David Bowie worst gig ever

Record Collector   *Customer gives Public Enemy a lift to an arena gig*

233-235 Fulwood Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S10 3BA
01142 668493

On my first day as a sales rep 35 years ago I travelled to Sheffield to visit Barry Everard, owner of Record Collector, a shop that has had a real impact on the UK music industry.

Barry was brought up in Kettering, in a particularly flat part of England and on leaving school chose to study at Sheffield University primarily because it was a city surrounded by hills. An avid hill walker, he felt it would be the perfect place to study and hike. Barry’s other great passion was music. As well as listening to music he took every opportunity to read about music, purchasing all the music magazines of the day. An opening arose for Barry to join the Entertainments Committee of the University. His role was to publicise the gigs. His first four gigs were the stuff of legends.

Free supported by Uriah Heap - admittance was five shillings (25p)

Deep Purple - admittance ten shillings

Colloseum also charged ten shillings. However, according to Barry due to their dire performance this was nine shillings too much.

The Who charged £1 for tickets in advance, 25 shillings on the night? This led to mass protests around the campus. Many students who had never paid over a £1 for a gig boycotted the band’s performance.

The most memorable gig was when the legendary Roy Harper played Sheffield University’s Christmas ball.

Roy thought it would be a great idea to smash up all the Christmas decorations that the students had lovingly put up earlier in the day.

As Roy smashed down his axe – wielded guitar onto the polystyrene snowmen the students looked on in horror. Some students were so incensed that all their hard work was being treated with such contempt they attempted to storm the stage, only to be held back by the burly security – probably a blessing in disguise with a guitar brandishing maniac on stage.


My favourite Roy Harper tale comes from the respected journalist Andy Gill. In 1994 Roy released the CD ‘Descendants of Smith’. Andy reviewed the CD and to put it kindly expressed the view that it was not one of Mr Harper’s ‘finest pieces of work’. Andy thought nothing else of it until a couple of weeks later when a package came through the post. It contained a closely typed 30 page letter from Roy explaining why Andy was wrong and why Roy‘s CD was magnificent.

One thing I would say about Roy is that you have to admire a musician who cares so passionately about his work. Neither Andy Gill, or Barry Everard  will ever forget our experiences with the legend that is Roy Harper.

An artist that left a huge impression on Barry was Richard Thompson. The University had booked The Sandy Denny Band to perform. Richard Thompson was playing guitar whilst an old friend of Barry’s. Dave Richards was on bass. Dave had played in a band called ‘Andy Roberts Everyone’. At the end of Barry’s road stood a farmhouse that housed a collective group who performed under the name of ‘Principal Edwards Magic Theatre’ The band had 14 members all living under one roof. They had met up at Exeter University and was signed to John Peel’s Dandelion label. John Peel once told his listeners that he would play the bands track ‘The Kettering Song’ to drive away visitors who had overstayed their welcome at his home Peel Acres

.Many people in Barry’s road felt that ‘Principal Edwards Magic Theatre’ had overstayed their welcome not finding it much fun having a bunch of hippies live there. Barry however was not one of them and was delighted to have these regulars from the Peel show on his doorstep. He took every opportunity to see the band play and call down to the farmhouse. With Kettering being in the middle of England the farmhouse became an unofficial B&B for bands returning from or travelling down to London.

 One night Barry called round and spent the evening talking with Dave Richards who had stopped over with his band ‘Andy Roberts Everyone’. They became friends and Barry attended many performances of ‘Andy Roberts Everyone’ Now playing with The Sandy Denny band Barry called into the changing room to talk with his old friend following the bands soundcheck.

After a while Sandy Denny started singing and her fellow musicians joined in. Soon everybody in the room had joined in on this unscheduled jam. Barry was amazed to find himself singing along in such illustrious company. After a while Sandy stopped and left the changing room taking an entourage with her. Slowly the changing room emptied and eventually it was just Richard Thompson playing his guitar and an overawed Barry .As Richard continued to play Barry was asking himself if he should leave. He constantly looked into Richard’s eyes to see if he could gauge if he wanted him to leave or was happy for him to stay. Richard’s eyes gave nothing away. On the one hand Barry was honoured to be sitting in on this one man performance by one of the greatest guitar players of all time on the other he was uncomfortable liking it to standing in the same cubicle as somebody having a crap. For 20 minutes Barry stood there watching, he truly was ‘The last fan standing’. Eventually the rest of the band filed back in and neither Richard nor Barry exchanged a word.

