3 swing along to a King size success

THEIR fans see them as the symbolic success story of all the boys-next-door.

Their co-stars recognise them as a slick professional trio who have been swinging “standard” pops and making feet tap since they started singing together 10 years ago.

But how do the King Brothers, featured in Swinging Along every Tuesday, see themselves?

They share the same parents, the same address, and the same friends. They bump into each other at the breakfast table, in the rehearsal room and before the TV cameras So they know each other pretty well.

And when I talked to them at rehearsal they gave me their verdicts. First on Dennis:

Dennis, the pianist, is 22 and the baby of the trio. He picked up his musical talent from his father, a planning engineer for a car firm who used to be a semi pro pianist with a dance band. At six, Dennis played the banjo. At 10, he turned to the piano. At 16 he left school to join his brothers in a professional group.

Michael: If it hadn’t been for Dennis, none of us would have got involved in show biz. He is the one with the real musical knowledge. Whatever we know he taught us.

Tony: Michael and I are just intuitive about music. We go for the regulars — Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and so on — but Dennis has a wider taste.

Michael: Let’s face it, he has a livelier mind than we have. He gets enthusiastic over everything that directly concerns us.

Tony: All his money goes on clothes — £40 [£720 in today’s money, allowing for inflation – Ed] a suit is nothing to him. He has more suits than Michael and I put together. He’s always trying to outdo us with smart ties, striped shirts and fancy waistcoats. We let him.

Michael: He’s trying to become a man about town. It’s a phase we all go through.

Tony is 25, has fair ginger hair, a wry smile and a habit of not joining a conversation unless he has something worth saying. As a teenager, he was, musically, the odd boy out, while Michael and Dennis were winning talent contests as a guitar and piano double act. Then a friend found a double bass in a cellar, gave Tony lessons — and the trio was born.

Michael: He’s the odd one out in personality, too. He’s much quieter than Dennis or me. When he does speak, it is usually a crack against one of us.

Dennis: His habits aren’t like ours, either. He’s a real homebird. He’d rather stay in to read, or practice his golf swing, than have a night on the town.

Michael: He saves his money. We share a joint bank account out of which we allow ourselves a regular weekly amount for spending money. Dennis and I get through ours in a flash. Never a 6d. [2½p in decimal, 45p now after inflation] left at the end of the week. But not Tony.

Dennis: He’s got a thing about security. And woe betide you if you borrow 5s. [25p in decimal, £4.50 after inflation] and forget to pay it back.

Michael: His main hobby is keeping fit. He looks after himself. He goes to bed at the same time every night. Believes in plenty of sleep and plenty of fresh air.

Dennis: Take it from us — one of these days be is going to make someone a steady, quiet, responsible, healthy, wealthy husband!

Michael, the 27-year-old guitarist, is darker and more forceful than his younger brothers. He is used to speaking for all of them.

Dennis: We still regard him as the leader. A sort of leftover from when we were kids. He influences us a lot. He sees himself as the organiser. He ploughs ahead gets things started and expects us to follow.

Tony: Usually when we’re busy with something else.

Dennis: Mike’s very conscientious about our turning up for rehearsals on time, and seeing that we practice. If we don’t give in he gets upset. He gets worked up over lots of little things. I think his big fault is that he’s…

— “Sensitive?” suggested Mike, unable to keep silent.

Tony: Irritable?

Dennis: No, I was going to say excitable. If he’s worried or nervous then he picks on one of us because we’re always the nearest. Sometimes he feels he’s against us. But when he’s happy then he’s generous and gay and wants everyone to have a good time with him.

Tony: The trouble is that his idea of a good time may not be everybody’s.

Dennis: I think he’ll be the first one off us to get married. I hope it won’t split the trio if he does.

Tony: At one point we were sufficiently worried about this to take out an insurance policy against it happening. But I don’t think there’s any need now. For as long as the public want us, Mike, Dennis and I intend staying just as we are — a singing threesome.

But the three boys admitted that the idea of sticking to the image they have created of singing, swinging, homely boys down the street, has its drawbacks for all of them.

Mike feels that three joint singers can never fully become individual personalities.

Dennis feels that to continue their style of steady singing (which ensured them a safe passage through and beyond the rock age, and will guarantee them a safe voyage through the twist era) they must sacrifice the chance to experiment musically in any extreme form.

Tony feels their future as a trio will necessitate a continuance of their closely-knit life with its limitations of mental independence and privacy, which he, at least, is beginning to demand.

But when I asked them to weigh these against the advantages of their joint fame and joint income, their choice was unanimous:

The Kings see the Kings remaining the Kings.