12th August2019.
05
Aug
Aug
THE STAGE OBITUARY: JOE LONGTHORNE – ‘ONE OF THE BIGGEST LIGHT-ENTERTAINMENT STARS OF HIS GENERATION’
Joe Longthorne, who has died at the age of 64, was one of the biggest light-entertainment stars of his generation, admired within the industry for his powerful voice and professionalism and adored by a devoted fan base.
Born in Hull to performing parents from the travelling community, Longthorne showed an early gift for performing. He won his first talent contest at the age of five with an act showcasing his precocious skills as a singer and impressionist – talents that sustained a professional career over more than 40 years, saw him headlining the London Palladium and the Talk of the Town and acquiring three platinum discs for record sales.
After finding early television fame in the late 1960s with regular appearances on ITV’s children’s talent show, Junior Showtime, he served his apprenticeship on stage on the still thriving club circuit at home and abroad in the early years of the 1970s.
Although possessed of a fine voice of his own, Longthorne’s early act drew attention for his uncanny impersonations of an impressive array of singing stars from the Rat Pack and Elvis Presley to Mick Jagger and Des O’Connor and no less impeccable impressions of Dorothy Squires, Shirley Bassey and Judy Garland. Appearing at the London brasserie Quaglino’s in 1978, The Stage took notice of his “genuine star quality”.
His adult break came with another television talent show, Search for a Star, in 1981. Although narrowly beaten in the final, Longthorne’s newly raised profile saw him return to the club circuit on the cusp of stardom. The following year he headlined his first season at the Talk of the Town.
Recognition of his arrival as “the most outstanding young club and cabaret artist for several years” came with a Club Mirror award as specialist act of the year in 1983 and the Variety Club’s most promising artist accolade in 1984.
Those trophies opened the door to the United States, Longthorne spending the next 18 months there including a lengthy and much admired residency in Chicago. He crossed he Atlantic often in the following years, reaching Las Vegas before the end of the decade.
When he returned to the UK, it was with a more polished and sophisticated act that earned him regular guest appearances on television variety programmes, most notably The Les Dennis Laughter Show.
Longthorne hosted his own eponymous show from 1988-91 and sang the theme song for Johnny Speight’s Eric Sykes-starring The Nineteenth Hole in 1989, when he also made his debut appearance in the Royal Variety Performance, a second following in 1995.
At the peak of his popularity in the first half of the 1990s, Longthorne was declared entertainer of the year by the Club Mirror in 1990, filled the 3,000-plus Royal Albert Hall in 1992, and set a solo artist record with his 19-week season at the Blackpool Opera House in 1993, which set box office tills ringing to the tune of £1.8 million.
Diagnosed with cancer in 1989, he continued to perform, although the illness, combined with what Longthorne described as “bad management advice”, led to mounting financial difficulties and his eventual filing for bankruptcy in 2000.
The same stoicism sustained him through an often debilitating treatment for leukaemia, his season at Blackpool’s Grand Theatre in 2001 demonstrating his still substantial pulling power with ticket receipts of more than £1 million.
When complications set in after a bone marrow transplant in 2005, Longthorne spent a month sedated on an hospital ventilator and, a devout Catholic, was given the last rites by a priest. Just five months later, however, he was back on stage in Blackpool with a nationwide tour quickly following.
He survived a further blow when diagnosed with mouth cancer in 2014, touring shortly afterwards to mark his 60th birthday the following year.
His international appeal stretched from residencies in Las Vegas to headlining the Sydney Opera House and in-demand appearances throughout Europe and in Canada and Cyprus.
From the Variety Club, he received a lifetime achievement award in 2007 and a Silver Heart award in 2010 in recognition of his career-long support for charities, for which he was made an MBE in 2012.
He published an autobiography, Sugar in the Morning (co-written with Chris Berry), in 2015.
Joseph Patrick Longthorne was born on May 31, 1955 and died on August 3. He is survived by his husband and manager, James Moran.
05
Aug
Aug
JOE LONGTHORNE MBE 1955 -2019
We can now let you all know about the outline plans for Joe's funeral arrangements. It will be held over 2 days in Hull and then Blackpool. The exact dates have to be confirmed, once everything is finalised with the authorities concerned and formalities completed.
Joe's very dear friend Leye D Johns at Viva Blackpool has spoken lovingly on BBC Radio Lancashire today https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07hxb5j
and announced the plan. Listen in at 8.25am to catch all Leye's interview.
Joe will spend a night back home in Hull before a horse drawn procession along Hessle Road and into the city before returning to Blackpool for a full town procession and Requiem Mass at The Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church.We will post the exact timings and dates once we have everything confirmed.
Joe loved flowers so please do 'Say It With Flowers' if you are going to pay your respects to 'Our Dear Joe' along the way. There is also a Book of Remembrance at Viva Blackpool's Reception.
03
Aug
Aug
JOE LONGTHORNE MBE 1955-2019
It is with the deepest sadness that we have to announce that the nation’s beloved entertainer Joe Longthorne MBE passed away peacefully in the early hours of today at his cherished home in Blackpool.
Joe died in his bedroom, laying in the arms of his devoted husband of 21 years Jamie, with his rosary beads clutched tight to his chest. He leaves behind sister Ann and brother John. Our deepest sympathies and condolences go out to Jamie and all the family at this sad time.
