Steve Bent

Steve (or Stephen) Bent (1952- ) is an actor from the Isle Of Man, who was initially a well-known face on British TV for his role as Gerry Hurst in the ATV tea-time soap opera Crossroads. In common with other actors from that series, he released a spin-off single on ATV-owned Bradley's Records (which also had the Goodies on its roster) in 1976 entitled Going To Spain. (Bent had appeared on ATV's talent show New Faces, but this was in 1974 so it is unlikely that he performed this song on that programme.) It is a decently arranged medium-paced ballad chronicling the singer's desire to escape from his factory job and emigrate to Spain: the performance and instrumentation are reasonably executed, but it contains some questionable lyrics ("The factory presented me with some tapes of Elton John / They packed me up some sandwiches / And I hate them, yes I hate the cheese and pickle").

It is presumably this feature that inspired listeners to Kenny Everett's show on Capital Radio in 1977 to vote it into his 'bottom 30' chart of the worst songs ever recorded at number 18 (the broadcast can be found, along with more chart details, here). The song was later released (on appropriately vomit-coloured vinyl) by K-Tel on The World's Worst Record Show in 1978. Bent's musical career continued with the Showbiz XI, a conglomeration that included Jess Conrad (another Everett bottom 30 favourite). He has since concentrated on his acting career.

Years later, the Fall included a version of it on The Infotainment Scan and Peel played the two back to back, remarking that Steve would probably be receiving some royalties from the song at last. At least one listener (from Lithuania) voted for the song in that year's Festive Fifty.

Festive Fifty Entries

 * NoneSteve Bent - I'm Going to Spain

Sessions

 * None

Other Shows Played

 * 24 April 1993: 'I'm Going To Spain (7")' (Bradley's)