Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette
The Phoenix FM studios had a visit from 90s chart-topper Chesney Hawkes last week – just 16 years after his last one!
Chesney came in to see us back in February 2002, when we were broadcasting under a restricted FM licence for just 28 days a year. At that time we had a tiny studio in a room in Hutton Poplars Lodge in Shenfield. Chesney came down during our FM broadcast that year and played some songs live in the studio.
This time he was in town for rehearsals for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which took place last weekend at the Brentwood Centre. Chesney talked to our presenter Scott Ross about his musical and theatre careers and what people could expect to see and hear from him. The interview can be heard again on our website at phoenixfm.com, where you can also hear an earlier interview he gave to our Saturday morning presenter Naomi Sayers on the phone a couple of weeks ago.
As you can see from the two photos, he hasn’t changed too much over the years! Thanks to Scott who conducted the interview with very short notice and to the team at the Brentwood Centre for helping with Chesney’s appearance.
* Guests coming up on air in the next week include Jessica Kemp from the Beeches talking about National Care Home Open Day and Peter Green and Les Sheppard from the Rotary Club of Billericay who will be talking about this year’s Soapbox Derby.
* There will also be live music in the studio from Ian Perryman, Jessie Dipper and the SoSlam Young Songwriters group.
