Skegness Magazine

Graham believes in a guitar and originality (1962)

A FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD with his eyes on the top – that’s Graham Bonnett, of 26, Albany Road, Skegness. And if a musical ear, an encouraging mother, and loads of ambition have anything to do with it, Graham could soon be following local boy Doug Sheldon along the rough road to fame.

Graham has already taken the first steps. He entered ’show business’ at the tender age of eight, when he sang “Good Companions” at his Cub concert, and two years later launched himself on the ‘pop’ world with his rendering of Paul Anka’s hit, “Diana,” again at a Cub concert.
No one was surprised when Graham announced his ambition to be a singer, least of all his mother, Mrs. Irene Bonnett, who was once in show business herself, and made a record 20 years ago !
For show business, it seems, is in the Bonnett family’s blood. Besides his mother, Graham has a 14-year-old cousin, Trevor Grunnill earning twelve guineas a week in a rock n’ roll show on Australian television!
Trevor lived in Skegness for a year, returning to Australia last August, and during his stay in England, spent much time helping Graham to improve his guitar playing.

`Just me’
In his bedroom, Graham works out the chord sequence, and if, with any luck, he’s managed to pick up some of the words too, it will only be a matter of minutes before another number is added to his already extensive repertoire.
Through not listening too closely to records, Graham claims that he won’t be easily influenced by another singer’s style. “Whatever I sing,” he said, “it will be Just me.”
Graham’s No. 1 fans, his mother and father, have only heard him sing in public once. Said Graham, who never suffers from stage-fright, “I could get up and sing in front of thousands of people, but if I knew Mum and Dad were among them, it would put me right off !”
But whether they are watching him or not, if ever Graham finds the going tough, he can always rely on a word of encouragement from his parents.
A rarity
It has been quite a week for the record fans, with new releases from the Shadows, Billy Fury, Del Shannon and Roy Orbison, but the new disc I welcome most is one of the rare seven-inch offerings from Ella Fitzgerald.
Ella probably rivals Sinatra in the number of L.P.’s she has on the market, but a single is a welcome rarity.
Released to coincide with her current sell-out “Jazz at the Philharmonic” tour, Ella sings the racy “Clap Hands, here comes Charlie,” but changes the mood completely on the flip-side for a dreamy “Cry me a river.” which gains from Ella’s unequalled jazz phrasing.

Picture: Local beat singer fourteen-year-old Graham Bonnett with the guitar his mother bought him.