One contact who delighted Barry was someone who came to have a colossal impact on his life, his favourite DJ, John Peel. To this day he can still remember the first record he heard on his show Captain Beefheart’s Electricity. Barry did his utmost to listen to every programme then at the weekend he would be down to Virgin to buy what he had heard on John’s show. Not only did the music that John played shape Barry’s life but he also adopted his ethos. Barry would leave no stone unturned in his pursuit of listening to new music.

Like John he would give every artist a chance and if he considered it was good he would promote it in his shop. He was a champion supporter of Sheffield bands. This is highlighted by the fact that if any local band released a self-financed single Barry would sell it in the shop for free. Furthermore all the money (minus the VAT) would be given to the bands often with the words ‘go and buy yourself a new guitar with the proceeds’ ringing in their ears. Little did Barry know that John Peel was soon to become a life long friend.

Through his weekly column in Sounds music paper, John told the story of when he had fled Dallas in the 60’s where he had been working as a DJ leaving all his records behind. He had started going out with a young lady who didn’t tell him the truth about her age. Her father was not impressed with his daughter having a relationship with the local DJ and came gunning (literally) after John. He got out of town quick leaving his possessions behind.

In the intervening years he had managed to replace almost all of his record collection. Not so Annette Funicello of whom he was a big fan as all her records had been deleted in the UK. So John appealed to the readers of Sounds that if they had any he would be delighted to purchase them. Annette Funicello was a 50’s teen idol who graduated from appearing in Disney productions to starring in the Beach surf movies of the 60’s.When she signed her contract to do the first Beach movie Walt Disney himself insisted that the film was not allowed to show her naval, as it was too provocative. Annette became a cult star and had some success singing, her biggest hit Tall Paul reaching Number 7 in the Billboard chart of 1959.Whilst flicking through the racks of a local record shop Barry came across 3 of her records. He bought the records and wrote to John to ask him if he wanted them. John phoned Barry up. It was a great surprise and Barry told John that he had given him so much pleasure that he would be happy to send him them for nothing as a sign of his appreciation. John insisted on sending Barry some LPs in return.

As a result these two true music fans Barry and John became friends. Barry would send John records that he felt he would appreciate. Whenever Barry paid a visit to London he would meet up with John, go for a drink and often Barry would sit in on his radio show.

In August 74 a package arrived for Barry. When he opened it up it contained an A-Z of London and tucked into one of the pages was an invite to John and Sheila’s wedding. On 31st August he travelled down to London to John’s marriage ceremony .It was a lovely warm sunny day and the ceremony was held near the Kennington Oval. Barry found the whole day surreal as he recognised everybody there but knew nobody. Finding himself adjacent in the queue for the reception, Barry decided to ask a fellow Yorkshire resident Bill Nelson, a singer and guitarist with the band Be Bop Deluxe if he could hang around with him. Thus throughout the day he was introduced to many people he had listened to including Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, Robert Wyatt, Alan Freeman, Ivor Cutler and Roger Chapman of Family. Amongst his memories of the day are that John and Sheila had invited their local youth football team to the wedding, who found themselves playing keepy up with Rod Stewart and The Faces in the gardens of the reception. He also recalled John Peel spending a good deal of time talking with Terry Wogan. It is fascinating to think that two great stalwarts of Radio both but at opposite ends of the music spectrum, would be firm friends. I have the utmost respect for Barry as he never revealed to anybody that he was a friend of John’s until after his untimely death in 2004. During the time I had known Barry I had told him about my own acquaintances with John yet Barry never let on, as he regarded John as a true friend and didn’t want to be seen as trading on his name.

What is most astonishing is that throughout their friendship Barry never revealed to John that he was the owner of a record shop. It was not till 2003 that his secret was discovered. John’s son Tom was studying at Sheffield University and had informed his Dad that he had discovered this fabulous record shop that he must visit. So one day whilst Barry was standing at the counter, John and Sheila walked in. John was delighted to meet his friend and asked him what he was doing there. Barry informed him that he was the owner. John was stunned and touched that Barry had kept this from him. Barry was then able to fill John in on his own career in music. Barry remembers this meeting with great fondness as it was the last time he met John. Barry did attend John’s funeral and cites John Peel as the greatest influence on his life.

