The 1975 frontman Matt Healy calls Razorlight's Johnny Borrell a 'wanker'

November 2, 2013 10:05

Healy says Borrell would have become a 'wanker' whether Razorlight had been successful or not

The 1975 frontman Matt Healy has branded Johnny Borrell a "wanker".

The 1975 are one of the breakthrough bands of 2013, having supported The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park over the summer and then scored a Number One album with their self-titled debut in September.

Asked by The Guardian whether he worries about success turning him into a "complete wanker", Healy replied: "No, I don't. We're not worried about becoming a bunch of wankers because the people who become wankers were always gonna become wankers. Johnny Borrell is a wanker because he's a wanker, not because Razorlight got massive."

Healy also insisted that having famous parents - his father is Auf Wiedersehen, Pet actor Tim Healy and his mother Denise Welch is a well-known Loose Women panellist - has done nothing to boost the band's career. "Who's going to care about some jumped-up kid? Listen, my parents' connections couldn't have got me anywhere," he said.

Johnny Borrell released his debut solo album, 'Borrell 1', in July and saw it sell just 594 copies in its first week on sale. The album features song titles including 'Erotic Letter', 'Ladder To Your Bed' and 'Pan-European Supermodel Song (Oh! Gina)'.

The 1975, currently on tour in the US, will return to the UK for a homecoming gig at Manchester Apollo on December 10 and a set at Blackpool Rocks on December 21. They will then play six UK dates - three in Manchester, three in London - in January 2014.

The 1975 will play:

Manchester Apollo (December 20)
Blackpool Rocks (21)
Manchester Academy (January 6, 7, 8)
London Brixton Academy (9, 10, 11)

To check the availability of The 1975 tickets and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/TICKETS now, or call 0844 858 6765 .

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Country music pioneer Johnny Wright dies at 97 (AP)

By CHRIS TALBOTT, AP Entertainment Writer Chris Talbott, Ap Entertainment Writer – Tue Sep 27, 2:45 pm ET

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Johnny Wright, a country music pioneer who had hits as a singer in the duo Johnnie and Jack and guided the career of his wife, Kitty Wells, died early Tuesday. He was 97.

Close family friend Eddie Stubbs said Wright died of natural causes around 1 a.m. at his home. He had been in failing health for some time. Stubbs said that as a lifelong Nashville resident, Wright was a witness to most of country music's greatest moments.

Wright remembered WSM going on the air in 1925 and heard the first broadcast of Uncle Jimmy Thompson, an event that would evolve into the Grand Ole Opry. Later he started his own career and married Wells, the first woman to break through as a star in country music, in 1937.

"With the passing of Johnny Wright, it really brings an end to an era," said Stubbs, a WSM radio host who came to town as a fiddler for Wright and Wells. "He saw it all happen right in front of his very eyes, then got to become an active participant in the music, too."

His death was first reported by The Tennessean newspaper.

Wright came to fame as a member of the country duo Johnnie and Jack, which recorded hits such as "Ashes of Love," "I Get So Lonely," "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight" and "Poison Love" in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Jack Anglin, who was married to Johnny Wright's sister, died in a car crash in 1963.

Wright changed the spelling of his name from Johnnie after it was misprinted on a record, then began a solo career with a No. 1 hit "Hello Vietnam," later featured in the 1987 movie "Full Metal Jacket."

Wells and Wright had three children: two daughters and a son, Bobby, who also was a singer and actor. He played the part of Willie, a Tennessee moonshiner, on the TV series "McHale's Navy."

Wells was known as "the queen of country music" after she became the first woman solo singer to have a No. 1 country record, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," in 1952. The couple's 74th anniversary would have been Oct. 30.

"He managed her career and put her career ahead of his own," Stubbs said. "Despite what you read in all these tabloids, Kitty Wells is still the queen of country music, and he managed her career, found all her songs. He guided her career. All the women of country music owe this debt of gratitude to Kitty Wells. Had it not been for Johnny Wright guiding her, there would not have been a Kitty Wells. He's an extremely important man. The billboard hits don't tell the story."

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AP writer Joe Edwards in Nashville contributed to this report.

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