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Handbags And Gladrags: Street musician Henry Facey in a STORYTELLER interview about his special gig with Rod Stewart

Imagine you're singing a song and suddenly a music superstar stands next to you and sings along. Doesn't happen? It does happen!
It happened to English musician Henry Facey in London in November 2017. The singer was belting out a few songs for passers-by at the world-famous Piccadilly Circus in the heart of the British capital and suddenly none other than megastar Rod Stewart was standing next to him, grabbed the microphone and simply sang along as Henry was about to perform his song Handbags & Gladrags.
Rod naturally took over the singing part and presented the astonished passers-by with a mini free concert in the centre of London ‘The return to the streets of London was sensational,’ Stewart later wrote on his official Facebook account and posted a short video.
As is well known, Sir Rod was also a busker at the beginning of his long career and earned his first money by singing songs on the streets of the British capital before the British musician Long John Baldry discovered him playing the harmonica at London's Twickenham railway station and helped the young Rod to launch his now unique career.

On that November day in 2017, Henry Facey had what was probably the most unique experience of his career to date. In an interview with the STORYTELLER, Henry looked back on that day.
Right at the start of our interview, which lasts over an hour, you can tell how much Henry still raves about this understandably very special day for him. ‘That was definitely the absolute highlight of my life as a musician,’ he says immediately. It goes without saying, who wouldn't want to sing a song with an absolute top star?
However, the hours leading up to the performance with Rod Stewart were very stressful for the musician. It was not until the evening before that he received definitive confirmation that the gig would actually take place.

 

"The whole thing was in aid of the charity Teenage Cancer Trust and was organised by my friend Alistair Morrison, a photographer, and Roger Daltrey," Henry told me at the start of our conversation, "so it wasn't quite as spontaneous as it might have seemed". Teenage Cancer Trust is a cancer prevention and support charity in the UK that works to improve the cancer experience of young people aged 13 to 24. 

 

 

‘The photographer and my now good friend Alistair Morrison, who had taken over the organisation together with The Who co-founder Roger Daltrey, called me the night before and only then told me that my performance with Rod would actually take place,’ says Facey. But at that point, it hadn't even been decided where the whole thing would take place. ‘I thought Trafalgar Square was quite suitable for our little gig, but I realised that another event was planned there the very next day, so we needed an alternative venue. Our choice fell on Piccadilly Circus. Alistair agreed and informed Rod's team.

He also informed Henry that there would be two songs for the next day that Rod wanted to sing with Facey: Handbags & Gladrags and Maggie May. So our busker spent the evening rehearsing these two songs for the next day. ‘It wasn't that easy, I'd never played them before. And it had to be perfect, because I had to perform them with Rod Stewart himself and of course everything had to be right,’ Henry looks back.

The next day, Monday 6 November 2017, began as normal. In the morning, Henry practised the two Stewart songs again and then made his way to Piccadilly Circus in the early afternoon with his guitar and equipment. There he set up his equipment and began to entertain passers-by with a few songs. Nobody - apart from Henry himself - had any idea what was going to happen around 3pm that afternoon.
‘I wasn't actually very nervous, more a bit excited. Especially how Rod would deal with the situation. After all, he hadn't been on the road as a busker for decades,’ said Henry, describing what was going through his mind as he waited for the Maggie May singer to arrive.
He arrived on time - Henry was performing the song Blowing In The Wind by Bob Dylan. He arrived in Piccadilly at 3 p.m. sharp and made his way through the first astonished passers-by to Henry's ‘stage’.
‘I was a bit nervous when he came up to me like that,’ Facey admitted, “but Rod, being the cheeky bastard that he is, immediately relieved my tension by giving me a big pinch on my bum as a greeting and grinning mischievously,” Henry laughed. ‘The fact that he treated me like he probably does his best mates broke the ice and took away my nervousness in one fell swoop.

 

Henry sang the song Handbags & Gladrags as discussed. Rod Stewart began to sing and people stopped and listened. Many pulled out their mobile phones and started taking photos and filming. ‘The way Rod sang this song gave me a lot of confidence. Only a professional like him can do that. He also pulled me closer to him by my jacket and showed me that we were equal artists at that moment. I just started to enjoy it,’ recalls Henry and never stopped raving about Sir Rod.

‘When Rod signalled to me that we should slowly come to the end, I would have loved to keep playing. But I did as I was told and brought the song to a close’. But Henry wouldn't let the superstar leave without having him sign his guitar, which Rod did immediately. ‘Of course mate,’ he said to me and as he walked back to the car waiting for him, everyone followed him, hoping to get an autograph or a photo. It gave me time to slow down a bit and let the adrenaline flow,’ said the musician, who was glad to be able to catch his breath.
‘For sure, this gig with Rod Stewart was THE milestone in my career so far,’ Henry still enthuses today. The spontaneous concert at Piccadilly Circus definitely made the singer better known. ‘Sure, people sometimes approach you and say: ‘Aren't you the one who sang with Rod Stewart the other night?
However, he never saw Sir Rod again after the performance seven years ago. ‘No, we haven't met again and we haven't had any other contact,’ Facey gives the impression that he is a little sad about this. ‘I'd like to meet him in a pub sometime, have a pint or two with him and just have an uncomplicated chat about God and the world’. The musician from north London is certainly not alone in this.
However, in the days following the performance, when the media reported up and down about this rather spontaneous charity event, one thing remained somewhat unclear. And that was the question of who this Henry Facey actually is. All the reports didn't really reveal much more than that he is a regular street musician. But we want to remedy that today - albeit many years later.
Henry Facey is an English guitarist, pianist and singer/songwriter born and living in London.  He spent his teenage years in France, where he entered the IMFP (vocational school for music education) in 2007, and then in 2013, after completing his English Masters degree and working as a full-time language teacher for two years, decided to return to London to make his fortune in music.

From a young age, drawn to the alternative music scenes of the 60's and the independent music scenes, Facey has developed a great passion for writing his own songs. His style could be described as raw yet melodic with introspective lyrics in which Facey often meditates on deep existential thoughts and inner conflicts, inviting the listener to immerse themselves in his unique musical universe.

As part of the project for the Teenage Cancer Trust, Facey has also performed with such music legends as John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Tom Jones and Ray Davies (The Kinks).
Facey is currently working on his second album, which is due to be released soon. ‘The new album is called Urban Tales and is a little different from my first album Ocean Sky, which was released in February 2022. ‘The new album will be a little less melodic, a little more rhythmic and a little more raw I would say’.
If you want to find out more about the musician from London, you can find all the information on his official homepage: https://www.henryfacey.com/
You can find his Spotify profile here: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/2Rq8DgCx5RQ1GXgDZjoRGB

Text: Martin Heidt
Video & Pictures: Henry Facey

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