Pete Waterman reveals the unusual connection Lenny Henry has to Kylie Minogue's success
'I Should Be So Lucky' was a massive hit for Kylie
Last updated 7th Feb 2024
Pete Waterman joined Ken Bruce on Greatest Hits Radio today (7th February) for Golden Years, choosing the year 1974. The music producer told Ken he chose that year because it was the year that he started full time in the record industry.
However, it was during their chat that he revealed how comedian Lenny Henry has an unusual connection to the success of Kylie Minogue's hit 'I Should Be So Lucky'. The songwriter explained that Lenny had no idea about the connection until he told him about it last year, when they appeared at An Audience with Kylie.
Telling Ken the full story, Pete explained: "Lenny and I go back a long, long way, because I used to sell records to Henry in the early 70s, because he's from Birmingham, but he came into my record shop, because we were pretty trendy guys!"
He went on to say explain how they met again on An Audience with Kylie, and Pete told Lenny: "Do you realise, without you there would be no Kylie Minogue? You were the DJ at my Christmas party at the Natural History Museum....
"You played 'I Should Be So Lucky', I came over, grabbed the 12-incher, got in the car and went to (our sister station) Radio City in Liverpool, and that was the start of Kylie Minogue. Without you playing it... It was only hearing it in the Natural History Museum I went, 'wow that's a hit'."
He continued: "I was on the radio at 9 o'clock that morning in Liverpool, and I remember getting into the studio and saying to Steve my producer, 'just put this on'. It was a white label Ken, and it just had Kylie Minogue on it!"
Pete then went on to explain how they teased the listeners by playing just the first few bars of the new song, and before long everyone was calling the station wanting to hear more. By 4pm that day, Kylie's new song had been sent around all the commercial radio stations, and as we know it propelled the former Neighbours actress' career to another level of success.
During the interview, Pete also opened up about writing his hit songs, despite not always knowing they would be so successful at the time, and his reaction to hearing what Jason Donovan said about his work, when he spoke to Ken Bruce recently.
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