Wirral musician Rob Fennah looks back on 50 years in music

The 65-year-old, originally from Greasby, but now living in Wallasey, has certainly packed a lot into his career including a clutch of hit records and albums, hugely successful stage plays and a guitar school that now teaches to a vast worldwide audience via his hit YouTube Channel, Fennah Rob.

The Globe met Rob at the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton for a look back over his career.

He said: "Celebrating’ might not be the right word, although for anyone to make a living for 50 years in this entertainment business without ever being out of work is cause for some celebration I suppose."

In the Spring of 1974, Rob joined his first band The New Attraction but with two years still left to go at school, they had to limit their live performances to weekends and school holidays when they would perform in social clubs, mainly in the North Wales region.

He recalled: "Having failed to find anyone to form a group near where I lived, I heard about these three young guys from Seacombe; Peter Leay, Kevin Roberts and Les Smith who were looking for a rhythm guitarist to join their newly formed band.

"I’ll never forget the day I met them; I was standing outside my parent’s house in Greasby eagerly waiting for them to come and audition me.

"After a while, a scruffy blue and orange, hand painted old van drove past with three rough looking dudes gawping at me from out of the window. One of them was smoking, which wouldn’t have gone down well with my parents, so I was hugely relieved when it drove past my house and disappeared down the road.

"Then, to my horror, it turned around at the end of the road and drove back. The three guys jumped out of the van, gave me a polite nod, and bounced straight into the house, all armed with instruments I could only dream of owning.

"The audition went well and I got the job.

"It was just coming up to the Easter school break and within a few weeks I was off to Anglesey to play my first gig at a place called The Wellmans Sports And Social Club.

"In fact, it was during a recent visit to Anglesey when it dawned on me that it was my 50th year in the business. With that in mind I went in search of the Wellmans club, unsure if it still existed … it did! Although it looked like it had been closed for a few years, I peeped through a window into the gloomy room.

Back where it all began: Rob Fennah of the Wellmans club, where he played his first gig 50 years ago (Image: Rob Fennah)"I could see the old stage was still there, complete with the silvery curtains that all the clubs had in those days”.

After two years playing the clubs the band, now renamed Buster, signed to RCA Records and had a run of big hit records, mainly in Japan, with one or two in Europe and Australia.

Buster on stage (Image: RCA Records)By the age of 18, Rob and Pete had penned their first top three hit, received a gold album for The Buster Live together with a clutch of other best-seller awards.

Buster in promotional shot from 1976 (Image: RCA Records)Rob has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious venues too including: The Sydney Opera House, Australia and The Budokan, Tokyo.

In 2014, The British Embassy in Tokyo published a list of the most successful top 25 UK bands in Japan since the Beatles. Rob's band, Buster, was one of them.

Rob said: "We didn't have the Internet back in the early days of Buster so it’s great to see some of the old TV footage resurface on the web. Only last week somebody posted a Japanese film, called A Day Out With Buster. Some film crew from Japan must have come over and filmed us in Liverpool and London. I'd never seen it before. There was some great live stuff in there too."

In 1982, Rob teamed up with his brother Alan and formed a new band, Alternative Radio. They were the first artists to sign to EMI's re-launched Parlophone record label. They recorded two 'live' sessions for BBC Radio 1, one of which was voted 'Best Session Of The Year' by Simon Mayo.

Rob and Alan Fennah - aka Alternative Radio - in 1983 (Image: EMI Records)The band still does the occasional live show, the next being in December at the Floral Pavilion Theatre.

Rob and Alan Fennah - aka Alternative Radio - in the studio (Image: Helen A Jones)During the 1990s, Rob and Alan were also writing for TV, Film and Theatre. This led to the setting up his own production company, Pulse Records Limited. In 2005, they won the Unisong International Song Contest with a track called' Yesterday's Man' which features on the Alternative Radio album, ‘Subject To Status’.

A chance meeting with best-selling author Helen Forrester in 1992 resulted in Rob’s stage adaptations of Twopence To Cross The Mersey and By The Waters Of Liverpool. After a 30-year run, the final UK tours tour concluded in September 2022 and 2023, respectively. Rob and Helen remained firm friends until her death in 2011, aged 92.

In April 2018 Rob's stage play, Lennon’s Banjo, premièred at Liverpool’s Epstein Theatre. It featured former Beatles' drummer, Pete Best, in a cameo role and made headlines around the world.

The stage play, adapted from the novel Julia’s Banjo by Rob and co-author Helen A Jones, tells the story of a Beatles tour guide who unearths a clue to solving the greatest mystery in rock history - the whereabouts of John Lennon's first musical instrument which has been missing for more than 60 years. Lennon's Banjo is set to tour the UK in Spring 2026.

Rob Fennah with copy of Helen Forrester's 'Twopence to cross the Mersey' (Image: Helen A Jones)Since setting up his YouTube channel Fennah Rob during the pandemic, it now has over 31,000 subscribers and Rob teaches students from all over the world.

He said: "I started teaching guitar way back in 1979 when Buster was taking a break from touring. I've always enjoyed it, and it’s something I plan on doing for as long as I can still hold a guitar".

He is currently recording a new studio album at the Motor Museum Studio in Liverpool, which is scheduled for release later this year.

Looking back on the last half a century, Rob concluded: "People ask me, 'when are you going to retire?' Thing is, I’ve never had a ‘proper job’ to retire from so my honest answer is, 'I retired the day I left school'.