Barry’s career in music came about thanks to his photographic memory and ability to absorb and recall music facts. It was this ability to recall information that landed him his first music job at the Virgin Record shop in Sheffield. Whilst standing in the queue to purchase some LP’s the customer in front asked the assistant if he knew anything about a forthcoming Gentle Giant album. The assistant knew nothing about it. Not wishing to disappoint a fan Barry piped up with ‘if it helps it’s called Octopus it’s on the Vertigo label and will be released two weeks on Monday’ At the next till another customer was after a song that they had heard on the radio and a couple of assistants were trying without success to identify it. The customer told them the lyrics Barry recognised the song and so Virgin gained a sale. Unbeknown to Barry, one of the assistants was the shops manager and as Barry went to leave the shop he button holed him and asked him if he would be interested in working at Virgin. Although Barry was keen to pursue a career in music journalism he was willing to work in any aspect of the music industry. His encyclopaedic knowledge of music impressed the Virgin hierarchy and he was soon made manager.


At this time Virgin shops were encouraged to support artists on the Virgin Record label. The shop rocked to the sounds of artists such as Gong, Tangerine Dream and Mike Oldfield. Often artists would call in and make personal appearances. Barry recalled taking Tangerine Dream for a Chinese meal.  Barry was invited to the Albert Hall to the first performance by Mike Oldfield of his Orchestral Tubular Bells. During this period Mike was notorious for not showing up due to stage fright. If this happened Steve Hillage was there as a stand in. Barry found himself hanging around with Steve and found himself as his unofficial minder. Needless to say this was a night when Mike Oldfield didn’t turn up and Steve was informed that he would be performing. Steve Hillage and Gong had played a free concert outside Virgin Records only a few weeks before. The two recognised one another from this and somehow Barry found himself delegated to get Steve, complete with Fender Stratocaster, to the stage door. Barry will never forget arguing with an over zealous Royal Albert Hall commissionnaire who was trying to evict this long bearded rock star with the tea cosy hat and rainbow striped jumper. Barry was trying to explain to him that Steve was to be star of the show but the commissionaire was insisting that Mike Oldfield was the star and was doing his utmost to get the pair thrown out. Luckily common sense prevailed and Steve Hillage with the help of Barry saved the day.

Another gig that Barry recalled having trouble with was when the German Krautrock band Faust played the City Hall in Sheffield. Faust drilling a huge concrete block with a pneumatic drill punctuated the performance. This was truly art. Twenty minutes later the majority of the band left the stage just leaving the bass player and drummer along with a stage littered with lumps of concrete. After another ten minutes the bass player left leaving the drummer alone. After a 10-minute drum solo the drummer stopped. He didn’t leave the stage. Littered around the stage were several TV sets and he sat on his stool watching the TV whist the crowd who were wondering what the hell was going on sat there patient but confused. This was art and they wanted to enjoy it somehow. After a while the manager of the City Hall put the lights on and took to the stage. A portly man in his 60s he clearly felt that Faust were taking advantage of their audience and told everybody to go home. The crowd was incensed by his requests to leave and the louder he bellowed at them to evacuate the venue the louder the crowd booed and jeered.


Eventually he gave up and as some gesture of respect to their audience, Faust came back on and played a few more numbers amongst the rubble, with all the charisma and enthusiasm of disinterested workers returning from a long tea break.

To this day Barry is still a big attendee of gigs, going to at least two a week. A gig even more memorable than the Faust performance was when he was the only David Bowie fan at a David Bowie gig. In March 1972 Sheffield University held their Union Ball. Over the course of the day over 20 bands were to play at 10 different venues.

David Bowie whose career was then in a bit of a lull even though he had achieved a number 1 single with Space Oddity was due to go on at 1.30 in the morning. As a fan, Barry expected the venue to be full but when he entered the room he found that the only people in attendance were the barman and 4 male lecturers who were chatting up 4 young female students very loudly. Barry couldn’t understand why nobody was there. Perhaps other acts were appearing at the same time or more likely after a day of drinking most students had crashed out. So David Bowie with his brand new band The Spiders from Mars took to the stage to play to just 10 people. Throughout the first few numbers the lecturers carried on chatting up the students much to the annoyance of David Bowie. Eventually he stopped the gig and glared at the lecturers and told them if they didn’t shut up he was going home.

David carried on and more people started ambling in and by the end the crowd must have doubled to all of twenty people. I guess those lecturers and students today tell the tale of how they attended a concert by David Bowie with only 20 people in attendance. Probably forgetting to add that they spent the whole performance chatting.

