Jimmy Jay

It would only be matter of time before one of his records made it to the coveted number 1 spot. Jimmy Jay had a unique voice; it was a gift to the current crop of impersonators, comedians and karaoke kings! But he also had another side to him; he was a bit of a ladies man, a lothario who couldn’t resist a pretty young thing whether she was available or not. The husband of one of his casual conquests became aware of an incident which took place in Jimmy’s hotel room one night after a performance and tried to warn him off, but Jimmy took no notice, until that is he started receiving threats from the aggrieved partner. Although Jimmy backed off, the warnings kept coming.

Jimmy was due to record the last track of his forthcoming album. He was to travel from his home in Cheshire to a studio in London, but was unable to do so thanks to an unusually heavy spell of snow which brought all forms of transport to a halt. It was arranged for him to go to an unmanned local studio which would be linked to one where his backing band and Sam, his producer would be.

Sam was not happy with the way the recording was going. He had to stop several times and go back over parts which weren’t quite right. “Jimmy” said an exasperated Sam “we decided to hold the same note right through the last line of the chorus”. “But Sam, the score says E, F flat, D, E” 

Sam fell silent. His technician asked him what was wrong. Sam was clearly worried. His technician asked him why. “Jimmy can’t read music” said Sam.

When the police battered down the door of the studio in Chester they were horrified with what they found. A week later, Jimmy’s funeral was a private affair: just a few friends and his family.  He never did make number 1.

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