Dexys Midnight Runners star Pete Williams in tale of misery
AN original member of a Birmingham band that made millions in the 1980s today admitted he is broke and struggling to make ends meet.
Bassist Pete Williams, who played with Dexys Midnight Runners when it produced one of its biggest hit singles Geno as well its smash album Searching For The Young Soul Rebels, said that despite the group earning a fortune from royalties, he hardly saw any cash.
“There was a betrayal and I never made any money,” he claimed. “I was totally stitched up.”
Pete played with the band, which was fronted by Wolverhampton-born singer and songwriter Kevin Rowland, between 1978 and 1981 – a time when the group enjoyed worldwide success.
But a bust-up over cash led to him and fellow original members Mick Talbot, Geoff Blythe and Steve Spooner leaving to form their own group, The Bureau.
Frontman Rowland continued with Dexys and later enjoyed international success with the band’s biggest hit single, Come On Eileen.
Yet despite missing out on a fortune dad-of-two Pete, 49, who still lives in Birmingham, said he is not bitter.
“This isn’t a sob story,” he said. “I suppose when I realised I wasn’t going to receive anything for the No.1 album and single I helped to create, I should have taken someone to court.
“But that process felt so alien and I just thought I couldn’t do it. I just decided that I was going to get success on my own.”
But Pete was hit financially once again, claiming he was also “stitched up” by his management during his relative success with The Bureau.
“We were taken advantage of,” he claimed. “I remember when we were stranded in New York and there was no money left.
“We were also left to pay tax on cash that had been spent by our manager.
“I’ve struggled really, really hard and still continue to financially.”
He said The Bureau is now pursuing royalties from sales of its first self-entitled album, which was a big hit in Canada and Australia.
“I don’t know if we will ever do the same with Dexys,” he said. “Kevin [Rowland] has tried to make amends. That is one of the things he’s acknowledged – the fact there was a betrayal.”
The news comes after Rowland spent years battling drug addictions and cash problems and has had a string of flop albums. He has now resorted to DJing in pubs around the West Midlands.
Last year it was revealed that another former band member, Kevin Archer, had been left so broke that he was giving kids guitar lessons.
Pete says he is now back on track and has made an album with The Bureau, called And Another Thing, which will be out on October 6 and the band will perform at Birmingham’s Sound Bar on Wednesday.
“We are singing about experiences we have had,” he said.
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