The Hour

Alvin Stardust has done it all, from being a glam rock and pop star to appearing in Hollyoaks and a Green Cross Code safety video, and the singer revealed he also performed with topless dancers during a TV show in Japan.

Stardust, who was born Bernard Jewry and changed to Shane Fenton before finally arriving at Alvin Stardust, explained how he unexpectedly ended up sharing a stage with the dancers.

When pressed for gossip, he said: “I was in Japan…I had just did this television show and it didn’t go out until 11 o’clock at night. I turn up and do a quick check on the stage and they just gave me a microphone and said ‘now you have to mime to your record’.

When he was ready to do the live performance, Stardust added: “Suddenly these topless girls appear and the camera crew, they’re all on loose cameras – shoulder held cameras. I’m trying to sing and I can see them coming up via the boobs.”

He added: “I’m thinking ‘my mum won’t like this’.”

The 67-year-old has just released his greatest hits album titled I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll, which also features several new tracks including a cover of Duffy’s Mercy which the rocker explained was down to his daughter’s influence.

“That was my daughter’s idea, Millie, she’s nine…she said I need to do a slightly more current song,” he explained.

It wasn’t a High School Musical or Miley Cyrus number as he expected her to suggest but Mercy, which Stardust revealed is the perfect track to cover.

He added: “It’s a 12-bar. A rock ‘n’ roll 12-bar. So I’ve always like Joe Walsh and Tony Joe White, like swamp music, so I tried it on the guitar and I got the band into a small studio and we recorded it as I did when we first started in one go.”