Rock of the North

If you are from an area of the country that has a distinct identity, back in the day and even now, to a degree in these more homogeneous days, there was much reflected pleasure when someone from your area became famous or, perhaps more pertinently, became renowned. I know this was the case in the UK, but I’m sure it was in other countries.
Being from the northeast of England, which 50 years ago was still a place of hard, polluting industry with its own character defined by its bonhomie and its fondness for a good time, it felt like anyone from the region was somehow a friend or ally. They had made it out and were to be celebrated.
As soon as I knew about Free, I was shocked that Paul Rodgers was from Middlesbrough which made me even more interested in them. He’d lived about 3 miles from me, as had Chris Rea and Whitesnake’s Micky Moody. David Coverdale was from Saltburn, just about 15 miles away. Claire Hamill was also from Middlesbrough and I was delighted she even featured the transporter bridge on an album cover - a local landmark. Lesley Duncan was from Stockton, she was a backing singer on Dark Side Of The Moon and was one of Britain’s first female singer-songwriters. She died on the Isle Of Mull, y’know. Then there was Eddie Jobson from Billingham, part of Stockton. That he played on the Zappa in New York record and U.K. albums as well as Curved Air, Roxy and Tull seems incredible if you know what Billingham is like.
Of course, there were even more from 45 miles up the road in Newcastle, who we counted as local, even though 45 miles was virtually another country to us. People such as Eric Burden from the Animals, Mark Knopfler, Alan Price, Sting, Paul Thompson and Brian Ferry from Roxy Music, John Miles, Brian Johnson, Lindisfarne and more latterly The Tygers Of Pan Tang, who I sort of knew and used to see around Newcastle a lot when I was a student.
Wasn’t one of The Nice from Newcastle, hence the Five Bridges album? There’s probably a lot more. Janick Gers from White Heat and Iron Maiden is from Hartlepool. If you’re from a big city, it’s probably more common but when you’re from the dirty arse end of nowhere, like me, it seems important, where getting out and getting away is usually much desired, though perhaps less desired than was once the case. I did, aged 18, going to college in Newcastle, yet even now I carry a Teesside identity. I lived there for my formative years, so perhaps it’s unsurprising. Even now when we hear a voice from the area, we sit up and pay extra attention. I can’t quite leave the naïve belief that somehow they are, if not a friend, then an ally in life’s fight and there’s always a sense of vague pride in their achievement. That’s not just a UK thing, is it?

Related Tees...