Freddie Starr

Infobox Comedian
name = Freddie Starr

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birth_name = Frederick Leslie Fowell
birth_date = 9 January 1943
birth_place = Huyton, Liverpool, England
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spouse = Donna Starr (1996-present)
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website = [http://www.freddiestarr.com/ freddiestarr.com]
resides =West Midlands
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Freddie Starr (born Frederick Leslie Fowell in Huyton, Liverpool on 9 January 1943) is an English comedian who shot to fame after his appearance in the 1970 Royal Variety Performance. He is also a veteran impressionist and singer, with a chart album ("After The Laughter") and UK top 10 single ("It's You" in March 1974) to his credit. [http://www.everyhit.co.uk/retrocharts/1974-MarchB.html Retrochart for Mid March 1974]

In the early 1960s, Starr was the lead singer of the Merseybeat pop group The Midniters. The group was promoted by the manager of the Beatles, Brian Epstein, and was recorded on the Decca label by Joe Meek, the producer of the single Telstar. During this period Starr performed in nightclubs in Hamburg and was an acquaintance of the Beatles.

Freddie Starr "ate my hamster"

Freddie Starr is perhaps best known for his role in one of the most famous British tabloid newspaper headlines. On 13 March 1986 "The Sun" carried as its main headline: FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTER. According to the text of the story, Starr had been staying at the home of Vince McCaffrey and his 23-year old girlfriend Lea La Salle in Birchwood, Cheshire when the incident took place. Starr was claimed to have returned home from a performance at a Manchester nightclub in the early hours of the morning and demanded that Lea La Salle make him a sandwich. When she refused, he went into the kitchen and put her pet hamster Supersonic between two slices of bread and proceeded to eat it.

Freddie Starr gives his side of the story in his 2001 autobiography "Unwrapped". He says that the only time that he ever stayed at Vince McCaffrey's house was in 1979 and that the incident was a complete fabrication. Starr writes in the book: "I have never eaten or even nibbled a live hamster, gerbil, guinea pig, mouse, shrew, vole or any other small mammal." The man behind the hamster story was the British publicist Max Clifford. When asked in a television interview with Esther Rantzen some years later whether Starr really had eaten a hamster, his reply was "Of course not." Clifford was unapologetic, insisting that the story had given a huge boost to Starr's career. In May 2006 the BBC nominated "FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTER" as one of the top British newspaper headlines of all time. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4973880.stm#hamster BBC news video about the hamster headline] Starr's frustration at being linked perpetually to the hamster story was expressed in a newspaper interview: cquote|I'm fed up of people shouting out 'Did you eat that hamster, Freddie?' Now I say, give me £1 and I'll tell you. Then if they give me £1, I say 'No' and walk away. Starr says that the story came about after he made an offhand joke about eating a hamster in a sandwich. [cite web | title = Starr back in Bay|author=Herald Express, 20 July 2007 | publisher = | url =http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=134844&command=displayContent&sourceNode=134828&contentPK=17881200&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch |accessdate=2007-07-23]

Later career

In 1994 Freddie Starr was again the subject of tabloid newspaper attention in Britain. Thousands of pounds worth of jewellery went missing from Starr's home where a man named Robin Coxhead worked as a gardener, and Coxhead was suspected of stealing it. When questioned by the police Coxhead, who was homosexual, claimed to have given oral sex to Starr over a period of five years, and that the jewellery had been given to him as a reward. The case went to court and Coxhead was discredited when he was unable to state whether Starr's penis was circumcised or uncircumcised. Coxhead was found guilty and sentenced to 15 months in prison in 1995.

Apart from the occasional guest appearance, Starr has not been seen regularly on British television since the late 1990s. ITV's "The Freddie Starr Show", broadcast between 1996 and 1998, was his last major work for the medium. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/f/freddiestarrshow_7776010.shtml BBC - Comedy - Shows A-Z Index ] ] His appearances on LWT's "An Audience with Freddie Starr" in 1996 and "Another Audience with Freddie Starr" in 1997 were critically acclaimed, although Starr admits in his autobiography that his television appearances often failed to capture the chaotic atmosphere of his live performances.

While continuing to tour theatres across the United Kingdom Freddie Starr is also recording an album of original songs celebrating fifty years in showbusiness. Due for release in Summer 2008, the songs are written and produced by Prague based producer Joe Wakeford. Fact|date=May 2008.

Additional information

* In 1994 he was the owner of Minnehoma, the winning horse in the Grand National race. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/grand_national_2002/1796115.stm BBC SPORT | Other Sports | Horse Racing | Grand National 2002 | Celebrities enjoy winning ways ] ]

* In 2004 he appeared on television as one of the celebrities in the second series of the ITV1 reality show, "Celebrity Fit Club", where he was made team captain, but was demoted three weeks later for not taking the role seriously.

* Freddie Starr gave an interview to the "Herald Express", the local newspaper for Torbay in Devon which was published on July 20 2007. In it he says that his father was violent and broke both his legs, a claim which does not appear in his 2001 autobiography "Unwrapped". He says that he was taken away from home for two years at the age of six after his father beat him up. In "Unwrapped", Starr gives speech problems as the reason why he spent two years away from home as a child. [cite web | title = Freddie Starr reveals misery of childhood|author= Herald Express 20 July 2007 | publisher = | url = http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=134844&command=displayContent&sourceNode=134828&contentPK=17883024&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch|accessdate=2007-07-23]
*In January 2008, Starr and his wife Donna took part in " Celebrity Wife Swap", exchanging with Samantha Fox and her partner Myra. [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=508287&in_page_id=1773 Comic Freddie Starr gets lesbian ex-glamour model Sam Fox in C4's Wife Swap | the Daily Mail ] ]

ee also

*Rock Star Ate My Hamster

Further reading

"Unwrapped - My Autobiography" by Freddie Starr with Alan Wightman ISBN 1-85227-961-3

References

External links

* [http://www.freddiestarr.com/ Freddie Starr's official website]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823505/ Freddie Starr's entry in IMDb]