Graham Fenton
28th May 1947 – August 10th 2025
Graham Fenton will be best remembered as the lead singer of Matchbox. They were the band that propelled rockabilly from rock n roll clubs to the mainstream when they charted with ‘Rockabilly Rebel’ in 1979 introducing a generation of newly grown quiffs and manicured flat tops into the world of 1950’s music which had hitherto been jealously guarded by the clique. Matchbox’s chart hits continued with ‘Buzz Buzz A Diddle It’ ‘When You Ask About Love’ and ‘Over The Rainbow’ gaining a legion of new fans though were ostracised by their previous underground following though ultimately forgiven and revered not least because many of the current generation that are still swinging to rockabilly were those Matchbox inductees. Ultimately Matchbox were the 1980’s equivalent of Bill Haley kicking the door in for Elvis, Matchbox did the same for The Polecats and The Stray Cats which a decade younger reverberated with the young fans Matchbox had created. The Stray Cats went on to superstardom in the USA which arguably wouldn’t have happened had Matchbox not rockabillied the charts for them 12 months previously.
Graham Fenton’s rock n roll pedigree reaches a good decade prior to Matchbox, a band who although had released some acclaimed albums prior to his joining but were going nowhere. Graham has the accolade of being the first rock n roller ever to perform at Wembley Stadium when he fronted The Houseshakers to open that now legendary show widely accepted as the first music event at the venue. The Houseshakers had already earned their stripes touring with and backing Gene Vincent on his final UK dates. Talking to me for an interview published in Vive Le Rock magazine, Graham told me how he was so proud to be driving Gene Vincent around in his car he took him home to meet his mum. Fitting then that the Houseshakers contribution to the Wembley Rock N Roll show DVD is performing ‘Be Bop A Lula’.
Graham Fenton’s ability to emulate the late Gene Vincent in both poise and vocally was a feature of his career though his next band The Hellraisers and Matchbox, ‘Cruising’ being a live fan favourite. Matchbox’s tenure as a chart act was short-lived though Graham enjoyed the experience of getting the recognition they deserved. The band fell part largely due to record label insistence that they veer far too middle of the road for Graham’s liking who forged on with his own version of the band.
Matchbox’s hit line-up were reunited, when VLR last interviewed Graham, he told us ‘We undoubtedly enjoy it more now, it’s like it used to be, a lot of our old fans came back. ‘I’m proud and glad to be doing my roots again where my heart lies, band’s happy and I’m glad to be back working with Steve, Gordon, Jimmy and Fred again, we have a love hate relationship, we have our little moans about each other but deep down we kind of love each other, it’s kind of like old times.’
Graham Fenton was still performing and touring with Matchbox just weeks before his death suffering a heart attack while swimming off the Isle of Wight.
Simon Nott
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