A former Nottingham pop star will be back on TV tonight for the first time in nearly 20 years.Chris King, singer with KWS, who topped the singles chart with Please Don’t Go in 1992, will appear on the BBC2 music quiz Never Mind The Buzzcocks.
Celebrity contestants will be asked to pick him out of a line-up.
“I’m not a regular viewer of the programme but I’d seen it a few times so I knew what to expect,” said Chris, 53, from Mapperley, who travelled to the London TV studios to pre-record the show last month.
“I knew I’d stand there in a line-up and they’d take the mickey,” he laughed.
“But not out of me so much. The other guys in the line-up were all bold. I was the only one with hair. They didn’t look anything like me. I felt like a diamond.”All were dressed identically in jeans and a T-shirt, as Chris was in the Please Don’t Go video, which was shown to the studio audience but not the panelists. He admitted not really knowing who all the panelists were, although he did recognise The Office actor Martin Freeman, the show’s guest host and regular team captain Phill Jupitus.
“They had Dappy (from N-Dubz) on it and he was hilarious. I watched the recording from the green room. They were cracking all these jokes and he wasn’t reacting because he just didn’t get any of them. He’s unreal that one.” Other guests included TV critic Charlie Brooker, The Inbetweeners star Simon Bird and songbird Martha Wainwright. The opposing team captain was The Mighty Boosh’s Noel Fielding.“It was a good experience. I was there for about four hours. They rehearse it all and there’s about two hours of filming that goes on which is edited down to the half-hour show. My bit was basically standing there and letting them take the mickey.”
It was the Post who put the programme’s researchers in touch with Chris, who now runs Classic Lambrettas, restoring vintage scooters in Colwick.
Please Don’t Go also reached the Top 10 in the US and Australia.
“I remember those days fondly, of course,” he said.
“And people around Nottingham do talk to me about KWS still to this day, which is nice.”
The group, which also included Winnie Williams and Delroy St Joseph, had four more Top 40 hits in the early nineties: Rock Your Baby; Hold Back the Night and Ain't Nobody (Loves Me Better) and The More I Get The More I Want.
They were nominated for Best British Newcomer at the 1993 Brit Awards.
“I saw Delroy not long ago in Mapperley so he’s still knocking around and I believe Winnie is teaching in Scandinavia. He looks me up whenever he’s over.”
Chris, who started DJing at the Palais at the age of 16, still plays Northern Soul nights around the country.
“It was a laugh,” he said of his Buzzcocks experience.
“And I got paid.”
