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Sprightly Will Gaines plans to celebrate his 80th birthday in true showbiz style

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WILL Gaines is finalising plans for his 80th birthday celebrations.

The Leigh resident won't be hiring a local hall for a family knees-up. Instead, he's chosen one of London's top concert venues to mark the occasion.

Will's not your average 79-year-old, though. The American born tap-dancer has performed alongside the likes of Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Junior and Louis Armstrong during his 60- year career. Despite arthritis in his knee, he still performs at every opportunity.

And that's what he'll be doing when he turns 80 on April 6. What started out as one celebratory concert at the Purcell Room, has snowballed into a whole weekend of events at London's Southbank Centre.

It's a testament to Will's enduring popularity and enthusiasm for his craft. Recognised as one of the last surviving dancers of his kind, he could talk for days about the people he's met, the concerts he's played and the good times he's had.

His career started in a very different way to the stage school- trained dancers of today. He had no dance tuition, no musical knowledge, he just moved his feet to music.

Together with his friend Bill Johnson, a teenage Will would enter all his local amateur talent shows in Detroit. Will would tap on his shoes and Bill would dance in rollerskates.

"The lady at the piano played some jazz music and we moved our feet," he says of their performance style, also known as jazz hoofing.

Despite their lack of training, they kept winning the contests. When they were given their first slot at a local nightclub, the duo made sure they looked the part by picking up a set of tails from a second hand shop.

"We'd seen Fred Astaire in tails and thought if we got some it would mean we're professional," explains Will.

Unfortunately, picking up sharp suits second hand would impact on their performance.

Will says: "To finish our act we would always take a handkerchief from our jacket pocket and jump over it into the splits.

"We were dancing away and the person in charge was shouting at us to finish, but we couldn't.

"These tails had belonged to magicians and they had a special panel in them to make anything from the pocket disappear. So we couldn't find our handkerchiefs to finish the act."

Born Royce Edward Gaines, he changed his stage name to Will after one compere decided his real name was too long.

Under pressure to come up with another name instantly, he opted for Little Willy. It was a name his mother had called him everytime he was about to be punished. The name stuck for a while, before he settled for the more sophisticated sounding Will Gaines.

His partnership with roller-skater Bill was over by this point, and Will was making a name for himself as a solo performer. He readily admits he was rubbish in those days, but it didn't stop his career gaining momentum. He was the opening act for a host of big name performers and commanded fees of $500 a night, quite a step up from the $65 a week he started on.

Despite appearing on the same bill as some of the biggest performers of the time, Will admits he was often none the wiser.

"What would normally happen is you'd go on and do your bit and then shove off," he explains. "So I was doing one show and never saw the end of it. One day I was looking at the reviews in the newspaper and read that Judy Garland had been headlining. I'd been in a show with her for a whole week and had no idea."

Will moved to the UK in 1963, performing at Ronnie Scott's jazz club before notching up an impressive nine appearances on Sunday Night at the London Palladium. It was during one of these appearances he struck up a long-lasting friendship with comedian Tommy Cooper.

"I liked him from the first day I saw him," says Will. "His comedy timing was brilliant and he used to have me falling about laughing."

As well as doing the rounds at festivals, theatres and jazz clubs, Will was invited to perform at the Royal Opera House and St Paul's Cathedral - becoming the first American jazz hoofer to do so.

He moved to Leigh in 1980 to live with his manager Chris Parry. "My husband invited him to stay and he's been here ever since," smiles Chris.

Locally, he's danced at the New Empire Theatre, Southend, and is a regular at the Sunday afternoon jazz sessions at Churchill's.

But the years of performing have taken their toll on Will's body. He's got arthritis in one knee, but says the only time he feels no pain is when he's dancing.

"We went to see the orthopedic specialist at the hospital and he gave Will a couple of exercises to do," says Chris. "He said the exercises I'm going to give you would normally be for young athletes, not a 79-year-old tap dancer'," she smiles.

There's just one venue left on Will's wish list before he hangs up his tap shoes - the Albert Hall.

Will has already got a back-up plan for when the day comes that he can't dance anymore. He's going to buy a set of drums.

However, with a weekend of partying lined up, and his passion for dancing and infectious enthusiasm for life still going strong, that may well be a long way off .

l Will Gaines' 80th Birthday Bash will take place at the Purcell Rooms in the Southbank Centre, London, on Saturday, April 5, and Sunday, April 6. The events on Saturday include tap workshops and a question and answer session with Will. Both are free. On Sunday there will be two performances featuring saxophonist Andy Hamilton, tap dancer Junior Laniyan, Eddie Tan Tan Thornton, Jiving Lindy Hoppers and special surprise guests. The concerts take place at 4pm and 7.30pm. Tickets cost £15. To book tickets visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk or call 0871 6632500.

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