UK Edition
Rockstar Joe Brown: 'The Beatles opened for me but my first job was selling winkles'
Joe Brown MBE, 78, is the singer and entertainer who found fame when A Picture of You by Joe Brown & the Bruvvers reached No 1 on the NME Singles Chart in 1962 – the year the Beatles were briefly his support act.
In Britain he had three top 10 singles and a top 10 album. He has also worked in theatre, film, television and radio. Today, with his wife, Manon, he divides his time between Cropredy, Oxfordshire, and Franklin, near Nashville, Tennessee.
How did your childhood affect your attitude to money?
We lived in Plaistow, east London. I got two bob a week pocket money when I was a kid. My father used to make me put it into this black box and when I was 14 I found out it was the gas meter.
Ever since I could walk I tried to earn money – selling scrap metal I found lying around – because we didn’t have much. It was just after the war and everything was short.
Poor old mum worked in a pub owned by my uncle Joe, my invalid father’s brother, who wasn’t very generous. My father lay in bed all the time while my mum did all the work. So I worked all my life and enjoyed it; still do.
What was your first job?
When I was 11, I’d sell shrimps and winkles off of a barrow I’d push round the East End with this bloke. At night we’d go over to the Blackwall Tunnel to sell jellied eels. I left school at 15 and started an apprenticeship as an electrician. I got £2 10s a week, which didn’t last very long. Then, at 16, I got a job on the railway as a fireman.
Are you a saver or a spender?
I used to try to save. I had some 10‑bob notes in a book. I lost the book. I only spend what I’ve got. I’d hate to be short of money but it wouldn’t bother me if I didn’t have any. I could never figure out if a man had £2m what he’d want with 10.
There’s so much money around and so much poverty it don’t seem right. But I was foolish recently. I bought a new lawnmower on the web without trying to sell the old one.
Do you have Isas?
What’s that?
Have you made any bad financial decisions?
One recently could have been. My pension came of age and I bought a Morgan sports car in America. Trouble is, no one there knows how to repair it. And my wife won’t get in it because it’s made of wood and aluminium. Also as it’s a powerful car it won’t pass the Tennessee emissions test.
Consequently, I can only get it accepted as an antique vehicle, which has a rule that you can only drive it at weekends. And when the hood’s up I can’t get in it, so it’s been a disaster. So now I’ve got this left-hand-drive car to drive around England and I’ve got to get some serious reversing skills.
Have you bought things as investments?
I’ve bought 15 good guitars over the years but nothing for profit. I use Gibson B‑25s on stage. If somebody said to me can I buy your Gibson 25 for 10 grand I’d say no. I’m using it.
A lot of my guitars have been given to me. The first Gibson ES‑335 I bought in 1959 would’ve been worth 20 or 30 grand now if I still had it. And the Les Pauls even more. But I just play them.
A good friend, Alvin Lee, lent me his 1960 335 Gibson to go on tour with because the other musicians were admiring it. And I borrowed it and felt responsible because it didn’t belong to me. When a guy said “Can I put a price on that 20 grand guitar?” I said: “That’s it. It’s going straight back to Alvin.”
Have you ever been ripped off?
Listen mate, I’ve been in this business for 60 bleeding years. Of course I have. Was my two-year contract with my first manager being ripped off? You tell me. The first year, 1959, I got £15 a week; the second I got £30 a week and worked every single night for two years.
Do you receive royalties from your early hits?
As far as I know, I never got any royalties from them. They just disappeared into the great void of management.
What’s the hardest lesson you’ve learnt about money?
Like football and religion, don’t talk about it. If I’m earning enough, I’m quite happy. I don’t go digging round, saying he owes me a pound. And I never lend money. I’d sooner give it. You lend people money, you never hear from them again.
Which of your various areas of work has been most profitable?
What I’m doing now: going out and playing my guitar to a seated theatre audience. I don’t particularly like television. I hate film work – too much hanging about. Recording I’m not that bothered with. I just like to entertain people.
Have you done any lucrative TV adverts?
I did a Woolworths jingle in 1983 for £20,000 – it recently came out on the YouTube thing. I’d never had that kind of money before. But I don’t like the idea of doing commercials. I’d sooner go and play a gig.
A commercial that’s really good can be like a hit record. But if you keep doing them it’s a waste of time. I’m surprised when I see big American stars doing jingles over here. Well, it’s probably the money.
Have your records over the years meant a steady flow of income?
I don’t know how much I’ve made, it doesn’t bother me. But if my manager came to me and said “We’re skint. What are you going to do?” I’d say: “Well, sell a couple of guitars to start with.” Then I’d probably take my ukulele and work the bus queues.
Joe Brown’s 60th anniversary tour begins on Friday. See joebrown.co.uk