The Singer Who Stole Their Hearts

The Singer Who Stole Their Hearts

By Paul McCann

Joe Mc Laughlin liked to walk to work,!and rain hail, or shine, he always had a song in his heart and would whistle as he walked along the street . He would give a nod or tilt his cap with an unspoken good morning , how are you . 

Some people used to follow him as he walked along ,just to listen to his little tunes . Blind Freddie followed him , because he knew Joe  would be on the way to ithe bakery ,and so he was a great guide along the way .

Joe could whistle like a bird and there were no words necessary as the tunes could carry themselves without any story needed .

Tessie and her two best friends , Bessie and Jessie just liked to listen to him because sometimes he also  would sing as well and they loved the sound of his voice when he did .

He worked in the post office and during the day and all he ever did was sing .

Some of his work colleagues would sayi ,

“Hey Joe you should be on the stage “

The thought had never come to him about becoming a professional singer , but as more and more people urged him to give it a go , he decided  to give it a try .

So off he went ,down to the big hall where they had a dance every Friday and he asked the manager there if he could give him a half hour spot  to sing to the crowd before the dance started .

At first the manager said no but then he said ,

“Hang on , let me hear you sing a song “

Joe sang a well known ballad or a parlour song as they called them ,

and right away the manager eyes lit up with dollar signs and he said ,

"You’re hired come on Friday evening and you can start singing at 630 “

That Friday Joe arrived and took his place on the stage . A large crowd were there eager for the dance to start .

The manager of the dance hall introduced Joe  to the crowd who were rough and ready young couples looking for some fun on a Friday night .

So Joe began to sing to the crowd , unaccompanied .

Some of the young men started shouting and calling him names .

A young girl threw him a coin and told him to get a taxi home .

As hard as it was Joe preservered and kept on singing regardless to the unruly crowd .

At the end of the half hour session the manager asked the crowd to show their appreciation for the new singer . The crowd just laughed and asked for the music to start playing , as they were all eager to dance .

Week after week ,to sing his heart out to the unruly crowd .

As the months went past the people could see his determination  and he started to earn some respect  from the hard heads in the crowd .

He kept coming back  week after week no matter how much they laughed and called him names , Eventually  his persistence paid off. He had won their respect and the young men in the crowd began to applaud after each song ,,Joe had won their hearts and before long  he  had a strong following and was singing in three  different halls every Friday night .

Soon he had a lot of fans around the city began and then he was approached by a recording company in the city ,who offered him a three year recording contract with their label .

Now a lot of people were taking notice of his talent .

Young people would often ask his advice on how to become a popular singer and he would always say “Well you’ve got to ask yourself how bad do you want it . When the times get hard and you’ve got to cut the cheese thin look again and cut it even thinner . When there’s no one who believes in you that’s when you’ve got to keep on believing in yourself and sooner or later people will start to take notice .

Now that he had made the big time he used the name Joseph Locke and they made  a movie about his career called “Hear My Song Violetta”

He kept singing his ballad songs and making records , He even bought himself a pub and lived the life of Riely always on the go with a song in his heart ..  

.     

The End