HEINZ VARIETIES: Will Heinz find that pot of gold

He was literally the golden boy of pop. With his trademark blond hair Heinz Burt became a Sixties sensation.

Heinz and his fellow Tornados took the pop world by storm and became the first British band to have a US number one in December 1962.

Telstar - a musical tribute to the world's first telecommunications satelitte - sold about 12 million copies worldwide.

The golden disc had the unique distinction of topping the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. But today the talented hands behind that all-time instrumental pop classic can no longer play the bass guitar which made Heinz a household name.

For the Eastleigh boy who rocketed to overnight stardom suffers from motor neurone disease and is confined to a wheelchair.

The crippling condition was diagnosed about three years ago. Heinz no longer has strength in his hands to even write his famous autograph.

The 56-year-old former pop idol, who lives in Southampton, is still angry that his Sixties stardom did not bring him the trappings of success.

"That is why I am living in a tower block and not a mansion in Spain," says Heinz who, despite a star-studded showbiz career, is today stony broke. He is hoping that the release of a new CD will bring him some of those long-awaited financial rewards.

Realistically, Heinz is not expecting the pot of gold which should have been his from those chart-topping days.

But he hopes that it will trigger interest from those who still hanker for those magical sounds from the swinging Sixties.

Called The Complete Heinz the CD has 48 vocal tracks from Heinz including his legendary chart busting Just Like Eddie.

The CD, which has already been released in Germany and is about to hit the British record shelves, has a front cover of a leather- suited Heinz outside Liverpool's Cavern Club.

Motor neurone has left Heinz without strength in his arms and legs. But it did not stop him from courageously starring in a recent special tribute concert in London.

Posters commemorating Heinz's recording triumphs cov-ered every wall. Fans flew in from France, Germany and America to watch Heinz who for more than three hours took centre stage, singing his string of hits from his wheelchair. The evening, which brought together many rock stars from the Fifties and Sixties including Screaming Lord Sutch, raised thousands of pounds for wheelchair users like Heinz.

Through all the bad times he has never lost his sense of humour and is proof that you cannot keep a good rock 'n' roller down.

In July he will be 57.

"Then you can write that Heinz 57 headline," he quipped.

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