One unusual aspect of the Virgin store was that they had some aircraft seats where you could sit down and request records to be played through the headphones. Barry recalls one enthusiastic rock fan who spent hours there. Little did he know that a few years later the enthusiastic rock fan would be spending a great part of his time travelling the world sitting in aircraft seats as the young man was Bruce Dickinson who  who formed one of the most successful rock acts of all time Iron Maiden. Bruce became a successful pilot .In 2008 he flew back a Monarch plane full of passengers following the collapse of the holiday company XL from the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh. He then brought back a second batch of stranded tourists from the Greek island of Kos. Dickinson has flown commercial 747 aircraft for many years. When touring the world Iron Maiden have their own 747 piloted by Dickinson brilliantly named ‘Ed Force One’ after the bands mascot Eddie. All those stranded passengers can be grateful for the time Bruce Dickinson sat in the aircraft seats back in Virgin Sheffield it may have encouraged his interest in flight.



Barry took the life changing decision to leave Virgin and start his own record shop. In July 1978 he rented a property on Fulwood Road in the Broomhill area of the city, which was ideally placed to capture the student market. The shop was called Record Collector as that’s what he was He decided to start off by dealing only in second hand records and his original stock consisted mainly of his own huge record collection. Barry will never forget his first customer Claire Fellows, a girl who has since become a good friend. She was to become a regular customer and also went on to marry the chef Ainsley Harriott. Barry purchased from her a copy of Lindisfarne’s ‘Fog On The Tyne’. Little was he to know that his first transaction would cause him so many problems. Claire is also the sister of Graham Fellows, the comedian who had recently had a hit single under the name of Jilted John. The first LP Barry had bought had been sold without the owners permission. Graham claims to this day that his sister had no right to sell his beloved LP.

Another early customer was Martin Fry, who was soon to achieve fame with ABC .In those days he didn’t come into the shop in his gold lame suit. His habitual sartorial wear of choice was usually an ex-army greatcoat. Martin had produced a fanzine that covered punk and new wave and he asked Barry if he would stock it in the shop. One customer Barry will never forget is the young man who regularly came in and hung around the shop .He was the singer in a local band and always asked Barry for advice on how he could bring his band to a wider audience. One day he turned up and asked Barry if he would be able to recommend record companies that he should send a tape to. Barry spent two hours going through the Music Week Yearbook, advising him on who would be worth contacting and who would be a waste of time .The young man thanked Barry for his time but as he was about to leave Barry suggested to him instead of sending a cassette why didn’t the band record a single as Record Collector would be happy to sell it and the band could sell the rest at gigs.

A few weeks later the young man turned up with a box full of records and asked if it was OK for Barry to sell them. He left him 150 copies, which at the time Barry thought was far too many but to his surprise within two weeks was the best selling single ever by a local band. The young man returned to the shop to collect his money and was gob smacked when Barry told him he could keep the lot. Barry only took the VAT money from the transactions.’ Barry you’re a brick’ the young man said (I presume this is a Sheffield term of affection). He then gave Barry £5 and told him to get himself a drink. So that is how Barry helped Def Leppard on the road to stardom.

As I write this I note that on e-Bay the Def Leppard EP with the red label the same as the 150 that Barry originally sold is currently selling for £300. By my calculations Barry must have had the worst deal in music industry. He received £5 for records that became worth £45,000. Talking to Barry I felt the sadness in his voice when he told me about how he eagerly purchased a copy of the bands biography only to discover that he wasn’t even mentioned for all his efforts in promoting them. However he still talks about them with great fondness and remembers them as a great bunch of lads. These days many American tourists call in and ask about Def Leppard. Barry is always happy to take them on a tour of the groups old haunts. The tour included visits to the local Workingman’s club, which now as a plaque proudly proclaiming that’ Def Leppard played here’. Nowadays it’s more likely you will catch the Krankies or some artist knocked out in the early rounds of X Factor playing at this venue. The tour would always conclude at the bands local ‘The South Sea .The shop was visited one day by an American vinyl collector. The two men got on famousley and amused each other with their anecdotes about the industry. Barry told him the Def Leppard tale and the American replied that he had a story to match it. One day an elderly gentleman called in and handed him some albums and asked are they worth anything. The dealer got quite excited by one album telling the elderly man that it was a much saught after cult album and worth a few hundred dollars. The elderly man then dropped a bombshell by revealing back in the 60’s he was in the band. The dealer asked did he have any more copies? It turned out he had over 500 copies in his house for over 35 years till his grandchildren had destroyed all the copies. The dealer was puzzled and the old man explained that one hot summer day to entertain the children he built a slide. His garden had quite a slope and he decided to cover the slope with some of his shrink-wrapped albums. He then turned on the hosepipe to wet them and then his grandchildren slid down the records to the bottom.

