Bob Harris first shot to fame as a BBC Radio 1 DJ in the early 1970s, but 56 years later he is celebrating turning 80 and reliving meeting some of the most famous names in music
On Bob Harris at 80: A Life in Music, the DJ shares a treasure chest of amazing memories
Not many kids can boast that their granddad interviewed John Lennon and hung out with David Bowie, Elton John and Marc Bolan, as well as being best mates with Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant. But, as he approaches his 80th birthday on Saturday, ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris’s six grandchildren can.
Now, in a two hour birthday celebration, Bob Harris at 80: A Life in Music, he shares a treasure chest of amazing memories from a lifetime of adventures – as well as a playlist of special records – with his Radio Two colleague Zoe Ball. Zoe introduces him, saying: “We are here to raise a glass to a broadcasting legend, a man whose voice is smoother than a perfectly poured pint.” He replies: “I don’t feel 80. I think I’m still that teenager buying singles from the local record shop.”
Bob, who has eight children by four different partners, lives in Steventon, Oxfordshire, with his wife and manager Trudie Myersough-Harris, 61. The presenter of Radio Two’s Bob Harris Country and Sound of the 70s, he says: “Eighty is the new 60.”
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Growing up in Northampton, the son of a policeman, Bob left school rather than face the cane, after being reported to the headmaster for having a shandy in the pub and agreed with his dad he’d join the police cadets and give it everything until he turned 19.
He kept his word but, at 19 he moved into a shared house in north London’s Hampstead with his art student pal John Bird and a coterie of bohemian young people. There, he collaborated on a university magazine and became co-creator of Time Out magazine.
Touting some copies of the mag to a shop called Music Land in London’s Merrick Street, he showed a copy to the chap behind the counter, who was none other than Elton John.
He recalls:“That was Elton in the summer. Earning a bit of extra money ’cause he was still doing sessions. And he reached under the counter and gave me a copy of Empty Sky.” It was the start of a lifelong friendship.
But Bob’s heart lay not in print, but in music broadcasting and, with the help of BBC producer Jeff Griffin, who invited him to do a pilot for Radio One, he was soon living the dream.
At first, Bob became holiday cover for another DJ, but his skill soon earned him his own show – Sounds of the Seventies … the first time around! He laughs: “It’s [come] full circle!”
And the show cemented his friendship with music icons including David Bowie. He says: “Marc Bolan and David used to come over to our place and just hang out.” His voice even featured on Memory of a Free Festival on Bowie’s Space Oddity album. And he went on the road with Marc Bolan and T Rex.
He says: “Marc loved me being around him. Even when he began to get genuinely really, really famous. He liked having me by his side. Marc invited me to go out on tour with the band when they hit number one with Hot Love.” Recalling how the police had to hold screaming fans back, he says: “It was like Beatlemania, I’m not kidding.”
Bob’s next great adventure was in 1972, presenting TV’s coolest music show, The Old Grey Whistle Test. He says: “I got a call from Mike Appleton [the producer] saying, do you wanna do it? Honestly, that was it. Mike, still to this day, I think of him as being one of the most important people in my entire life.”
Keen to get his musician pals on the show, he knew one would be Elton John. He says: “When I started on Radio One and then started on Whistle Test, obviously, on both those programmes, I supported Elton just massively. I was talking to him about it not that long ago and he said, ‘we had so much fun then didn’t we?’”
Other big names featuring in Bob’s story are Mike Oldfield, creator of the masterful Tubular Bells album and the Beach Boys – who he was sent to LA to interview for Radio One in 1974 – but he couldn’t pin singer songwriter Brian Wilson down.
Far more auspicious was Elton John’s introduction to John Lennon, who was to join him on stage in 1975 at Madison Square Gardens in the US.
At Elton’s suggestion, Lennon called Bob out of the blue, inviting him to the US and telling him: “Don’t worry about a contract. I don’t want a contract. Just come over. We’ll do some filming.”
Telling him the BBC would require a contract and offering him a fee of £15, John refused the fee, too. Bob says: “John said, ‘I’ll tell you what, why don’t you bring me over a box of Chocolate Olivers [Huntley & Palmer biscuits].’” In the end, he took him £15 worth and did the interview. He laughs: “There we were walking into JFK airport with this box of Chocolate Olivers. We had such a great time. One of the greatest experiences of my life.”
Leaving the Whistle Test in 1979, Bob admits he was struggling mentally and that his lifestyle “wasn’t great.” He says: “I was famously quoted at the time as saying that ’I’ve become the Ken Barlow of rock.’”
So, it was back to his beloved radio, where he restored his mojo – starting on local stations, becoming great friends with Steve Wright. Then, at the end of the 90s, he took over Roger Scott’s Radio One Sunday evening show, when the highly respected DJ died of cancer.
Since then, Bob has taken a variety of different roles, surviving life’s ups and downs – career-wise and health-wise, with inimitable style.
His tribute interview with Zoe Ball was recorded before his Instagram post last week, informing fans he is taking a break for hospital treatment for the prostate cancer he has bravely shared about. He promises: “I will come back … and come back stronger.”
Diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008, Bob tells Zoe how he was reduced to tears by the sight of his studio, when he first heard his cancer was back. He turned to his friend Robert Plant, 77, for reassurance. He says: “I just absolutely fell apart because I thought ‘I’m maybe never gonna be in the studio ever again.’”
Robert, who was in Rome, told him simply: “You’ll get through this. You know what to do.” Bob’s mantra ever since has been: “Never give up hope.”
The man whose velvety voice earnt him the ‘Whispering’ Bob moniker, was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to music broadcasting. Receiving it at Windsor Castle from Princess Ann, she revealed she listens to his country show. Now Bob is determined to get well and return to his radio shows.
He tells Zoe:”I love the Radio Two family. We are a family. I genuinely do believe that.”
Bob Harris at 80 — A Life in Music is available on BBC Sounds now and Radio 2 will broadcast on 12 April, from 3-5pm
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