I used to think the radio only had one station because when I was growing up every time I got in the car with Dad it was like permanently dialed on Smooth Radio. My whole life all I ever knew was me and Dad. He worked a lot, first at a concrete company before starting his own business spray-painting cars and fixing dints and things like that. He never missed a day. And Smooth filled up the car. It was the soundtrack to our life.
Dad loved Karen Carpenter, too. We lost my dad last September, a few days before his 60th birthday. When he passed, it was a big shock, even to some of the people closest to him, because no one hardly knew he was ill.
I still feel the pain digging in, the gutting feeling of not having him here anymore. Mum says he had that little laugh where you just knew he was trying to piss you off, trying to wind you up. I mean really ran it into the ground. Whether it was my mates, my mum, me, my brother — even after 20 years, he could still get you with it. Dad was stocky and small. He grew up in the house right next door to where he raised me and my brother Joe. And he loved football — obsessed with it.
He used to take me to the local football centre where he played when he was younger. Me being competitive me, I was absolutely buzzing. I really took after Dad in how competitive I was. I seriously had to win everything. One more! One more!!! But no. He never let me win. So you can imagine how I lit up for 10 quid. Ended up winning nil…. And I scored all 10 goals. I think prize money went down a bit after that!
But that was all it took — 10 pounds, and we were off. Mum and Dad are at every game and recording it at home so they can watch it again on the telly, which is a little mad, you know? Like, What? Dad was a top analyst. They should have put him on Sky. He analysed every minute of every game right from when I was five, to now, telling me what I did well and what I could work on. During the game, I could always hear him on the side, shouting stuff at me….
