The Pop singer was a hopeful at the Viaduct Sporting Club's talent contest night in August 1964. A table has been set aside for all the contestants to sit together and the long-haired chain-smoking youth psyched Annie Walker out by staring intently at her while he joined in the community singing that took place beforehand. When Minnie Caldwell and Ena Sharples mistakenly sat at the table, Minnie asked her friend if the young man was a Rolling Stone and was told that he looked like someone who'd crawled out from under one. He then took an alarmed Annie to task for standing on his dropped plectrum but his hopes were dashed when his electric guitar broke before he could play. Club manager Norman Phillips brusquely told him that that was just showbusiness but the youth wasn't pleased - he still owed £38 on the now useless instrument.