Milton Keynes - WE BUILT THIS CITY ON ROCK AND ROLL

WE BUILT THIS CITY ON ROCK AND ROLL  So Starship claimed for San Francisco but take a moment and see just how much Milton Keynes is built on Rock and Roll – We BUILT THIS NEW CITY ON ROCK AND ROLL.

Go to Los Angeles, to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and there you will find a star dedicated to a Milton Keynes giant of Rock and Roll !

Jim Marshall, The Lord of Loud was an Mkeyneyan who founded Marshall Amplification and told the world’s pop musicians to turn the volume up to eleven. All of Marshall’s world famous amplifiers do indeed have volume knobs rotating up to number eleven.

Without Jim Marshall of Bletchley, Milton Keynes so many pop groups of international fame would not have achieved all they did.

I met Jim Marshall a number of times, he was a generous man when it came to supporting music and schools. His attitude was: The answer is YES, how much do you need ?

What do Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and Michael Jackson all have in common ?  They all

played The National Bowl in Milton Keynes. At its height The National Bowl, better known as Milton Keynes Bowl was second only to Hollywood Bowl.

When David Bowie performed at Milton Keynes Bowl it was an incredibly hot day. Organisers sprayed water over the crowd to help cool the fans down.

Cliff Richard, The Peter Pan of Pop, did not perform at The Bowl but he did give a gospel concert at Bletchley Leisure Centre. His hit

record Wired For Fame saw Cliff skating through Central Milton Keynes to film its video. A very special piece of Pop and wired for sound in our City of Rock and Roll.

Wilton Hall was the entertainment centre for those working at Bletchley Park. No, Vera Lynn did not perform there and if she did it would still be covered by The Official Secrets Act. In the very early 1970’s at the start of electronic synthesised music Chicory Tip rocked audiences at Wilton Hall.

On Saturday 13^th  July 1985 at London's Wembley Stadium Staus Quo opened the Live Aid Concert with Rocking All Over The World but that was not the only place they performed !  Status Quo also played Bletchley Youth Centre in Milton Keynes !

We built this city on Rock and Roll.

Mkeyneyans Johnny Dankworth and his wife Cleo Laine gave the world some amazing music. Cleo Laine. Cleo is the only female performer to have received Grammy nominations in the jazz, popular and classical music categoried ! 

Milton Keynes Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine gave us the music venue The Stables Theatre in the garden of their Wavendon home. Now aged ninety-three Cleo at this moment in here career is helping me with a project supporting Milton Keynes Winter Night Shelter,

We built this city on rock and roll ! We certainly did !

For a while Michael Crawford, star of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of The Opera was a Mkehyneyan living just down the road from Johnny and Cleo in Wavendon.

Radcliffe Rollers steel band from Radcliffe School in Milton Keynes across the 1980’s were a Milton Keynes sensation. How they did not go on to achieve international stardom I personally do not know.

The rock band Bon Jovi did a photo shoot at the Peartree Bridge Dinosaur.

When a new charity was being set up in Milton Keynes Leon School Disco ran a twenty-four hour sponsored disco marathon to support its launch. That charity was

Willen Hospice.

On Facebook today I follow the British Rock and Roll star Billy J Kramer, Billy J Kramer and The Dakotas who gave us the hits Little Children and Trains and Boats and Planes. When Billy J was booked to play at The White Hart in Bletchley, now the site of Cambian Park School, the landlord asked me to help. My job was to look after Billy J Kramer. Another internationally celebrated star who needed to add Miltion Keynes to his CV.

Sorry San Francisco you had the song but it was here in Milton Keynes where we built a CITY ON ROCK AND ROLL.