Shakin' Stevens
| Shakin' Stevens | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael Barratt |
| Also known as | Shaky |
| Born |
4 March 1948 Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales |
| Genres | Rock and roll |
| Years active | 1968–present |
| Labels | Epic |
| Associated acts | Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets |
| Website | shakinstevens |
Michael Barratt (born 4 March 1948), known as Shakin' Stevens, is a platinum-selling British rock and roll singer and songwriter who was the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s. His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although it was not until 1980 that his commercial success began.
In the UK alone, Stevens has charted 33 Top 40 hit singles including four chart-topping hits "This Ole House", "Green Door", "Oh Julie", and "Merry Christmas Everyone"; his last Top 40 single was "Trouble" in 2005 apart from his Christmas song, which has re-entered the UK Top 40 chart each December since 2007.
Michael Barratt, who would later adopt the stage name "Shakin' Stevens", was the youngest of 11 children born to Jack and May Barratt.His father was a First World War veteran who by 1948 was working in the building trade, having previously worked as a coal miner. The oldest of his siblings were born in the mid 1920s, and by the time of his birth some of them were already married and had children of their own. Jack Barratt died in 1972, aged 75, while May lived until 1984, dying at age 79.
He grew up in Ely, Cardiff, and as a teenager in the mid-1960s he formed his first amateur rock and roll band with school friends and became its vocalist and frontman. Originally named the Olympics, then the Cossacks, the short-lived band finally renamed as the Denims and performed gigs in the local Cardiff and South Wales area. In the late 1960s Stevens was associated with the Young Communist League (YCL), the youth wing of the Communist Party of Great Britain through playing at YCL events. At the time the YCL was associated with several leading music industry figures, including Pete Townshend.
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