Chart entered : 7 July 1960
Chart peak : 8
Number of hits : 19
This is a story that doesn't usually feature prominently in accounts of the sensational Sixties. Ken's number one "Tears" outsold all but two of the Beatles' hits to come third in the decade's bestsellers. It was also the biggest selling single by a solo artist until 1984 when Stevie Wonder's abortion took over.
Ken was born in Liverpool in 1927. He left school at 14 to work for his father, a coal miner. He started out as a ventriloquist entertaining in the local community before getting on the bill at the Nottingham Empire in 1954. By 1958 he had ditched the dummy and was topping the bill as a stand-up in Blackpool.
Ken broke up his act with songs from the start so it was fairly obvious he would venture into the recording studio and it was some relief to find out that this was his first single. "Love Is Like A Violin" is a French song translated by Jimmy Kennedy ( and what a pity in retrospect he didn't translate the last word as "fiddle" ! ) I suppose you have to admire the guy for successfully passing himself off as a romantic balladeer while looking like that but that's about the only positive comment I can raise for this ( or any other of his records for that matter ). His voice is fine enough but you suspect he wouldn't have made the cut were he not an outstanding comedian. Instead he bucked the trend against the crooners and carved out his little niche doing MOR ballads like this one without a trace of irony. Not for me I'm afraid.
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