GIMME SOME LOVIN' - ELIO PACE & BRIAN MAY (Live on BBC Radio 2’s ‘Weekend Wogan’ - Sun, 15 Aug 2010)

Taken from Elio Pace's social media post:

WEEKEND WOGAN 10th ANNIVERSARY SERIES - Show 22/35

11.04am, live on BBC Radio 2 on Sunday, 15 August 2010… the Spencer Davis Group classic ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ with our very special guest on lead guitar, Brian May. 🎸

Alan Boyd, the show’s producer, called me one day to say that one of our guests would be the West End and Broadway star Kerry Ellis. Kerry had just released an album that had been produced by Brian May and that both of them would be coming on to the show to promote it. Alan told me that Kerry would want to use my band to accompany her and that Brian was simply coming along to oversee the rehearsal of two of her chosen songs whilst at the same time bringing an acoustic guitar with him to accompany her on a third.

“Brian May is coming on to the show and only bringing an acoustic guitar and not his Red Special???” I said to Alan. Alan replied by saying “Well, Brian has asked for your phone number and will be calling you next week to talk over the musical arrangements... discuss it with him then”.

Which is exactly what I did!

One afternoon the following week, Brian called me. Kind and humble, he was everything that I had seen of him from afar all my life. We must’ve spoken for nearly an hour and during that call I made it very clear to him that we would love for him to bring his iconic electric guitar and join in with Kerry’s songs taken from the new album, especially that the chosen tracks heavily featured his guitar playing. Here’s an example of what a conscientious and thoughtful superstar this man is. The reason he hadn’t wanted to bring his electric guitar was because he didn’t want to take away our guitarist, Darren Loveday’s, guitar glory. I assured Brian that “Darren would absolutely not mind stepping aside for one of the guitar greats in Rock And Roll history and besides that, my bass player, Neil Fairclough, is the BIGGEST Queen fan on the planet and will never talk to me again if I didn’t at least ask you to bring your Red Special”.

Brian agreed to play his Red Special.

The day of the rehearsal came and it went swimmingly well. READ ABOUT A JAM SESSION THAT ENSUED AT THAT REHEARSAL:    • JOHNNY B. GOODE - ELIO PACE & BRIAN MAY (I...  

After the buzz of that, we said goodbye to Brian and Kerry to continue the rehearsal of my songs. I was preparing to rehearse ‘Gimme Some Lovin’, and Brian and Kerry were now halfway up the aisle of the Radio Theatre saying their last goodbyes to Alan Boyd and members of the BBC staff. We counted off the song and off we went.

As I was halfway through singing the first verse, I saw Brian turn on his heel and start walking back down the aisle towards the front of the stage. He stepped up onto the stage and whispered something into Steve Prior’s ear, who then proceeded to open the guitar case and take out the Red Special and hand it to Brian, who put it on. Steve plugged the guitar back in to the amp and to my utter disbelief and sheer euphoria, Brian began playing along with us. At the end of the song, just a few seconds after we’d calmed ourselves, Brian said “Can I join in?” “YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!” Was the collective roar from everyone in the room! 😁

THAT’S how the great Brian May created one of the most amazing highlights of my career.

Straight after we went off air at 1pm that Sunday, Brian and Kerry asked to have a word with me in their dressing room. They said very lovely things about how much they had enjoyed the whole experience of working with me and my band and how they were looking to fill a few places in a band they were putting together to perform at ‘Proms In The Park’ in Hyde Park, London in a few weeks’ time. The show would be live on BBC radio and television and would be with the BBC Concert Orchestra. They were very apologetic that they wouldn’t need my entire band and proceeded to ask whether myself, Neil Fairclough on bass and my three female background vocalists, Kirstie Roberts, Sue Acteson and Niamh McNally would like to do the gig. As much as I couldn’t wait to tell the girls, I couldn’t believe that I was going to be able to relay this message to Neil, who truly is the biggest Queen fan I’ve ever known. It was now around 2.15pm by which point, normally, the whole band would have left for home. I walked back to our dressing room expecting to be making phone calls as soon as I left the building, only to find four people still in the room… the four people for whom I had the most wonderful news!😊

As many of you know, Neil Fairclough, has now been playing bass for Queen + Adam Lambert since 2011. Never have I known such a fairytale ending to a story in this music business than THAT, and never has anyone deserved that kind of happy karma more than Neil. ❤️
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Terry's special guests this week were Brian May, Kerry Ellis, Fyfe Dangerfield and Robert Lindsay.
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