He’s eaten home made biscuits with John Lennon, made a friend of David Bowie and chatted with Ozzy Osbourne on the Prince of Darkness’s LA sofa. Veteran broadcaster Nicky Horne has interviewed, hung out with – and on one occasion got a late night apology from – some of the world’s biggest stars.
Now he’s bringing that lifetime of experience to viewers of a new series for Rewind TV, revealing the little known stories behind some of the biggest music videos across the decades. Explains Nicky, 76, who also presents a daily Boom Radio show: “I am incredibly lucky to be doing something I love at this stage in my career.
“I’m thrilled to be able to play some of the greatest music videos ever made with this new project – it’s everything I know and am passionate about. Nostalgia is very in at the moment. People like to look back, but younger fans love them too. It’s a voyage of discovery. Some of the stories behind them that I’ve come to know are amazing – a real insight into a time and place.”
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One the most personal to London born Nicky is the video to the 1985 track Take Me Home by Phil Collins. It’s not the film itself but a reminder that, if it hadn’t been for the broadcaster’s larynx, the singer songwriter might never have made the video – or become a star.
Remembers Nicky: “When I was 13 I auditioned for the part of the Artful Dodger in the West End production of Oliver. My mum answered an ad that had been placed in the paper by the Barbara Speake Stage School in London. I sang My Old Man’s a Dustman and I provisionally got the part and started rehearsals. Then my voice broke, plus I discovered I couldn’t dance – and I was fired. The producers asked my agent at the school – a lady called Mrs Collins – if she knew anyone else and she said ‘my boy Phil’s good’. And that was that. Phil knows the story and, over the years, I’ve jokingly reminded him he owes it all to me!”
Another of his favourite anecdotes involves the video to Elton John’s 1983 smash hit I’m Still Standing. Says Nicky: “It was filmed in Cannes. It’s a great video, but it took some doing because Duran Duran were staying nearby and thought it would be funny to get Elton drunk before the cameras rolled. They offered him martini after martini and Elton got blind drunk. He then duly arrived on set, promptly took off all his clothes and told the director to start shooting. The director thought it best to ignore him. Arlene Phillips was the choreographer – not sure what she made of it!”
Nicky says his love of music came from his dad, who boasted a record collection spanning everything from opera to big bands. As a teenager, he discovered radio, listening to Radio Luxembourg late at night, and began playing records at school dances and for mobile discos.
After a stint with British Forces Broadcasting Service, Nicky became an assistant to radio presenter Emperor Rosko, one of the launch DJs for Radio 1. From there, his career soared. He learned radio techniques from Alan ‘Fluff’ Freeman – “a man with incredible warmth” – and became friends with Kenny Everett.
Nicky went on to become a mainstay of Radio 1, Radio 2 and Capital Radio, interviewing some of the world’s biggest stars, including The Beatles. Just before the band filmed the video for Paperback Writer, he says Paul McCartney had a motorbike accident, cutting his upper lip badly and cracking a tooth. Says Nicky: “So he grew a moustache to cover things up. And then the other Beatles followed suit – suddenly they all had hair on their upper lips!”
But one of the most memorable encounters of Nicky’s career was with John Lennon. He says: “It was Kenny Everett who got an interview with John. He knew Lennon wanted to talk about ‘heavy stuff,’ so off I went to New York. I was terrified, but knocked on his door at the Dakota Building. Lennon opened it and said, ‘I knew you were coming – I’ve just baked some cookies’. We sat on the floor in his living room – white carpet, white piano, white sofa – and chatted. I tried not to get crumbs everywhere. He worked hard to put me at my ease. He was remarkable.”
It was in this 1975 interview that Lennon claimed he was under surveillance by the US government, believing his phones had been tapped – claims which were later found to have substance. A fan of the band Queen, Nicky has also interviewed Brian May a number of times.
“I can’t watch the video for the song Breakthru without worrying – the band are playing on an open air platform being pulled at some speed along a windy Nene Valley Railway in Cambridgeshire,” he says. “This was 1989. I don’t know what health and safety would say about it now. No wonder the band were all insured for £2m.”
Nicky relishes the small details and nuggets of information often missed in music videos and their soundtracks, including the fact that animation giants Aardman co-created the groundbreaking 1986 video for Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer. He explains: “Peter Gabriel saw the potential of videos from the very beginning – it was groundbreaking stuff and amazing to think that years later the people working on it with him gave the world Wallace and Gromit.”
“Meanwhile, if you listen to the recording of Simon and Garfunkel’s The Boxer you’ll keep hearing a metallic clank noise. That’s because there was a lift shaft outside the studio which never operated at night – except for the night they recorded that song. So this brilliant track is accompanied by the noise of a lift going up and down!”
But it was the late night sound of a ringing telephone which led to his stand-out career memory and a friendship with a music icon famed for his theatrical and visionary music videos. Says Nicky: “I was at Capital and flew to Toronto to interview David Bowie. But days went by and it never happened. We even flew on to Seattle to try to talk to him to no avail.
“The trouble was I had told everyone on air I was interviewing Bowie, so then had to come back and say there was no interview. The bosses went mad, I was accused of bringing the station into disrepute and almost suspended. Then a few weeks later I was at home in bed, the phone rang and a bloke said: ‘hello, it’s David’. I didn’t believe it at first.
“He’d heard what had happened to me, apologised and promised an exclusive interview when he was next in London. And he kept his word. He even brought a signed poster along as a gift. We became friends. Bowie was very special, almost otherworldly. Someone said that the world has never been the same since he left us and that really resonates with me.”
As he prepares to bring a lifetime of anecdotes to a TV audience, he is clear about what he would tell his younger self – the boy listening to pirate radio under the bedsheets. I’d say, ‘follow your dreams’ – it’s amazing where they’ve taken me.”
* The Nicky Horne Jukebox starts on Rewind TV on Monday 2nd November at 9am. Watch on Freeview 81, Freely 141, Freesat 164 and Sky 182.
VIDEO CAPTIONS IF NEEDED Paperback Writer
Paul McCartney fell off his motorbike just before filming for the Paperback Write video and, says Nicky, later grew a moustache to hide the scar.
Phil Collins
Nicky jokes Phil Collins got his showbusiness break after replacing the broadcaster in the musical Oliver as a child.
I’m Still Standing – Elton John
Nicky reveals how Duran Duran got Elton John drunk while filming the I’m Still Standing video in Cannes.
Sledgehammer – Peter Gabriel
Wallace and Gromit creators Aardman collaborated with Peter Gabriel on the award winning video for his hit Sledgehammer, says Nicky
The Boxer – Simon and Garfunkel
According to Nicky sharp-eared fans can hear the sound of the studio lift on the recording of this 1969 hit.
Breakthru – Queen
The band had to be insured for £2m ahead of filming on the back of a speeding train, Nicky reveals.
Ends
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