| KNOWN above all
for the enormously successful record Telstar, and for his
blond hair, Heinz was in the early 1960s briefly an idol for teenage
girls. He was mobbed outside concert halls and famous in
showbusiness circles for the time he spent preparing his coiffure
before going on stage.
Born in Germany, Heinz G. Burt moved to England with his family
when he was seven. Leaving school with a keen interest in the bass
guitar, he played in various pubs and clubs in the evenings. In the
daytime he worked cutting bacon in a Southampton grocery.
He was spotted by the legendary record producer Joe Meek in 1961,
and became lead singer of the Tornadoes, a group formed by Meek as a
challenge to the then chart-topping Shadows with Cliff Richard. It
is sometimes said that Meek's professionalism was compromised on
this occasion by his eye for the men; Heinz's delicate, cherub-like
good looks were rather more striking than his abilities as a bassist
or singer.
The Tornadoes' first effort, Love and Fury, released in
1962, did not fare well, but later that year Telstar reached
No 1 on both sides of the Atlantic. With its quirky electronic sound
and celebration of the dawning satellite age, the record caught the
public imagination - staying in the top spot for five weeks - and
has since become something of a classic.
Heinz left the group in 1963 to pursue a solo career. His first
single Just Like Eddie (featuring a guitar-break from Ritchie
Blackmore, later of Deep Purple) made No 5, and was followed by
modestly successful hits. An LP in honour of his lifelong idol Eddie
Cochran, Tribute to Eddie, did extremely well. On television
he made some notable appearances on Six-Five Special and
Ready, Steady, Go! But he never reached the starriest
heights.
His relationship with Meek, now his personal manager, suffered
when Heinz acquired a girlfriend. Meek responded by sending him on
endless tours, and in 1967, tormented by his own sexuality, shot his
landlady and then himself. Heinz, being the owner of the gun, was
later questioned by the police.
His chart career had dried up in 1965 and by the 1970s he was
reduced to appearing in rather sub-standard provincial pantomimes,
sadly miscast as the principal boy. As a further indignity, his name
made it inevitable that producers would write routines into the
shows involving tins of Heinz Baked Beans. (On a disastrous American
tour with Gene Vincent and Jerry Lee Lewis, burly youths in
Birmingham, Alabama, had pelted him on stage with beans.)
From time to time he could be seen as a guest at rock'n'roll
theme weekends, but in 1975 he surprised many with an outstanding
performance in David Hare's play Teeth'n'Smiles at the Royal
Court. Co-starring with Helen Mirren, he more or less played
himself, as an ageing rocker, but he did so with impressive dignity
and humour.
Although seriously ill with motorneurone disease in the last few
years and confined to a wheelchair, he enjoyed a revival of interest
in his music when in 1997 a CD of The Best of The Tornadoes
was released. He was bemused recently to discover that
Telstar was apparently Baroness Thatcher's favourite pop
record. His last appearance was two weeks ago at a tribute night at
Eastleigh in Hampshire, where he lived.
He is survived by his wife.
Return
to Contents page
Arts
(Mon - Fri) | Books
(Sat) (Thu)
| British
News | Business
| Court
page | Features
(Mon - Fri) | Go
(Sat) | Interface | Law
(Tue) | Metro
(Sat) | Obituaries
| Opinion
| Sport
| Travel
(Sat) (Thu)
| Vision
(Sat) | Weekend
(Sat) | Weekend
Money (Sat) | World
News
| 
