"Excuse me a moment — I've got a baby in my arms."
Elvis Costello's father interrupts our Sunday morning telephone conversation to put the baby down. "There. We've just come back from church. What can I do for you?"
Elvis's dad is actually Ross McManus — who, some of you may recall, was a singer with the Joe Loss Orchestra throughout the late '50s and the '60s.
The showbiz skeleton in the mystery punk's wardrobe came to light recently when the northern edition of the News Of The World ran a brief article on the true identity of "the singer who drives kids wild" — much, let be said, to the chagrin of Thrills, as we had also uncovered the Joe Loss connection by separate enquiries, and were even then preparing to splash our shock wor1d exclusive, etc.
Still, never mind. It seems the NOTW's relevations may have loosened up the net around the Costello enclave because when Thrills contacted Ross McManus he was only too happy to give us the Costello scam. It makes an interesting saga.
So, Elvis's real name is Declan Patrick McManus — though Costello, Ross tells us, is "a family name."
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