Chart entered : 22 June 1961
Chart peak : 8
Number of hits : 12
It's time for our second Scottish artist as probably the most idiosyncratic of Sixties singers checks in.
Karl was born Angus McKenzie in Glasgow in 1931. He saw service in both the British Merchant Navy and the Scandinavian Mercantile Marine . In Rhodesia his rumbustious behaviour earned him the nickname "Boaty Maseteno" or "Brother of Satan" In the mid- fifties he stayed on in Nashville befriending Faron Young . He was offered a recording contract which he had to turn down because he was an illegal immigrant . He was deported anyway in 1959 and moved on to Blackburn in 1960 where he adopted his stage name choosing Karl because he'd lost a son of that name. He formed a trio with Kevin Neill ( guitar ) and Gerry Cottrell ( bass ) although only Karl was credited on the labels.
They soon established themselves as a live act around Manchester and were spotted by Jack Good who offered them work on his latest TV show Wham !. They were certainly picked for their music : Karl was very short , of distinctly proletarian appearance and looked all of his twenty-nine years. Good also arranged a contract with Decca and this was his first single.
"Marcheta" was a ballad written in 1912. Karl and the boys gave it a country arrangement with Neill's guitar discreetly tucking in behind That Voice. Karl did owe something to Slim Whitman but he took the yodelling much further and this couldn't be anybody else. He modestly commented "The lyrics were beautiful , but it was my range that grabbed the people. It was a hell of a range I did it in". Karl's octave-spanning leaps and howls are not to everyone's taste - you could make a case that he's British pop's first excessive vocalist, the precursor to his compatriot Billy McKenzie or Kevin Rowland - but he certainly stood out from the crowd.
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