Episode 3: Chris Charlesworth With Stephanie Myers
Chris Charlesworth
Chris Charlesworth began writing about music in 1968 as a reporter on the ‘Telegraph & Argus’, the evening paper published in Bradford in Yorkshire, England. Over the next year or so, Chris began to review albums and concerts and did a few interviews by phone, including one with Jimmy Page talking about his hopes for a new group he’d formed with the unusual name of Led Zeppelin.
From May 1970 to February 1977, Chris worked as Melody Maker’s News Editor and, in 1973, their US Correspondent based firstly in LA and then, for three years, New York. He interviewed just about every major rock performer of the era, from John Lennon and Paul McCartney on downwards. He became quite close to a few groups, most notably The Who and Slade, and was also in at the beginning of the New York CBGBs scene, befriending Debbie Harry before she and Chris Stein formed Blondie.
After ‘Melody Maker’, Chris hung on in New York, working for Sir Productions, which managed The Who’s US affairs, Rolling Stones tours, and also Lynyrd Skynyrd. The Skynyrd plane crash in late 1977 put the kibosh on that, so he came back to the UK and got a job at RCA Records in London, doing PR for, among others, David Bowie. He left RCA to become a freelance writer and wrote books, three of which were published by Omnibus Press, for whom he became editor in 1983. He has written 12 books, among them biographies on The Who, David Bowie, Deep Purple, Slade, Cat Stevens, and Elvis, and edited hundreds more.
Chris is now semi-retired but has a music blog called Just Backdated and does odd bits of editing work for anyone who asks.
Stephanie Myers
Stephanie Myers is co-host, with Stephanie Peña, of the podcast Stephanie & Stephanie Talk Tunes. The show shares the memories and the stories connected to the music that’s shaped their lives. You can find all of their episodes at stephaniestalktunes.com, or wherever you get your podcasts.
About This Episode
Credit: Brett Jordan / Flickr
HIGHLIGHTS:
In this episode of Rock is Lit, Chris Charlesworth talks about Elvis’ Gold Records album, when Chris’ dad took him to see The Beatles in England in 1963, seeing The Who with Keith Moon on drums, what he’d ask Elvis if he could, one of the inspirations for his novel 'Caught in a Trap: The Kidnapping of Elvis'—the novel 'The Fan Club' by Irving Wallace, published in 1974—and the research Chris did on Elvis for his novel, mixing fact with fiction, the significance of the year 1975 for Elvis and in 'Caught in a Trap', Elvis’ relationship with his manager Colonel Tom Parker, the Memphis Mafia, what it might have been like for Elvis if he’d been able to step outside his insulated bubble, what the Baz Luhrmann movie about Elvis got right and wrong.
In the final segment, Stephanie Myers talks about real-world examples of kidnap plots against Elvis, including one that happened in the mid-1970s in Las Vegas and an attempt to rob Elvis’ grave after his death.
ELVIS SONGS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
"That's Alright, Mama"
"Kentucky Rain"
"Suspicious Minds"
"Burnin' Love"
LINKS:
Chris Charlesworth’s blog, ‘Just Backdated’
Chris Charlesworth's reviews and interviews on Rock's Backpages
Chris Charlesworth, Instagram
Stephanie & Stephanie Talk Tunes podcast
Stephanie & Stephanie Talk Tunes, Instagram
Stephanie & Stephanie Talk Tunes, Twitter
Rock is Lit mascot Wyatt gives ‘Caught in a Trap: The Kidnapping of Elvis’ four paws up!
