Today (June 21st) marks the one year anniversary of the passing of Chris Sievey, the creator – and man under the head – of the fantastic showbiz personality Frank Sidebottom.
And Frank’s fans have embarked upon a campaign to create a permanent memorial to Chris, a bronze statue of Frank Sidebottom to be placed in Timperley Village, the place made so famous by Frank.
Frank Sidebottom, for the uninitiated, was a legend on the comedy
scene and indie circuit throughout the 80s, 90s and
00s. He was a, sort of, real life cartoon character, instantly recognisable by his large, spherical, paper mache head and nasal Mancunian voice, along with his puppet sidekick, Little Frank, whose head was also made from paper mache and who, unsurprisingly, looked exactly like him and spoke the same way (only a little higher).
In the early days, Frank appeared in Oink magazine and on Saturday morning TV, later releasing wonderfully bizarre records; cover versions of the hits of Queen, Kylie Minogue, Sex Pistols, The Fall and many more, all played out with the same
theme-from-Postman-Pat-style plinky-plonk sound. Next was Radio
Timperley, a fictional radio show named after the village near
Altrincham in which he lived (and also the show on which Caroline
Aherne’s Mrs Merton character was born). In the late 80s, Mark
Radcliffe, Mark Riley and journalist Jon Ronson all played in Frank Sidebottom’s Oh Blimey Big Band… and Chris Evans was the driver.
Frank’s creator, Chris Sievey, had previously fronted the late 70s band The Freshies (biggest ‘hit’: 1980’s ‘I’m In Love With The Girl On The Manchester Virgin Megastore Checkout Desk’) before coming up with the idea for Frank.
Chris put his life’s work into the character. After three decades of Frank’s brilliant madness, Chris sadly died in June 2010 after a short battle with cancer. He was as legendary as his papier mache-headed alter ego.
In recent months, Chris Sievey’s friends and fans have launched an internet group to raise the £60,000 required to make a bronze statue of Frank Sidebottom for future generations to enjoy. And exactly 12 month’s since he died, the group are appealing for as many people as possible who knew and enjoyed Frank Sidebottom to donate £5 to the fund in the hope that they can make a significant dent in their target figure.
The message on the website reads "We’re hoping that all of us, as fans and friends of Frank, can pull together and take pride in the fact that WE made this statue happen – a statue of Frank for future generations to discover and celebrate."
Please follow this link if you would like to donate.
