Glenn
Martin Tilbrook
was born on August 31st, 1957, in South East London. Like many kids,
he dreamt of being famous. In a tour diary he wrote for The Independent
in 1994 Glenn said, "I have always liked attention, for as long as
I can remember. My mum tells me - though I have no memory of this
- that when I was five I used to knock at my neighbours' doors and
sing songs to them. I was the same age when I saw the film Summer
Holiday which made a big impression, seeing Cliff and the Shads jump
out of their double-decker bus to play on a beach, surrounded by adoring
fans. I knew without question that this was what I wanted to do. What
being famous was like didn't enter my mind until much later."
But
Glenn must have been more serious about pursuing fame than most of
us were. By the time he was seven he had persuaded his parents to
buy him a guitar and was teaching himself to play. There was also
a piano in the house, which he would learn to play as well. He says
he did not come from a particularly musical family, but they encouraged
him a lot and were very supportive. Glenn describes his earliest mode
of music composition in a 1994 Performing Songwriter interview, "It's
funny, the way I initially started writing was, we used to have these
record songbooks at home with just lyrics in them. These were out
in the 60s. I used to learn songs from there, but only if I knew the
tunes. The songs I didn't know tunes for, I'd just make up my own.
I was about ten and it was very rudimentary (laughs), but that's how
I began."
When
he was 11, he wrote his first original song, and it was then that
he decided he would be a songwriter for a living. He made his first
public appearance when he was 13 at a Butlin's talent contest. In
Britain Butlin's is an institution, but as an American I had never
heard of it. It has been described to me as a chain of seaside resorts
in the UK for family vacations…I picture something along the lines
of the place shown in the movie Dirty Dancing. As far as atmosphere
and glamour, Glenn's performance was probably closer to "Baby's" sister's
hula song than the show Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey put on, but
I'm sure Glenn's singing had to be better. He won first prize but
later confessed that he had stolen the lyrics from someone else. You
can hear Glenn tell the story in his own words and a little of the
song here .
As
a teen, Glenn went to Eltham Green School in Eltham. One ex-classmate
recalls, "That place was a zoo most days. We were banned from the
elevators shortly after I started there - too many fights - so then
the girls had to contend with the perverts on the stairs sticking
their hands up our skirts. And if you were off side with anyone, it
usually meant you wouldn't have to walk down stairs because you'd
be pushed down."
