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If you know the name Kimberley Rew, give yourself a gold star. You\u2019re hipper than most when it comes to tuneful and catchy rock music. And you know, too, that Rew deserves acclaim far wider than he has so far achieved. That said, he has in fact garnered some significant and high-profile accomplishments.<\/p>\n
Chronologically first among these is the writing of \u201cGoing Down to Liverpool.\u201d He recorded the song with his band Katrina and the Waves, and released it as a b-side twice. But the song gained a second (okay, third) life when the Bangles covered it on their major-label debut, All Over the Place<\/i>. The song was a minor hit in the UK and became a staple of the Bangles\u2019 set.<\/p>\n
Rew\u2019s second brush with fame came when a song he wrote for Katrina and the Waves did become a hit. The bouncy and upbeat \u201cWalking on Sunshine\u201d soared into the top 20 in no less than ten countries, and re-entered the charts in various countries at least twice in later years.<\/p>\n
Admittedly less known in the U.S., the annual Eurovision Song Contest is nonetheless a big deal in many other countries. And Kimberley Rew wrote \u201cLove Shine a Light,\u201d winner of the UK spot in the Eurovision contest in 1997. It, too, was a Katrina and the Waves recording.<\/p>\n
People familiar in greater depth with Rew\u2019s work will tell you that he has (at the very least) two other claims to fame. He was a founding member of the Soft Boys with Robyn Hitchcock, and he made an outstanding solo EP in 1982 called The Bible of Bop<\/i>. A testament to his stature among the coolest of the cool, he was backed variously on that EP by The dB\u2019s, the Soft Boys and the Waves (the pre-Katrina Leskanich lineup of that band).<\/p>\n
Here I will abruptly shift gears and relate a quick story: in late May and early June of this year, I was fortunate to find myself at the Cavern Pub in Liverpool<\/a>. I was part of a band<\/a> playing at the power pop festival there. The bill featured something on the order of 100 acts \u2013 each playing a set at the legendary Cavern Club and its sister venue, the Cavern Pub, located directly across on narrow Mathew Street.<\/p>\n When I first arrived, I took a seat with my pint of ale, ready to enjoy whatever random act took the tiny stage at the Pub. A couple came in and began setting up. A new friend \u2013 one makes friends quickly at the Cavern, I discovered \u2013 introduced me to the male half of the couple. It was Kimberley Rew.<\/p>\n I was, to put it mildly, gobsmacked. Here I was in the presence of a songwriting giant. All I could think to say to him was that I was a serious fan of The Bible of Bop<\/i>, and that I had bought the record many, many, many years ago. Kimberley seemed both pleased and amused, making a comment to the effect of \u201cyou\u2019re one of the few who\u2019s heard it\u201d or somesuch.<\/p>\n He and his lovely wife Lee Cave-Berry took to the stage and played a wonderful, thrilling set of songs, pointedly including the heretofore mentioned hits. Part-way through his set, someone I didn\u2019t know approached me with a squarish package, wrapped in brown paper. It looked as if it may have held a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.<\/p>\n \u201cKimberley wants you to have these,\u201d I was told. Unwrapping the paper, I was amazed to find a tidy stack of no less than 11 CDs. Most were credited to Rew, a few to him and Cave-Berry, one to just Lee, and one to Jack, a group featuring the couple plus two other musicians. For these I was most grateful; just seeing them perform would have been wonderful enough; meeting them was even better. This stack of discs made the whole thing extra-special. I was lucky enough to catch another set of theirs in the coming days, but I didn\u2019t have another opportunity to thank them again and\/or to chat further.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/kim_and_lee_cavern.jpg\")
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