Johnny Theakston

Johnny Theakstone, AKA Shane Fenton (1944–1961) was an early rock and roll singer who was the original lead singer to perform under the Shane Fenton stagename in his band Shane Fenton and the Fentones. Johnny Theakstone would have been the face of the band, but died at the age of seventeen.

Johnny originally sang skiffle music, but changed to rock and roll when the genre started to emerge. Wanting to adopt an American sounding name, he became Shane Fenton: 'Shane' from the western, Shane, and 'Fenton' from a local printing firm. His backing groups would then be known as The Fentones. He soon befriended Bernard Jewry, who became a roadie for them and occasionally sang on stage with Johnny Theakstone.^[1]

In 1961, the band sent a demo tape to European label Parlophone and the BBC and were offered an audition, but a few days before the audition was to take place, Johnny Theakstone fell ill. Seeing how ill he looked, Jewry agreed to step in for him. Johnny Theakstone subsequently fell severely ill and was rushed to hospital, where he died two days later. Jewry later recalled: "I found him sitting on the settee in the lounge, with blankets wrapped all around him, very ill and too weak to stand."^[2] Johnny's cause of death was heart failure. His heart had been weakened since contracting Rheumatic fever as a child.^[3]

Because BBC had given the group a slot on the Saturday Club radio show (and presumably under contract), they were unable to disband, and continued with Jewry on lead vocals. Requested by Johnny Theakstone's mother, Bernard took Johnny's stagename, and continued as Shane Fenton and the Fentones. Shane Fenton and the Fentones would have four songs in the UK charts between 1961 and 1962. Their best known song, "Cindy's Birthday", went to number 19.^[4]