I recently read an article on Mott The Hoople in Classic Rock magazine which was written by the extremely knowledgeable and very talented music writer Kris Needs. back in the early 70s Kris ran the Mott fan club for all the Seadivers (if you were one you will know what that means). I assume from the article that the fan club address was also Kris’ home address. On one occasion a young Asian girl turned up with some mates. She was studying at Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford which is relatively close to where Kris lived in Aylesbury. This young woman had written to the fan club on many occasions and was mostly known to Kris as Member 262.
It turns out though that she was none other than Benazir Bhutto who went on to become Pakistan‘s Prime Minister before she was cruelly assassinated in 2007. I never knew that Benazir was a Mott The Hoople fan so I’d like to dedicate this post to her memory and I hope you now all enjoy “The Ballad Of Mott” and the excellent “Saturday Gigs“. finally if you ever come across something written by Kris Needs I recommend that you read it, he is bloody good! Especially his autobiography ‘Needs Must: A Very Rock ‘n’ Roll Story’. My good mate John Williams has a signed copy of it too; lucky git!
Kris Needs
