Episode 040 - Seven Inches Of History 002 - Michael Holliday - Starry Eyed

One week at the top, a lifetime of sadness behind the smile.

The first brand new number one of the 1960s belonged to a man from Liverpool with a voice like warm honey and a stage name chosen for its lightness. Michael Holliday. It suited him perfectly. What it didn't tell you was anything about the anxiety and depression that shadowed every step of his career.

"Starry Eyed" went to number one on January 24th 1960, held off the blocks for one week before Anthony Newley came along and nudged it aside. One week sounds brief. In a chart as competitive as early 1960s Britain, one week at the top was no small thing.

Holliday had built his career on a voice that drew inevitable comparisons to Bing Crosby, warm and unhurried, perfectly suited to the kind of professional pop that Norrie Paramor produced for him at Columbia Records. "Starry Eyed" was exactly that kind of record. Bright, melodically comfortable, performed with a ease that concealed how much work had gone into making it sound effortless. His second number one, following "The Story of My Life" in 1958, and a reminder that before the beat groups arrived, this was what British pop sounded like at its best.

The sadder part of the story is what came after. The commercial tide was turning. The 1960s had different ideas about what pop should sound like, and the warm baritone crooner wasn't part of them. Holliday died in 1963, at thirty-eight. The inquest returned an open verdict.

Seven Inches of History tells all of it. The hits, the stories, the people behind the records. These are Rainbow Valley's bite-size episodes, short and focused, dropping into the main feed as the series works its way through every UK number one of the decade.

Listen to this episode and everything else Rainbow Valley has made at https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/rainbowvalley and follow us at @rv_podcast

#MichaelHolliday #StarryEyed #SevenInchesOfHistory #RainbowValleyPodcast #UKNumberOne #BritishPop #1960s #PopHistory