I Am A Moderately Good Singer. I

My Son's Full Real Name Is Duncan Zowie Haywood. As A Toddler He Was Called By His Second Name Zowie. But It Was Such An Identifiable Name During The Seventies That If I Called Him Loudly In Public Places, Everyone Would Turn To Stare, So I Started Calling Him Joey To Take The Pressure Off. It Has The Same Sound And Number Of Syllables As Zowie. And Joe Stuck For Most Of His Childhood. Now He Has Reverted To His Real Name, Duncan. Haywood Was My Father's Name.

At No Point Did I Ever Doubt I Would Be As Near As Anybody Could Be To England's Elvis Presley. Even From Eight Or Nine Years Old, I Thought, Well, I'll Be The Greatest Rock Star In England. I Just Made Up My Mind.

I Started Playing Around With Local Rock Band Swith The Alto. And Then, In A Nutshell, Somebody Fell Ill One Night, The Lead Singer Of One Of The Bands, And They Knew I Could Sing, So They Asked Me If I Would Stand In. And I Quite Enjoyed It, Actually, I Must Say, At 14. It Was A Real Trip To Have Girls Wave At You And Smile And Everything Just Because You Opened Your Mouth And Sang.

1961 Was When I Was Really Into Clothes. I Left School At 15 And Started Copying A Bloke Who Used To Go Up On The Train To London With Me; Leslie, I Think His Name Was. He Was Like, Top Mod Of His Own Area. He Wore Italian Jackets With White Linen Jeans. Boy, Was That Cool! I Mean, That's In Style Now - It's Very Much The L.a. Look. But He Was Wearing It Then, And It Looked Supercool.

I Don't Live For The Stage. I Don't Live For An Audience.