The grandchildren had a fabulous time screaming with joy. When the albums were wrecked the children were disappointed that the fun was over. Not to worry said the granddad (member of much sought after 60’s cult band) I have hundreds of them in the cellar. That summer the grandchildren took every opportunity to visit their grandad and slide down his albums oblivious to the thousands of pounds worth of damage they were causing. When told of the value the grandad didn’t seem to be worried. He was content with the thought that his records he recorded forty years ago had given his grandchildren so much pleasure.

Another band whose story is connected with Records Collector is Gomez. Two of the band members were students at Sheffield Universities. Ian Bell, Gomez guitarist, singer and songwriter became a regular customer. His interest is 1960’s psychedelia, folk-rock and blued caught the attention of Steve Fellowes of Sheffield band the Comsat Angels, who was working in the store. Steve was intrigued and impressed by Ian’s musical tastes and the pair took to conversing on Ian’s visits to Record Collector. Then one day came the fateful conversation. It went as follows –

Steve: Are you a student?
Ian: Yes
Steve: Do you play?
Ian: Yes
Steve: Are you in a band?
Ian: Yes
Steve: Do you play gigs?
Ian: No but we’ve got this tape……………

When Steve received the tape from Ian it contained most of the songs that would eventually make up the first Gomez album “Bring It On”. Steve Fellowes was convinced that the band and their songs were extraordinary. He played the tape to Barry, who was similarly impressed. Steve and Gomez then embarked on a plan of campaign. Steve Fellows was writing, rehearsing and recording with his fellow Comsat Angels in parallel with his day job at Record Collector. Gomez knew Steve had experience of the record industry. Between them they selected the songs and sent them out. They secured legal representation and the band asked Steve if he would manage them. Steve agreed and then successfully persuaded their parents that leaving university courses to pursue a career in music was a sensible option. What followed was a bidding war between the record companies for this Sheffield based band – a band who had not even recorded a single, nor played a gig and who’s only product was a cassette tape recorded in a garage.

Steve Fellows was working in Record Collector because Barry had offered him a job both as a friend and because the Comsats were Barry’s favourite Sheffield band. The Comsat Angels were one of those groups who deserved more success than they actually achieved for years they hovered on the edge of breaking into the mainstream. The breakthrough nearly came with their album Chasing Shadows, which was co-produced by the late Robert Palmer. These days BBC film critic Mark Kermode is a big fan whilst bands such as Interpol and Editors cite them has having influenced their sound.

Around this time Barry recalls that each day they seemed to have more record companies and music publishers phoning the shop to speak with Steve than members of the public phoning up with CD enquiries. The band then embarked on a campaign of two showcases a day to two executives at a time for two weeks at a Sheffield rehearsal studio, When all this was concluded, Steve let all record companies know the band would do one final open rehearsal following which they would accept the best offer on the table. The best offer came from Virgin subsidiary Hut Records. Gomez went on to considerable success including winning the prestigious Mercury Music prize in September 1998.

The band never forgot the help Record Collector gave them and agreed to play their fourth ever gig at the Black Swan in Sheffield to celebrate Record Collectors 25th anniversary. This was March 1998, the week before their first single “78 Stone Wobble” was released. The band played free of charge and Barry simply bought every band member and everybody in the audience a drink. Barry recalls that gig with an audience of friends and relations singing along to songs they knew only from that demo tape.

One musician that Barry was delighted to meet was Nick Lowe who at the time was signed to Stiff Records.  Stiff had issued some badges with the phrase ‘Nick Lowe bought me a drink’. Rumour was it that Nick wasn’t famous for getting his round in. Barry found the complete opposite Barry was wearing his badge on his lapel and introduced himself to Nick. Nick bought Barry a drink and found him charming company.

