Throwback Thursday: My 1st seven single
Vinyl is making a big come-back and record sales are on the rise as CD and digital sales decline in the wake of streaming services like Spotify and Pandora.
In fact, the format has seen 260% growth since 2009. While CDs sit on shelves, vinyl supply is having a hard time keeping up with demand. It may not have seemed possible 10 years ago, but vinyl is back.
My 1st seven single
My beloved grandmother bought me my first seven single at the legendary Dolly’s Record Bar in Brixton. One of the oldest record bars in Johannesburg, Dolly’s was owned and run by Vicky Henning from 1959 when she opened it. It was still going strong in the mid 90s, but beyond that I don’t know. The shop was named after Vicky’s ducktail brother, Dolly who died in a car crash not long after Vicky opened the shop. Many customers called Vicky, Dolly as they did not know it was her brother’s name.
Local teen idol, Jackie Frisco, was born in London in 1946, but came to South Africa as a year old baby when her parents emigrated to the country. At the age of five she entered a talent contest, which she won, and from that day all she thought about was becoming a pop star.
In March 1961 (aged 15) she was invited to sing at a rock jamboree in Johannesburg, and was discovered by Mickie Most who invited her to cut a disc with him and his Playboys. The resulting single, When you ask about love was released in 1962.
Be-Bop-A-Lula, she’s my baby
In later years, one of my gran’s favourite tales was of three-year-old me belting out Gene Vincent’s Be-Bop-A-Lula jiving on the seat of the tram we were travelling on to go to “town” – the Joburg CBD.
A tram in 50s Joburg
Gene Vincent and Jackie Frisco marry
American born rock ‘n roll singer, Gene Vincent, arrived in South Africa in 1961 to do a tour with Mickie Most and his Playboys. He met Jackie Frisco who was Mickie’s sister-in-law, and they got married a few years after she had relocated to the UK in 1962. The couple lived in the US where he died in 1971. Mickie came to South Africa in 1959 to marry Jackie’s older sister, Christine, and stayed to pursue a career as rock ’n roll singer.
