Vince Power

COUNTRY music star Hank Wangford told Extra this week how he will always remember how Vince Power didn’t care about what was trendy. If he thought it was good, he wanted to go with it.

Legendary music promoter Vince Power, who has died aged 76, gave Wangford – real name Sam Hutt – and his band their first big break at his Mean Fiddler venue in Harlesden at a time when no one was booking country acts.

Dr Hutt said: “He was hugely important to us. In the early 1980s, just after he had set up the Mean Fiddler, he gave us our first gigs. When we first started out, country music was a dirty word. When people asked me what I played, I’d say country out of the side of my mouth. It was still the post-punk era – but the Irish are massive country fans and Vince got it.”

Vince had watched the queues form for the Irish country big bands who played the Galtymore in Cricklewood and the National in Kilburn and had himself a lifelong love of the genre. It meant he wanted to support Dr Hutt and his band. “Vince got some fantastic people at the Fiddler,” said Dr Hutt. “I remember seeing Johnny Cash perform there. He brought Cash to Harlesden. That was amazing.”

Vince’s back story and his success ruffled feathers. Many in the music industry did not like that.

“Despite the stories that he lost money or didn’t pay people, or was blacklisted by the Musicians’ Union – he was a wonderful man,” Dr Hutt said. “He was constantly being put down by the big guys who thought he was get­ting too big for his boots. He was always being unfairly denigrated. The big boys were threatened by him, and they did not like that, so they tried to force him out of venues, and tried to spread rumours. But Vince would never give up.”

Dr Hutt recalled being booked to play at a festival Vince organised in his home country of Waterford.

It was a financial disaster and Vince joked afterwards he could have bought the entire town for the money he lost.

Dr Hutt said: “There I am in Tremore, Waterford, and I am lining up for a cup of tea and Bob Dylan is there in front of me. He had Ray Charles, Van Morrison, The Chieftains. I thought that is Vince. I loved him. He was generous, nothing was too much bother.”

Irish singer Imelda May told Extra: “Vince was a wonderful man and a wonderful supporter of music, especially Irish acts. He kept a lot of music going. He gave me one of my breaks early on. He got me a gig at the Mean Fiddler in Dublin and then when I moved to London I got in touch with him and he got me spots at his venues.”

She added: “He gave me a Friday night gig and he got all his friends to come. I thought: ‘If he believes in me, I need to believe in myself.’ My parents came over for it and he gave them the best seats in the house, right in the front, and then took them out for food afterwards.”

Vince’s reputation and address book meant performers knew to take his calls. Ms May added: “The line-ups he had were incredible.”

And despite working in a brash and noisy world, she said, Vince’s real nature was the opposite.

Ms May said: “He was a quiet man, a kind man who was always positive. Nothing was ever a big deal. He would always say: ‘Let’s give it a go, why not?’ He always had my back and I am very grateful to him. Vince did it for love.”