Looking through the 7” single section one day Barry noticed the young man picking out a large selection was non other than Kurt Wagner lead singer with Nashville based alternative country band ’Lambchop’. When Barry counted them up their was over 50 singles and he was delighted to sell them to such an illustrious customers. Kurt was overjoyed to find such an interesting record store and reminisced with the staff on how you don’t come across shops like this in the States. That evening at the bands gig in Sheffield between numbers Kurt made an impassioned plea to the audience to support to support the local record shore. He told of his youth where he spent his time in record shops. Now there are hardly any independent record shops in the States. Don’t let the same happen in the UK he pleaded. Following his speech the crowd cheered he then brought on stage his big pile of singles bought earlier in the day from Record Collector. He then distributed the singles amongst the audience.

The shop is frequented by a number of BBC DJs including Steve Lamacq, Mark Radcliffe , Andy and Liz Kershaw and Marc Riley (otherwise known as Lard). One day on Radio 1 Lard told this 5-minute tale about how he was after this rare David Bowie album and how he contacted Barry at Record Collector, as he knew he was the one shop who would have it. So Lard set off from Manchester at great speed and drove over the Pennines only to find that Record Collector was shut because of half day closing. I asked Barry about this tale and he informed me it was a shaggy dog tale. None of the events had ever happened and Lard was making it up as he went along.

Record Collector certainly had the longest travelling customer. One gentleman called in and Barry recognised him as somebody he hadn’t seen for a while. The reason became clear; the man had emigrated to Australia. He then explained to Barry how he was a great collector of West Coast vinyl and used to purchase his LPs there. Since he moved to Australia he had not been able to get any so he based a holiday in England around a visit to Sheffield to visit Record Collector. He went back to Australia with over £400 worth of vinyl in his suitcase.

As well as having an impact on the Sheffield music scene Record Collector has also had an influence on the Sheffield film industry following a visit from a prop guy who was after some music for a local film he was involved in. The film was called The Full Monty and the prop guy was after ‘You Sexy Thing’ by Hot Chocolate. After digging that, out Barry also supplied the film with brass band music. There is also a scene where two of the characters are flicking through a record collection and Barry proudly informs me that they changed the script to incorporate the titles of the brass band records he supplied. The film company sent him a letter to thank him for his contribution to one of the most successful British films of the last 20 years.

I also asked Barry about his experiences with reps. He recalled the day when a rep from Warner’s was over enthusiastic about an album titled Black Gold a soul compilation and promised Barry that whatever he didn’t sell he could send back to the record company. He told every customer in his area the same tale. Unbeknown to the record shops of Yorkshire, Warner’s were giving a weekend in New York to the rep that sold the most copies. Hours before the appointed flight, Warners head office received a phone call from a rock and metal specialist shop less than happy at the arrival of 100 unsolicited disco albums. Following further enquiries the representative’s trip was re-routed to Warners London HQ to explain himself. Somehow he kept his job but Barry recalls him as somewhat chastened by this experience.


Of all the shops I visited nobody gave me more material than Barry at times I felt I could write a book on the shop.He told me some great anecdotes about his friends. In 1972 he first met the Transatlantic Records van sales rep, Tony Michaelides. His head of sales was Sheffield based Ray Cooper who later went on to be head of Virgin America. Their mainstay at the time were comedy folk albums by Billy Connolly and Mike Harding who one day invited Tony to visit his cottage in the Yorkshire Dales. Mike was later to become president of the Ramblers Association. Guests were invited to partake in a country walk. To forestall excuses about not having suitable footwear, wellington boots in every shoe size were available by the door.

Tony went on to be a van rep and then did promo for Island and was responsible for accompanying artistes on radio and TV studio tours around the country. Amongst others he worked with U2 from their earliest small club tours. Barry remembers seeing them first with him, Radio 2 DJ Martin Kelner and about 100 others at the Limit Club in Sheffield.

He once showed him photographs of U2 attending a barbecue at his home in Cheadle Hulme. This event influenced the naming of his house as “The Edge”. He told me one of his friends who lived nearby had as a result of this named his own house “Close to The Edge”.

When Madchester took off, Tony had an influential alternative rock show on Piccadilly and had opened the biggest independent promotions company in the north of England. He was working virtually every happening band in Manchester – all of the Factory bands and everyone from the Stone Roses to Simply Red. Most Fridays Barry was in Manchester visiting shops like Robinsons where he found a single called “Paralysed” by the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. As a collector of the bizarre and curious he was attracted by the name and picked up several copies of this sixties American deletion.  Having played it he sent a copy to John Peel, who played it and phoned him to say he was passing it to Kenny Everett as he thought Kenny would like it. He did and as a result of heavy play it was re-issued as a single and made number 15 on John Peels festive 50 of 1976 and number 3 on Kenny Everett’s worst records in the world ending up on the album of the same name.

