Heroic crooner’s Perth gig up in the air

May 28 2010 by Denis Brown, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

INTREPID crooner Frankie Martin has had the brakes put on his Perth show.

The swinging Nottingham singer, who hit the road in his Ford Transit van on April 10, is playing 366 consecutive gigs to raise money for armed forces charity Help for Heroes.

Although the Fair City is earmarked for a June 26 performance, so far no venue has come to the party.

“It’s proving tough to find somewhere to play in Perth,” he told the PA via phone from the van that he sleeps in every night.

“One pub didn’t get back to me and the Twa Tams told me it wasn’t their thing, but I’ve not given up on playing Perth yet, so watch this space!”

As reported in the PA last month, Martin – real name Ian Campbell – is a former blues singer and son of late Scottish RAF sergeant and Rat Pack fan Gilbert Elmore Campbell.

He spent long periods in military hospitals as a child after an accident left him deaf in one ear, where he got a graphic insight into horrific injuries sustained by military personnel.

“Many of these guys were in mental turmoil as they knew they weren’t going back to a normal life and I’ve always had this heartfelt belief that more can and should be done for our injured servicemen and women,” he said.

A typical set list at Martin’s free Great British Pub Tour gigs is crammed with songs made famous by legends like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and Bobby Darin.

Hoping to generate £50 for H4H per show via donations and H4H merchandise, the one-man band was banking on a total of £18,500 in 12 months.

“But I’ve already reached £9500 and I’m only 10 per cent of the way through the tour, so if this keeps up I could be looking at raising £95,000,” he said.

“It’s really rekindled my faith in human nature to be honest.

“At one show this guy came up to the stage holding this piece of paper while I was singing. I was thinking, here we go, another request for Mack the Knife, but it was actually a cheque for 100 quid.

“Another night this young girl brought in a big bag of copper coins she’d been saving for years and proceeded to count out £100 – just marvellous really.”

The only real downside of his gargantuan undertaking he said, was having to wake up every morning at 6.30am with his van’s interior too hot for comfort.

“Like everyone else there’s days where I’d rather be somewhere else, but to be honest I’m really enjoying the adventure,” he said.

l Perth pub proprietors or promoters can contact Frankie Martin on ian@bndmusic.co.uk