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Scott Tyler |
Pub singer, Britt Ekland’s ‘mystery man’ and a caring friend
FRIENDS and family of a singer and celebrity confidant gathered last Friday to say their final goodbyes.
Scott Tyler, 49, from Primrose Hill, died in December at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead after a bout of pneumonia. He had been ill for some time, his sister, Anne Marie Glancy, said.
Mr Tyler – whose real name was Brian Glancy, but he was better known by his stage name – worked as a singer in most Camden pubs and clubs, and had performed in America and the Middle East.
In his younger years he was friendly with a jet-set group of stars, among them Jack Nicholson and Bond Girl Britt Ekland, with whom he was once photographed and described by a tabloid as her “mystery man”.
In his early singing days he was managed by John Maxwell, and met many of his other acts, including comedian Tommy Cooper. Ms Glancy has appealed for Mr Maxwell to contact her.
Mr Tyler was later managed by ex-Bay City Rollers guitarist Eric Faulkner, who he shared a flat with in Arlington Road, Camden Town, for seven years.
At his wake at the Stag’s Head in Fleet Road, Gospel Oak, two weeks ago, those closest to him remembered his wicked sense of humour and generosity.
They recalled a man who would always send cards and flowers to let people know he was thinking of them.
One of three brothers and three sisters, Mr Tyler was aged seven when his father, a postman, moved him and four siblings to Orpington, Kent. His mother remained in Scotland.
After leaving school at 16, he worked as a hospital orderly and in a record shop, but soon became a full-time singer, first as part of a duo and then forming his own band, the Perfect Strangers.
It was while living in Notting Hill with his sister that Mr Tyler first fell in with a glamorous party set.
Ms Glancy said: “He did run with that circle. He’d go to Jack Nicholson’s place and then come back to our bedsit.” At the time a photograph of him on the arm of Ekland was splashed across the Daily Mirror. His sisters recalled him mischievously joking to newsmen that they were “just friends”.
A friend of Peter Stringfellow, Mr Tyler once headlined at his Hippodrome club in Leicester Square – to the annoyance of 1970s dance group Hot Gossip, who went on before him.
A well-known face in Camden’s pubs and clubs, he often performed at the Stag, as well as the Black Cap in Camden High Street, where he met his partner of nearly four years, Chris Ingleby.
“I summoned him with a finger and said: ‘Save me from this bloke’,” remembered Mr Ingleby. “He was my knight in shining armour – a loving, caring, thoughtful man and a real laugh.”
Recalling Mr Tyler’s sense of fun, friends described the time he walked into a post office and was cheekily propositioned by a group of women, who called out “I’m free” – the catchphrase of a camp character in BBC comedy Are You Being Served? “With a face like that you couldn’t possibly afford to charge,” he shot back. “He was very sharp,” Ms Glancy said.
Jacquie Cox, who met him in the Stag 15 years ago, said: “He was the closest friend I’ve ever had. He was a great inspiration to me.”
His funeral was at Golders Green crematorium, where his idol, Marc Bolan, is remembered.
CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS |
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