Enigmatic TV host, radio presenter, record company executive, and friend to the rich and famous—there is nothing that STEVE BLACKNELL hasn’t done. Except write his memoir, which he has finally done in TALES FROM THE BEDROOM WALL - THE LIFE & TIMES OF A SERIAL THRILL SEEKER (Old Treacle Press). Due out July 9 through Amazon - the book takes readers on a journey throughout his colorful life—the ups the downs, near death experiences, losing millions, taking Concorde to Live Aid with Phil Collins and dating Kate Bush, to his battle with bulimia and other addictions. This is the book that has it all and more.
In America, STEVE BLACKNELL is mainly known for hosting the award-winning MTV USA music fashion show “London Calling” which pulled 23 million viewers. He interviewed over 100 pop stars that included a snarly Alice Cooper, heartthrob David Cassidy in a hotel Jacuzzi, a 40-minute chat with Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister who consumed an entire bottle of Jack Daniels and a table tennis game with Bill Wyman who discussed his career in the Rolling Stones.
Growing up, STEVE adorned his bedroom wall with pictures of his musical heroes, blissfully unaware he would meet so many of them in future days. His bizarre adventures both in the UK and Hollywood, his ridiculous forays into drugs and food addictions and an inability to take other people’s advice saw him go from millionaire to near poverty. The book is about failure, ignorance, arrogance, and an innate desire to push boundaries until they explode.
"There's an old joke that goes 'Everybody has a book in them’ which explains the lump in my throat. Indeed, I do believe there are so many of us who aren't necessarily household names that have lived life to 'the max!” STEVE says. “With me it hasn't been deliberate—I've just tried to pack in as many adventures as possible in my allotted time. At 72 I still have a few tricks up my sleeve—for as the Buddhists say 'You're only here three billion times so you'd better enjoy yourself.’”
Steve Blacknell was born in Peckham, UK and moved to Dartford, Kent in his early years eventually attending one of his heroes Mick Jagger’s old school, Dartford Grammar—where he even got his second-hand geography book! An obsessive pop fan since the early 60’s, he decided early on that he wanted to be a Radio DJ and so wrote to many key industry figures with only one reply—from John Peel who advised him to try hospital radio. He became the breakfast DJ at St Thomas’s Hospital in London for a year, supported by a certain ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris.
His first love was Kate Bush, who he met in Dartford on the arm of another man however they got together soon after. The budding songwriter and wannabee DJ would plot world domination; her the pop star and Steve introducing her on ‘Top of the Pops’! He, however, had no idea that he was dealing with a real musical genius.
The early 70s saw a move to Worcestershire where he worked at a Special Needs Home, and he started taking drugs. He eventually got his big break into music at Decca Records in the PR department and later at ABC working with artists from Steely Dan to Don Williams, during which time he began a dangerous dance with Anorexic Bulimia. He also met the future love of his life, Maggie. He moved to Chrysalis Records in the late 70s working with acts like Leo Sayer, Jethro Tull and Split Enz, finally joining Jive Records where he signed A Flock Of Seagulls after seeing them perform “I Ran.”
By the 1980s he was hanging out with the right people and was spotted by the BBC who asked him to host BBC 2’s “hip” new pop fashion show “Riverside” where he introduced a brand-new band—New Order! After calling the Deputy Editor of BBC Breakfast Time most days for about six weeks, he was drafted in to do the pop news when the late Mike Smith became ill. He stayed for three years and learned his trade from Frank Bough. By this point, he was also a regular host on Radio One’s “In Concert,” also the simulcast with BBC2 – “Sight and Sound in Concert.”
He was the BBC presenter covering Live Aid, the most important music event in the thirty-year history of rock & roll, flying in Concorde with Phil Collins--the only performer onstage at both Wembley and later the same day, Philadelphia.
After a 5-year stint as Peter Stringfellow’s PR and as Europe’s first “Video Jockey,’’ he hosted the award-winning MTV USA music fashion show “London Calling” which pulled 23 million viewers.
He became super rich and bought a mansion flat in the super trendy Holland Park Avenue--complete with chauffeur. He then had a dramatic sinus operation that left him stranded indoors for three months where he saw “God,” and on the flip of a coin while listening to Paul Young singing “Everything Must Change’’ he decided to try and crack the U.S.A and moved to Los Angeles.
While in the U.S., he met and married ex-groupie and 60’s legend Catherine James—the former wife of Moody Blues/Wings star Denny Laine. She was Diane Keaton's movie double for many years and was also best mates with mega-stars Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson. He soon found out that Catherine had lived with Mick Jagger in London and dated the A-Z of rock heroes. She’d been at the piano with Clapton when he wrote “Layla,” and knew Hendrix, Morrison and others.
After several TV hosting jobs--including a stint as the Hollywood anchor of the UK-based TV channel BSKYB and as an actor making five movies, he avoided death when a speed boat exploded in Marina Del Rey and spent six months in a wheelchair addicted to the powerful opiate Vicodin. After only six years in the States, he left Hollywood and his wife for the UK once more--now penniless.
Once back in the UK he reunited with Maggie--the love of his life--and eventually moved to Hythe, Kent with her. They have had a 50-year romance that survived the gaps! After 18 years, he still runs London’s premiere “media networking” club The Waffle. He is also the most qualified TV teacher in the UK and is CEO of The Central London School of TV and Media Training.
