Last updated 09:14, Saturday, 17 May 2008

When Brian McTaggart (aka Brian Davis) from Morton, Carlisle, began singing at the age of 13, he never imagined he’d one day share a stage with Tom Jones, Neil Sedaka and Eartha Kitt.

Destiny: Above, Brian Davis. Right, The Les Taylor Combo, from left to right, Colin Spark on the keyboard, Brian on guitar and Roger Taylor on drums

As a teenager in the late Fifties he was singing ballads with locals the Dave Ruddick Dance Band.

Brian worked as a fitter at Pratchitt Brothers Ltd, in Denton Holme, but in 1962 he entered, and won, the local heat of a TV competition “Find the Singer”.

“The competition was held in the Cameo Ballroom,” he says. “ Les Leighton was the organiser and Lyndis Chesney, Michael Cooper and Rodney Warr were three of the judges.

“I never dreamt I’d win; the competition was so fierce.

“The singers had the backing of The Cliff Eland Band which was first class and helped our performance enormously.

“The final of the competition was held at Wembley Park, London, on May 10, 1962. There were 9,000 entries and I came third. The song I sang was Can This Be Love.

“During this time Border Television approached me to appear in their series Beat in the Border. I also sang and compered at the Border Terrier, Morton.

“During the next few years I joined the Les Taylor Combo. The line up was Colin Sparke (keyboards), Roger Taylor (drums) and myself on guitar and vocals. We played through the week at various venues but had a weekend contract playing at the Border Country Club, at Kirklinton Hall.

“In 1968, however, my life took a dramatic change.

“I had made a demo record of a song specially written for me by Jim Dale, but never got round to doing anything with it. A friend of mine, took the record with him to London and gave it to the Studio 7 agency, one of the biggest theatrical agencies in the country. They contacted me and offered me a two year contract appearing at the Batley Variety Club.

“Suddenly everything changed for me and my late wife Pat. I gave up my £17 a week job and three days later moved down to Batley, Yorkshire. I was making £100 a week singing on the same bill as Tom Jones!

“Other stars I shared the stage with were Kathy Kirby, Vince Hill and Matt Munro. I had a wonderful time for the next four years but one day we decided it was time to return home.

“I joined up with John Hetherington (keyboards), Mike Cubby (drums), David Bell (guitar) and myself on vocals playing at Pirelli club and charity events.”

“Eventually though, I decided to call it a day from the music world, but have some great memories which I’ll always remember.”