11/11/2025
Our Healer, Matthew Manning may have found fame in a very different way.......
STORIES OF WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN!
I was a shy 19-year-old when thrust into the spotlight of fame in 1974, managed by the Svengali figure of Peter Ba**er, making endless television and radio appearances around the world to promote my first book ‘The Link’.
I soon discovered that television studios were a great place to meet famous people even if I often felt overwhelmed. I shared a Saturday morning children’s TV appearance with Suzi Quatro who was accompanied by her record producer, the legendary Mickey Most. Off-screen she was fascinated by my story and - embarrassingly flirtatious with me - she didn’t once stop singing or humming.
Mickey offered me a recording contract on the spot in spite of the fact I had no ability whatsoever to sing! He assured me that was irrelevant as he could always create a novelty single in the studio. I didn’t accept his offer and Ba**er didn’t need to veto it.
One request he did turn down was from the top 1960s model, Jean Shrimpton. The Daily Mirror had given several top models a camera and asked each to photograph the man they most admired. Jean chose me but Ba**er wasn’t having any of it, believing such publicity to be too down-market. “She’ll be wanting to photograph you in your underwear” was his sour response after disappointing both of us. Twenty-five years later we did actually meet and both had a good laugh at the memory.
On an American TV chat show in 1975 another guest was Red West, an actor and singer lifelong friend of Elvis Presley. He’d appeared in 18 of the King’s films and co-written songs with him.
Live on air he invited me to “come over and meet Elvis - he’d love you”. Unfortunately, I was midway through a month-long promotional tour for my book and didn’t have the time. But even if I’d found a free couple of hours, the proposal had already been shot down by Ba**er.
That time in my life could have been so different - and who knows, Mickey Most might have recorded a duet with Elvis and I! 🤣🤣