Costa Blanca’s Ricky Valance on the BBC

WHAT DO the likes of Cliff Richard, Helen Shapiro, Petula Clark, Eden Kane, Shirley Bassey, John Leyton, Tommy Steele and Ricky Valance all have in common?

Just the fact that there are not too many British solo artists still performing more than 50-years after having a number one hit record in the UK Charts.

Ricky Valance held the number one position in the chart for three weeks in August-September 1960 and although he never reached the Top 10 again, he has enjoyed chart success in Scandinavia, South Africa and especially in Nashville, USA plus the contemporary Christian Charts.

Four years ago, local video company Costa Blanca TV proposed a documentary of Ricky’s life and were in discussions with Channel 4 to produce this before a major shift in their documentary commission criteria put this on the back shelf.

Having been so close that he could taste it, Ricky has tirelessly worked with UK agents and management teams to produce such a documentary and now all that hard work is finally going to pay off.

In February 2011, Robin Toyne, the co-director of a Bristol based independent production company, Quintessence Films  proposed producing a documentary for the BBC about Ricky.

Over the years Quintessence Films have produced a number of programs for the BBC and, even though with BBC budget cuts this has proved difficult, this month they will start working together on a 40-minute Documentary about Ricky’s life and times for a BBC Wales commission, with plans to broadcast the show nationally in the Spring 2012.

Robin Toyne said “A large part of the documentary will be filming Ricky touring around where he grew up in Wales but I also think it’s important to include his life in Spain and I’ve been talking to him about what we might include.”

The result is that the production team will be spending four days on the Costa Blanca, shooting in and around some of Torrevieja’s major attractions including filming his performance at the Lounge Bar, Aguas Neuvas, on November 16^th, where they also hope to capture a few sound bites from local audience members.

Ricky is no stranger to Television having hosting his own Costa Blanca interview show, being interviewed himself for dozens of programs in the UK, Europe, Spain and on ‘Nashville Now’ (with an estimated audience of over 50-million on Satellite/Cable TV), and producing pilot shows for Costa Blanca TV and the now defunct, Living In Spain TV.

He spends the winter months in Spain and tours the UK during the warmer summer months and says “Although we have our family and grandchildren in the UK, the Costa Blanca is still home for us and I felt it was important to show the UK audience some of the reasons that other entertainers, sports personalities and celebrities have all chosen to enjoy the quality of life, we are lucky enough to enjoy by living here.”

Understandably Ricky is delighted to have the opportunity to reach out to the UK audience via the BBC and be back in the spotlight again half a century after ‘Tell Laura I Love Her’ reached the top of the UK charts.

The word is spreading quickly with national magazines, papers and radio stations requesting interviews, while he continues work on his autobiography and performs around the Costa Blanca and Calida.

Of all the shows in recent years, you can be assured that all the stops will be pulled out when he performs at the Lounge Bar on November 16, so buy your tickets from the venue now to avoid disappointment. More info about Ricky can be found on his website on www.RickyValance.com

By Keith Nicol