Other Manchester shops he visited included Virgin on Lever Street, whose manager, Andy later moved to Newcastle and has a great anecdote about setting up and joining Lowell George and Little Feat on a shark fishing expedition from Newcastle on a day off during a UK tour. Another shop he checked out for collectable product was Tibb Street Records. One assistant there had a pet rat draped around his neck. he once encountered a cockroach there crawling out of a 7” single sleeve as he was looking through the racks

. He didn’t know if it was related to the fact that Tibb Street had several pet shops but the strangest customer “attraction” in that small store was a cage in the corner measuring about 5 feet square. In this cage lived a monkey, which seemed far too large for the space in which it was confined. Quite understandably, every few minutes the monkey would explode in frustration, grabbing the bars and violently shaking its cage. This resulted in a cloud of dust particles being expelled across the shop, filling the air and settling on stock and customers alike.

 Through Tony Barry became friends with Marc Riley and Mark Radcliffe. Another good friend of Tony’s was Roger Eagle who set up the International Club in Manchester after running Eric’s in Liverpool. In the 80’s American & Australian bands would tour Europe extensively but often have only 2 UK gigs, usually one in London & the other at the International and Barry spent many evenings there from REM’s first tour watching the bands of the unfolding “Paisley Underground”. Several times he talked to Craig Cash (pre-Royle Family) in the audience when he was a DJ on Stockport’s commercial radio station. In Sheffield’s Leadmill he bumped into Craig (at a Green on Red gig) and the evening ended with them returning to his house to play some records and him then sleeping over on the sofa.

Tony is now living in the USA lecturing on his life in the music business, working with everyone from Tony Wilson to David Bowie.

Barry also used to visit shops and warehouses in London in the 80’s and catch the odd gig while there. It was at the Clarendon Ballroom in Hammersmith he went to see the first UK performance of the Rain Parade. Jeffrey Lee Pierce of the Gun Club and Dick Taylor of the Pretty Things were at the bar. Andy Kershaw introduced him to Robyn Hitchcock and Nigel Cross, who used to write for Sounds. Nigel has since become one of his best friends. It seemed appropriate that Robyn Hitchcock should be there as Nigel has since told him that his previous band, The Soft Boys were pretty much Nigel’s favourite, having seen them in excess of a hundred times! A real music fan, Nigel started the influential fanzine “A Bucketful of Brains” to promote the bands of the Paisley Underground (Long Riders, Hoodoo Gurus, Dream Syndicate, etc.) In so doing he became the first person to publish interviews with REM and Robyn Hitchcock in this country amongst many others he championed.

Nigel is a self-deprecating guy and seems uncomfortable with the following story but nevertheless it is true. On the early tours REM would phone up Nigel and meet for a drink on arriving in London. REM and Robyn Hitchcock soon found themselves sharing a record label in IRS. Peter Buck from REM was recording side projects with Robyn Hitchcock and while searching for a name both fell to talking about the fact that Nigel had done much to champion their careers. Therefore they named their band Nigel and the Crosses in his honour. They played a few gigs under this name. One day Barry was in Steve’s Sounds near Leicester Square. He caught sight of someone wearing a black leather jacket hand-painted in white with the names of his favourites. Central to the design was a white cross surrounded by the names REM, Robyn Hitchcock and in largest letters under the cross, Nigel and the Crosses. Few of us have our own tribute band but you know you’ve made it when your name is on someone’s jacket. How embarrassed he is every time Barry reminds him.


Also in the 60’s and 70’s Sheffield’s oldest established second hand record store was Violet May’s. Violet herself and her two lady assistants had a collective age of around 200. Violet was often unaware of current trends. Barry was in there once when a customer asked if she had anything by the Eagles. He had in mind the million selling “Take it Easy” Eagles . “Yes, love. I believe I’ve got something somewhere” said Violet and proceeded to delve into a large cardboard box in the window. After a couple of minutes she extracted a copy of “The Eagles versus The Kestrels” EP on PYE from the early 60’s. Unfortunately, the wrong Eagles.

