Jilted John / Graham Fellows

Graham David Fellows was born in Sheffield on 22 May 1959. He grew up in the city and developed an early ambition to become a serious actor. He later studied theatre at Manchester Polytechnic's School of Theatre, moving to Manchester as a teenager.

While at Manchester Polytechnic in 1977–78, Fellows began experimenting with songwriting. Although he couldn't really play guitar, he discovered an open tuning and came up with the distinctive riff that became "Jilted John". He has described writing the song largely during a lunch hour in the college canteen. The character of Jilted John was a comic version of a disgruntled teenage punk. The single, produced by Martin Hannett, was released in 1978 and became a major surprise hit, reaching No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart. Fellows appeared on Top of the Pops three times and became briefly famous at only 19.

Interestingly, Fellows didn't regard himself as a committed punk. He later described himself as a "part-time punk", and his real ambition remained acting. The sudden success of Jilted John actually made returning to drama school rather awkward, and he eventually became increasingly interested in writing and comedy. After graduating, Fellows worked as an actor, including theatre, television and film work. He also became a staff songwriter for Chappell Music. His acting credits included work with Manchester Youth Theatre and a role in Coronation Street.

In the mid-1980s he created his most enduring character, John Shuttleworth — a middle-aged, rather unsuccessful Sheffield singer-songwriter who performs on a Yamaha keyboard and dreams of Eurovision success. The character drew partly on Fellows' observations of people he knew in Sheffield. Shuttleworth eventually became the basis for numerous BBC television and Radio 4 programmes, albums, live shows and tours, giving Fellows a much longer career than his original Jilted John hit.

Jilted John itself is therefore partly a Sheffield story, even though the record was created and recorded in Manchester.

1978 Going Steady / Jilted John 7" single Rabid TOSH 105
1978 Going Steady / Jilted John 7" reissue EMI International EMI 567
1978 True Love Stories LP EMI International
1979 True Love / I Was A Prepubescent 7" single EMI International EMI 577
1979 The Birthday Kiss / Baz's Party 7" single EMI International EMI 587
1980 The Crap Stops Here – includes "Jilted John / Mrs Pickering"