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John's tales from the Riverside
JOHN Martin will never forget the day he told his dad he was quitting electrical engineering ... to try and make it in show-business.
After a warm but hard upbringing in Oldham during the post-War era, in which coal was delivered in an old pram and bath night was every Sunday in front of a roaring fire, his tool-maker father Rob was "a great stickler" for apprenticeships.
But the 21-year-old had other ideas.
After being invited to sing in a band called Rebel at a youth club gig, he made a decision that would change and define his life.
"We tied a piece of rope across the stage and put sheets over them for the curtains," he laughed.
"But the gratification of going on stage and being able to entertain people ... that sold it on me.
"I'll never forget the feeling I had when I heard the applause. From that day, my decision was made up.
"The lure of the limelight overtook the engineering.
"I told my dad and he was very disappointed. He was the old fashioned-type. I can't repeat what he said – certainly not in the Wigan Observer!"
John Martin is best-known as the former owner and singer at the Riverside Club that nestled, unusually, on concrete stilts at the front of Central Park.
Many of those who have witnessed him in full-song – and there have been thousands – have fond memories of singing along to his renditions of arm-waving classics.
He was famed for his ability of getting anyone, no matter how old or reserved, standing on their chair by the end of the night.
So much so, he had to have steel-enforced chairs made.
But John has packed so many more experiences into his 60 year life.
He has journeyed to the brink of death and back again, from the club at Central Park to the board of the JJB and, now, he is spearheading a national charity campaign.
Dressed casually in jeans, shirt and blazer inside Wrightington Hotel, he doesn't get insulted by suggestions he doesn't come across as a natural showman.
"A lot of people say that," he admits. "I think that's because I haven't got a natural talent for it. I taught myself stage skills and how to sing."
John's progress was swift, as his band became the resident act at Bailey's club in Oldham and he mixed with many of the leading acts of the 60s such as Joe Cocker, Gene Pitney, Bob Monkhouse, Tom Jones, The Drifters and Freddie Starr.
Along the way, he ditched his birthname, Melvin Leatherbarrow.
"I didn't think, 'Ladies and gentlemen, it's Melvin Leatherbarrow' had a ring to it," he says.
"John Martin was the first name that came to my head and I thought, that's it, and now everyone calls me that. It's only through laziness I haven't changed my name by deed poll, so my passport still says, 'Melvin Leatherbarrow'."
He toured Europe, lived in the Channel Islands, released two singles to admittedly modest feedback, sang in a band called Johnny Powers and the Dynamos – "I still cringe when I say that name!" – and appeared on Opportunity Knocks in 1973, reaching 100 on the iconic Clapometer.
After becoming resident act at Fagans on Oxford Street, he was invited by Wigan RLFC directors Tom Bennett and Ian Clift to transform the Riverside club.
He was keen to take the role as it allowed him to combine his two passions – music and rugby league. In his youth, John was obsessed with the game, honing his wing skills by sidestepping around lampposts as he ran to and from the shop. My mum always used to tell me off because I'd use the loaf of bread as a ball, and it would be squashed by the time I got home," smiles John, who married Barbara in 1971. The couple have one daughter, Jeannine.
His first two years at the Riverside were "quite sticky" but, eventually, his perseverance and hard work paid off as the club's popularity soared.
"It was a fantastic time and the perfect job for me," he says. "There would always be 700 people – from 18-year-olds to 80-year-olds – on the chairs and singing. It was challenging, too, because parties came from all around the country – one came from Ireland three times – and the audience was never the same."
In 1981, Jerry Marshall bought the club from Wigan for 22,000 and John carried on for two years until he got, in his own words, "tired of handing him all the money on the Monday and taking a wage".
He walked out and the Riverside club emptied.
"Eight people were there on the Friday after I left and six the day after," he says.
Maurice Lindsay persuaded John to return in 1984 with the club under his own control.
The thriving Riverside club also helped pump money into Wigan RLFC – both through the turnstiles and a deal on the discount beer – a point he believes has never been widely recognised by supporters.
John's proudest moment came after he had become a director of the club in the early-90s, when he led the team out at Wembley in 1995.
But his role with the club was to turn sour, as his opposition to sell Central Park left him stressed and prompted his resignation from the club.
"That was the saddest day of my life," he says. "We could have had a new stadium on the same site, which nearly everyone wanted."
When the Riverside shut and Central Park was demolished, he opened a town centre bistro and delved into property development.
But a new challenge – more gruelling than he ever imagined – was draining his energy.
An hereditary kidney disease that had killed his father, aged 49, and his grandfather at 39, struck him and he spent three years on dialysis, each day hoping a kidney donor could be found.
Read the full interview in this week's (Jan 16) Wigan Observer ... on sale now.
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Weather for Wigan
Saturday 26 May 2012
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