Dexys Midnight Runners star Kevin Rowland receives honorary degree (2024)
The singer spoke of his pride at receiving the accolade - but admitted he felt 'a fraud' as he left school aged 15.
The 60-year-old, who was born in Wednesfield and raised in Blakenhall, said he had thought 'long and hard' about accepting the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters.
He had originally been offered an honorary degree in 2011 but was unwell and could not attend.
And he said he was grateful the university had allowed him back this time round.
A former pupil at St Mary and St John's Catholic Primary in Snow Hill, Mr Rowland moved to London before attending secondary school, and then returned to the Black Country aged 20 when he lived in Smethwick.
"I always excelled at English but I was very quiet in classes and I left when I could," he said.
The singer, who is currently touring with the reformed Dexys line-up, took to the stage during the ceremony at the city's Grand Theatre yesterday to make a speech to students.
Speaking to graduates, Rowland said: "I have worn some unusual outfits in my time but never one like this before."
He added he had a 'soft spot' for Wolverhampton.
The band had a string of well known hits in the early 1980s including Come On Eileen which reached number one in America.
See tomorrow's Express & Star for a full interview with the star.
Rowland became a solo singer with the release of 1988's poorly received album, The Wanderer. Rowland suffered from financial problems, drug addiction and depression. Rowland said: "I'd been too confident, too arrogant.
A former pupil at St Mary and St John's Catholic Primary in Snow Hill, Mr Rowland moved to London before attending secondary school, and then returned to the Black Country aged 20 when he lived in Smethwick.
Of late, Rowland has been on a creative roll after his retreat to Thailand. In 2022, he unveiled a new remix of Too-Rye-Ay on that album's 40th anniversary because he was unhappy with the way the sound was done upon its original release. That shortly led to the recording of The Feminine Divine.
It was Dexys Midnight Runners' biggest hit, and frontman Kevin Rowland originally said the song was about a childhood sweetheart. However, he later revealed Eileen wasn't an actual person – she was instead used to represent Rowland's feelings of lust and repression during his Catholic upbringing.
Moving away from punk, Rowland and Archer sought a soulful sound for their new group, which they named after the drug Dexedrine, a trendy stimulant in the British Northern soul scene. Despite its name, the band promoted a strictly drug-free image and even banned alcohol at concerts.
Dexys Midnight Runners are best known as a one-hit wonder in the US ("Come On Eileen" was also the first US single release by Dexys), but in the UK, "Geno" had previously reached number one, and "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)" and "The Celtic Soul Brothers" were also UK hits.
Dexys Midnight Runners are a British New Wave pop/soul band from Birmingham, England. The group was first formed in 1978 by singer/guitarist/songwriter Kevin Rowland and singer/guitarist Kevin Archer.
The 1982 music video was directed by Julien Temple and filmed in the inner south London suburb of Kennington in the vicinity of the corner of Brook Drive and Hayles Street, then Austral Street and Holyoak Road.
His mother taught him how to play the ukulele before he taught himself to play guitar at age 13. Westover gravitated to country and western music, idolizing Hank Williams. Though not an exceptional student, he graduated from Coopersville High School in 1953.
“I've always felt a lot of anxiety when performing live, but I've learned to relax,” Rowland admits, via video call from his home in the London neighborhood of Hackney. “I love when tours go well, but I have a lot of nerves before each show.”
The song that changed everything for Dexys frontman Kevin Rowland was almost never released at all. Before the June 25, 1982 release of the transatlantic chart-topper “Come On Eileen,” many had written Dexys Midnight Runners frontman Kevin Rowland off.
My first song was the last one my mother heard; I whispered it to her in my own off-tune voice, over and over again. “Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral” — Irish for “Goodbye; I'll be seeing you.”
During these "Projected Passion Revue" shows Kevin Rowland developed a monologue around the influence which soul singer Al Green had on him: "I find myself looking in the mirror, pretending I'm Al Green when he sings 'So Tired Of Being Alone' and stupid as it may seem, that's exactly what I feel like - pretending I'm ...
And yes, they'll be playing “Come on Eileen.” All these years later, he feels the song belongs less to him and more to its audience. “I'm grateful for what I've been given from it, but it's not mine anymore. It's your experience or whoever it's making feel good.
Today Rowland is in good spirits, despite having struggled since lockdown with what he thinks must be a persistent case of Covid-19. “I was only really bad for a few nights,” he says.
"Come On Eileen" is a song by the English group Dexys Midnight Runners (credited to Dexys Midnight Runners and the Emerald Express), released in the United Kingdom in June 1982 as a single from their second studio album Too-Rye-Ay.
Introduction: My name is Dan Stracke, I am a homely, gleaming, glamorous, inquisitive, homely, gorgeous, light person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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