Celebrating Pet Shop Boy Chris Lowe's relationship with Blackpool

Musician Chris Lowe was born in Blackpool back in 1959 but it was in London 21 years later when he met Neil Tennant in a hi-fi shop and began a friendship that would later blossom into the iconic music group The Pet Shop Boys.

Flash forward four decades and the Pet Shop Boys are now one of the most successful duos in British music history, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide, released 15 top 10 albums and had 39 top 20 singles.

During the summer, celebrity reporter Aimee Seddon had the opporunity to chat to former Arnold School pupil Chris ahead of the Pet Shop Boy’s headline gig at Radio 2 in the Park in Preston.

During the interview, Chris was asked how growing up in Blackpool helped shape him into the musician he is today.

In his reply, the Fylde Coast local said: “I never thought I was going to become a pop star but when I was at [Arnold] school, I learned the trombone. I was in a brass band - the Norman Memorial Youth Band- and I learned trombone because my grandpa used to play trombone, so he sort of taught me how to play. I also had piano lessons so I was in the school orchestra and the school dance band, and then we formed a little breakaway band called One Under The Eight and we used to play all the Working Men's clubs. We were members of the musicians union so we used to get the union rate which was great when we're at school.

“So I was introduced to all of that but I also spent a lot of time going to clubs when I was in Blackpool, and it was the height of disco at the time so I’d go to like Man Fridays, the Adam and Eve, and I’d just hear disco music all the time. I remember at a school disco first hearing ‘I feel loved’ by Donna Summer and thinking ‘wow, that's an amazing record’. I completely missed the Northern Soul scene somehow but actually I'm probably quite glad because I think if I discovered Northern Soul, I probably would have failed all my A levels and not gone to university.

“I then worked summer jobs - in the Dixieland show bar, for instance, when ‘Oops, upside your head’ used to come on, and the whole place turned into some sort of West End musical with all the bar staff dancing and everyone doing the rowing - David Bowie's Ashes to Ashes was also a big record at the time. So something about growing up in Blackpool, the nightlife being such a big part of the town, you're very aware of music and the enjoyment of going out on a Friday and a Saturday night and how important that is. That must have had an influence and started my interest in music.”

Chris also revealed that although he does not live in Blackpool anymore, much of his family still does so he frequents the Fylde Coast often.

When asked what he likes to get up to, Chris said: “I do the Ride the Lights... the last time I did it, someone came up to me and I was like ‘how on earth did you recognize me from these 100,000s of people cycling up and down the promenade?’ It's not very common that - I've gone to great lengths to be anonymous - but the Ride the Lights is absolutely fantastic. If you're lucky, you can get yourself behind someone's cycling with a massive sound system playing house music, and you just follow them all the way!

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“We’ve started playing padel at Lowther Gardens in Lytham, then there’s Notarianni’s Ice Cream - we’ve been going there since we were children- but I don’t go into town much these days.

“A friend of ours also runs a bar on the promenade near the wedding chapel and gosh the kebab shop on Harrowside does the best kebabs I've ever had, I always have one of those!

“Then the Inn at Whitewell is always magnificent - I told Neil about that - and I like cycling along the promenade, that’s what I do more than anything really.”

You can read the full interview here.