Kenny Everett Bio, Wiki
Kenny Everett born Maurice James Christopher Cole, was an English television entertainer and radio DJ. He was among the first DJs in 1967 to join BBC Radio’s newly created BBC Radio 1. In this station, he developed his comical characters and trademark voices which he later adapted for television.
Kenny Everett Age
Everett was born in Seaforth, Lancashire, England on 25th December 1944 and passed away on 4th April 1995. He was 50 years years old when he died in London, England.
Kenny Everett Height/Measurements
Everett stood at an approximate height of 5 feet 5 inches.
Kenny Everett Education
Everett attended the local secondary modern school, in Crosby called St Bede’s which is now a part of Sacred Heart Catholic College as he was raised in a Roman Catholic family. He later went to Verona Fathers, a junior seminary at Stillington, North Yorkshire where he was the choirboy.
Kenny Everett Career
In 1963, Everett sent copies to Tape Recording Magazine, of his home-produced short radio shows, and they suggested he sends a tape to the BBC. He appeared as a guest on the BBC Home Service show called Midweek, in May 1964 due to The Maurice Cole Quarter of an Hour Show and few weeks later he auditioned at Broadcasting House. Unfortunately, he did not get the job because he was nervous, but they told him to send a tape to producers who were looking for presenters for the pirate station called Radio London which was about to be launched. From there, he started his broadcasting career as a DJ for Radio London on December 25, 1964 which was also his 20th birthday.
Everett was advised to change his name before taking to the airwaves so he could avoid legal problems. Edward Everett Horton was the source of inspiration for the name he adopted, ‘Everett’. He teamed with Dave Cash to work for the most popular radio program at the time called Kenny & Cash Show. He quickly gained attention due to his likeable personality and offbeat style. However, he was dismissed in November 1965 because of some outspoken remarks concerning religion on air. Radio London had sponsored American evangelical shows just like other pirate stations, but after Everett’s disparaging remarks concerning The World Tomorrow, producers threatened to withdraw their contract with the station.
After working at Radio Luxembourg and getting another dismissal, he went back to Radio London in June 1966. Everett accompanied The Beatles while taking their August 1966 tour of the United States, and he sent daily reports for Radio London. In February 1967, the BBC producer, Johnny Beerling, privately visited Radio London and observed Everett as he was working and he said that he saw Everett doing everything. Adding that, the DJ sat in one room with one script as someone was playing records and someone else controlled the sound yet he saw this man who was in control of everything. BBC assessed an audition tape in March 1967 by a panel.
Around 1073, legislation had been passed, therefore allowing commercial radio stations in the UK to be licensed. Among the first stations was Capital Radio which started broadcasting in October 1973 to London and the home counties. Everett began working at the station and was assigned a weekend show that was recorded. After having poor audience figures from January 1974, the station changed from a light music format to a more pop-based where Everett presented the breakfast show alongside Dave Cash, his former colleague from pirate station Radio London. This led to them recreating the show, Kenny and Cash show. In 1975, Cash moved the lunchtime slot and Everett continued presenting alone on the breakfast show. He had a great passion of sound recording equipment, using mixing equipment and reel-to-reel tape recorders in particular, mostly adding sound-on-sound to his recordings.
Everett realized that early mornings were too much for his lifestyle in May 1975 and so he moved the breakfast show to Graham Dene. He moved to reduced high-pressure timeslots during midday, on Saturday and Sunday at Capital. While working there, he developed his style and cult following and he featured what he thought best and worst in music which resulted in famous the Kenny Everett’s World’s Worst Record Show programs. In 1978, he went ahead and released it as an album with slightly different tracks.
Everett had his screen debut in the 1965 film Dateline Diamonds, based around the pirate ship MV Galaxy. He also made appearances in several other television series starting with a Granada Television production in 1968 called Nice Time which was co-presented by Jonathan Routh and Germaine Greer. Everett made 3 seasons for London Weekend Television (LWT): The Kenny Everett Explosion, Making Whoopee and Ev in 1970. He also took part in Up Sunday, a 1972 BBC TV series alongside John Wells and Willie Rushton. He made seven appearances in 1973, then left BBC to join Capital Radio. Everett also played the voice of Charley the cat in the animated series of public information films called Charley Says. He was the announcer on Celebrity Squares, which ran from 1957 to 1979 on ITV.
Everett was a frequent panel guest on Blankety Blank, a BBC quick show. In 1979 during his first appearance, he accidentally bent Terry Wogan’s microphone called Wogan’s Wand. This incident became a running joke anytime Everett appeared on the show. He was also the host of two short-lived quiz shows in his late career, Gibberish and Brainstorm. Everett was a team captain on That’s Showbusiness.
Kenny Everett Net Worth
Throughout his career as a television entertainer and radio DJ, Everett was able to accumulate an estimated net worth of between $1 Million – $5 Million.
Kenny Everett Parents and Siblings
Everett was born and brought up in Seaforth, Lancashire, England by his parents, Tom Cole (Father) and Lily Cole (Mother). He did not reveal more information concerning his parents and whether or not he had siblings.
Kenny Everett Wife
Everett got married to the psychic and singer Audrey “Lady Lee” Middleton on June 2nd, 1969 at Kensington Register Office. However, they had separated by September 1979 and he stopped denying his homosexuality publicly in the late 1980s. David Cash, his co-host in the documentary Unforgettable Kenny Everett, said that when he got to know him well, it was obvious that his sexual tendencies were homosexual and he always viewed it as something bad and he fought it. He found his first boyfriend called Dave Nealon, a waiter, through his ex-wife. After publicly coming out as gay in 1985, he introduced his 2 husbands Pepe Flores and Nikolai Grishanovich to the media. Everett was infected with HIV by Grishanovich who later died of AIDS in the year 1991.
The Kenny Everett Video Show
Everett was offered a new venture by London’s Thames Television in 1978, which became the Kenny Everett Video Show. This became a vehicle for his sketches and characters, mixed with the latest pop hits, either as backing tracks to dance routines by Arlene Phillips’ risqué dance troupe Hot Gossip, or performed by the artists themselves. Some TV and pop stars appeared on the show including Elkie Brooks, Rod Stewart, Kate Bush, Billy Connolly, Freddie Mercury, Cliff Richard, Suzi Quatro, and Terry Wogan. Some classical musicians like Julian Lloyd Webber also appeared on the show.
Kenny Everett and Freddie Mercury
Everett and Freddie Mercury, the Queen’s lead singer became close friends after meeting in 1974 on Everett’s breakfast radio show in Capital Radio. Middleton, Everett’s former wife who later remarried John Alkin, published an autobiography that had a foreword from Everett. However, after newspaper serialization and its publication, he denounced the book for outing him. Reportedly, Mercury was on Middleton’s side and this made Everett and Middleton to communicate only through their lawyers. One year later, Mercury and Everett reconciled when they were both going through some health issues because of HIV complications. Unfortunately, Mercury passed away in November 1991.
Kenny Everett Death
Everett was diagnosed with HIV in the year 1989 and he went public with the information in 1993. On 4th April 1995, he died of an illness that is AIDS-related when he was 50 years old. A Catholic requiem mass took place at Church of the Immaculate Conception which is located in Mayfair, London. Later, his body was cremated at Mortlake Crematorium.