Barry has been friends with Richard Hawley since he was in his early teens. When he was in the Longpigs he phoned Barry. MTV were doing a series asking one band from each of the larger cities to choose their favourite places in their city. MTV had chosen the Longpigs from Sheffield and the Longpigs had picked Record Collector as their favourite place. Camera crew and the band duly arrived, filmed and left. Amazingly Barry has never seen it but for several years people would tell him they’d seen him in the repeats of this programme, particularly in Australia.

The shop celebrated its 33-and-a-third birthday recently. Two of Sheffield’s favourite sons, Richard Hawley and Martin Simpson, both sang at an unforgettable party to celebrate the occasion.

Another celebrity, Johnny Marr, came into the shop and brought a pile of vinyl albums to the counter.  “Are you Barry?” he asked. “Yes I am,” Barry replied. “I understand you are something of a legend in these parts,” Johnny said. For Barry, it is moments like that which make the constant struggle to keep going worthwhile.

Record Collector became the scene of a story that has passed into popular folklore, when Barry pulled off a coup by arranging for American rap crew Public Enemy to do an in-store signing before their gig supporting the Prodigy at Sheffield Arena in November 2015. Arriving somewhat later than expected at the shop to find a large crowd waiting to greet them, the band were happy to chat and sign copies of the new album, but were far from finished when their taxi arrived to pick them up at 6pm. When they eventually emerged from the shop to set off for the gig, the taxi had disappeared.

With the band due on stage at 7.30 there was no time to waste. Barry asked local photographer Kevin Wells, who had been among the fans who had come to get his CD signed, if he could give the band a lift to Sheffield Arena. With Chuck D in the passenger seat and Flava Fav together with two of the band’s crew crammed in the back of his Ford Focus, Kevin set off. Although the traffic was bad, Kevin knew all the short cuts, so they were making good time. Even so, the band’s phones were constantly ringing with cries of “Where the hell are you?” among the more printable enquiries from the other end.

Kevin put on a CD of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and was amazed to discover that Public Enemy were fans of the song. As the voices rose to an operatic crescendo, he found himself living a Wayne’s World moment for real with Public Enemy headbanging and singing along to the song - a sight that he will never forget seeing in his rear-view mirror.

Lewis Hamilton would have been impressed by Kevin’s driving. They reached Sheffield Arena in less than 20 minutes, only to be stopped by a security guard who didn’t believe that Public Enemy would turn up to their own show crammed in to the back of a Ford Focus. The rappers were eventually let through and, thanks to Kevin, they made it on to the stage just in time. They invited him to be their guest of honour for the evening, but Kevin had another gig of his own to go to that night – he was due to take photos of Scouting For Girls at another venue.

The story was dramatised in an episode of the Sky Arts TV series Urban Myths, in which the Life on Mars star Philip Glenister played the part of Kevin in a comic re-telling of the tale.

I asked Barry about his future and he explained that although he had been selling music for forty years he was not yet over the hill but was looking forward to retiring in a few years to spend more time walking on his beloved hills. When listening to the Record Collector story you realise how much his life was influenced by John Peel. The way he has supported local music he could be aptly described as Sheffield’s mini John Peel. That’s just what independent record shops do they support local talent. When all the independent record shops have gone who is going to help the next Def Leppard or the next Gomez get their foot on the ladder? Certainly not the checkout girl at Asda.

My view is that if ever a dealer deserved recognition for services to music then it’s Barry Everard. It would be nice to think that the music industry, Sheffield Council, or even the honours list would recognise this champion of Sheffield culture and music over the last forty years. If you are ever in Sheffield, call in and say hello to Barry. You will recognise him. He will be the one wearing the loud Hawaiian shirt. The same style of shirt he’s been wearing for forty years.

The books of Graham Jones are available in record shops or online. The latest book The Vinyl Revival and the Shops that Made it Happen has been turned in to a film. It has just been released on DVD and is available in record shops or online. Distributed by Proper Music.

Each week I record The Vinyl Revival Record Shop Podcast. It contains lots of funny tales from the crazy world of record retailing. It is also available on Spotify.

Twitter: @Revival_Vinyl

My blog has over 100 features on record shops and vinyl.

grahamjonesvinylrevival.blogspot.com

For film screenings and talks contact Graham. 

As the person who has visited more record shops than any other human, I often get asked my advice on buying turntables. I always say do not purchase a budget model. What is the point of buying one that costs the price of a few albums? The sound will not do the recordings justice. For a long time, I have recommended Rega Turntables as they are superb quality at great prices. They got more brownie points for sponsoring 'Record Store Day' and manufacturing limited editions just for record shops.