No Secret Anymore - The Real Kathy Kirby by Mark Willerton

A reclusive singer, who was born in Redbridge and who shot to pop stardom, will be the subject of a new revealing book.

Kathy Kirby, who grew up in Tomswood Hill, Chadwell Heath, and attended Ursuline Convent School, shot to fame with her hit Secret Love before enjoying a string of top ten hits in the 1960s.

Fan Mark Willerton has published a new biography, No Secret Anymore - The Real Kathy Kirby, which promises to delve into the blonde bombshell’s rise to fame, which began as a teenager in Ilford.

With information from Kathy’s childhood friend, Roy Edwards, the book reveals what she was like as a youngster and how she asked famous band-leader Bert Ambrose to sing for him.

She soon became a regular chart contender with hit records including Dance On and Let Me Go Lover and she appeared in the 1964 Royal Variety Show.

After the death of her manager and lover, Kathy’s life took a turn for the worst and stories emerged of her celebrity lovers, a knife attack at her flat, a drug overdose, bankruptcy and alcohol abuse.

Mr Willerton met Kathy in 1981, when she made her final comeback and he enjoyed a thirty-year friendship with the star before her unexpected death in May 2011.

The book will be available in the new year and advance hardback copies are available now, priced £23.00 inc post and packing, from Mark Willerton, 3 Burtey Fen Lane, Pinchbeck, Lincs, PE11 3SR.