Phil Fryer opened his Churwell barber's shop
in 1986 in the old Cooperative Society's premises
at the corner of Hartley Street and Elland Road.
In addition to successfully catering for the tonsorial
needs of his fellow villagers Phil has also continually
given his time and energy to charitable causes.
For seven years he organised the 'Churwell Five
Miler' race that raised funds for the benefit
of the Forget-me-not charity, Heart Research,
the Coronary Care Unit, the Half and Half Appeal
and the Candlelighters Unit based at St. James's
Hospital. He has raced in events in many parts
of the United Kingdom, completing the cycle marathons
'Lands End to John O'Groats Challenge' and 'Morley
to Siegen (Morley's Twin Town in Germany) and
participating in the most exacting of sports,
the Iron Man Triathlons (non stop swimming, running
and cycling) in places as far away as Germany
and Lanzarote. To enable him to participate successfully
in these gruelling events much time and energy
had to be given to hard training, this in addition
to the obvious necessity of working for his barber's
shop business. The fuel that kept his fires burning
was the benefits that the very worthy charities
gained from his efforts.
Whilst on holiday in 1997 Phil was persuaded
to have a go at karaoke singing in a bar. This
he did reluctantly but his version of a Frank
Sinatra song was so well received he decided to
begin singing in venues around Morley in an attempt
to establish himself in the area. At that time
he received good advice and correction from two
friends. Ken Christian a local singer, who had
the experience of singing for many years on the
club circuit, took Phil under his wing and allowed
him to have a spot at some of his engagements.
Allan Kent, a D.J. and singer also encouraged
him and taught him how to include expression and
emotion into his songs. A London based 'Look-alike'
company registered him on its books, Mark Richie
of the Stage magazine wrote "This young
man successfully adopted the look and sound of
Sinatra," and the first year culminated
in an engagement to sing at the Jaguar S type
car launch at Hessle.
In 1999 Phil's singing career gradually advanced
further, enabling him to gain more experience
and polish. There was a performance at the Leeds
Irish Centre with Bobby Knutt. Together with engagements
in quality hotels and restaurants in the Yorkshire
Dales and the Lake District. He auditioned for
the BBC Children-in-Need competition, entitled
'Bears in Their Eyes,' attaining a position in
the last five and singing live on television for
the first time. After the ordeal of sitting all
day waiting his turn he was shaking from head
to foot. That year he became the resident singer
at the Crystal Room (Ex. Batley Variety Club).
His staunch local supporters were not forgotten
and there were well-supported engagements at venues
in Churwell, Morley and the surrounding area.
The year 2000 saw Phil form his own trio and
there were engagements as a supporting act to
Ken Dodd at the Frontier Club, Batley, to Les
Denis at the Princess Theatre in Blackpool and
then as the main act at the Civic Hall, Leeds
before the Lord Mayor of Leeds, Bernard Atha.
On 15th August Phil was filmed by Yorkshire TV
and the next day he was interviewed live with
Christa Akroyd and featured in the Sun newspaper
under the heading 'The New Frank,' following in
the next few days with interviews on Radio Aire
and Magic 828, when his CD was played. Between
28th October and 4th November Phil, accompanied
by his trio and a Yorkshire T.V. crew, flew to
the United Arab Emirates to fulfil bookings in
Dubai, Al Ain and Abu Dhabi. The resultant 30-minute
documentary, entitled 'Just to be Frank,' was
broadcast on Yorkshire T.V. and in the Border
Regions. There were gigs at top class restaurants
and then on 15th December he sang live on Yorkshire
T.V. with his trio and the Wakefield College Choir.
There were more engagements in 2001. A documentary
shown on Granada T.V. in January, the Yorkshire
T.V. programme repeated in February and in March
Phil was the guest speaker at the Joseph Priestley
College Award evening. He was booked to perform
at Pontins, Blackpool every Tuesday throughout
the whole of the summer season at the 'Sinatra
Tribute Night.' At this time Phil experienced
one of the personal highlights of his career so
far when he had the privilege of a meeting with
Mr. Frank Sinatra Junior who wished him good luck
with his career, gave his autograph and graciously
allowing himself to be photographed with Phil.
This event left Phil quite overwhelmed and the
photograph is now one of his most treasured possessions.
There was a major step later in this year when
a big band was formed, with the assistance of
his pianist Matt Stacey, who became his musical
director and arranger. Before the end of the year
there was the opportunity to stage three big band
performances culminating in a wonderful evening
at Morley Town Hall on Thursday 13th December
2001. Phil took the financial risk of booking
the expensive hall with the hope there would be
sufficient people willing to purchase tickets,
and the people of his home town did not let him
down. Every seat was taken and the lucky people
in the audience that night will not forget the
experience for a long time. The swinging band
accompanied Phil on some 25 numbers that evening
resulting in a thunderous standing ovation at
the completion of the performance. The occasion
was used to successfully launch Phil Fryer's charity
CD 'Just to be Frank' with all the profits being
donated to the 'Oliver Brooke Appeal' for the
Candlelighters.
It started with "a few beers and a song"
said Phil who is now performing full time with
engagements nationwide, working with his pianist
up to his 8 piece Swing Band.
The first engagement for 2002 was a flying return
visit to Dubai for the New Year celebrations.
Phil and his band are looking forward to their
many forthcoming engagements at venues all over
England; the coming years should be very exciting
ones.
The tradition of Morley artistes successfully
advancing into the professional world of entertainment,
now has the name of Phil Fryer proudly set in
lights at the start of this new millennium. He
fully deserves the honour to be placed among a
select band of Morley citizens who have progressed
to international acclaim.
Writen by
Ronnie
Barraclough and David Reekie
'Morley Entertainers'
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