Legendary singer songwriter Graham Nash has told the tale of his “musical road” in Salford at a time when “nobody had any money.”
Nash, who moved to Salford as a young boy, spoke of his experience in what was called the “worst slum in England” at the time.
“I remember rationing where you had to have a coupon to be able to even buy basic bread and milk and stuff,” Nash said.
“I remember collecting pieces of coal at the rubbish dump, filling my sister’s pram with coal for the fire. I have very warm feelings about Salford. I didn’t know that it was a slum.”
Eighty-one-year-old Nash then continued onto his first ever meeting with Allan, whom he later teamed up with to form one of the leading UK bands of the 60s, The Hollies.
“I was sitting in Mr Burke’s class, and the door opened and… this young boy came in and Mr Burke said, ‘Where can he sit?’ There was this seat next to me that was empty. He came and sat next to me, and me and Allan became friends.
“We would sing in the school choir. For some reason, Allan always took the melody and for some reason I always took the harmony,” he remembers.
In a separate interview, Nash talks about his connections to skiffle when growing up in Salford poor. Skiffle is a genre of folk music was popularised by Lonnie Donegan, an Irish folk singer who went to America and brought back a “very simple” style of music.
@grahamnash It’s been nice thinking back to the beginnings of my life in music while looking forward to my new album, Now, which comes out next week! #grahamnash #60smusic #skiffle #newmusic #newalbum #now
Nash remembered using a collection of cheap instruments to replicate this genre of music. This included a cheap guitar, a washtub bass “which was basically a box with a stick and a rope” and a washboard where “you put thimbles on your hand and that would be the drums.”
“So if you had those three cheap instruments, you could actually form a band and that’s what we did and that started me on my musical road,” he added.
Despite his age he has shown no intention of retiring and slowing down now.
“I love what I do,” he says. “That’s the thing, you know, don’t give up. I love what I do, you know, don’t let anybody stop you. If you have something that you love get to it, do it!
“I can’t do anything about the past. You can’t buy a second of time. Even Bill Gates and [Mark] Zuckerberg can’t buy a second of time.”
Featured image taken/ owned by Bruno, Flickr.
To hear more of Graham’s story, click here.
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