BIG INTERVIEW Fun Lovin’ Criminal Huey Morgan on loving adopted city of Bath

The legendary musician, DJ, New Yorker, and Fun Lovin’ Criminal, Huey Morgan may have toured the world and travelled the globe, but it’s Bath that’s stolen his heart. “Bath is probably the place I feel most at home, so yeah, this is my home now. I look at it this way, if you’re not looking to go anywhere else, I think that’s a sign that you’re home”

Words by Sarah Moolla Main pictures by Betty Bhandari

Huey Morgan may be a world famous rockstar, musician, superstar DJ, one-time jailbird, and former US marine with a hellraising past. But this Fun Lovin’ Criminal is now also a model Bath resident who gives good anecdote about Waitrose in The Podium. “So, I go into Waitrose and I have my ingredient list and, you know, I’m there trying to figure where the cilantro is. And this kid who works there, he doesn’t know about cilantro. And I’m looking at my list, wondering what to do, cos I need it. “And then this little guy comes up and he says ‘Hello

Huey’ in a broad Scottish accent, ‘Love your show. By the way, cilantro is coriander.” It’s lockdown time, and we’ve all got masks on. And I’m like ‘Thank you my brother’ because a lot of people recognise my voice. Then this guy says, ‘It’s Midge by the way’ and I realise it’s Midge Ure.

We talk about spices and herbs, and how they can have different names. But I mean, how cool is that? Midge

Ure! I played Vienna by Ultravox on my show for him that week.”

There’s a sense of genuine wonderment and joy emanating from Huey at having bumped into the lead singer of Ultravox in a local supermarket. No arrogant feigning of indifference for this megastar as he chuckles through the retelling of this encounter. In fact Huey is tremendous company, he’s warm, funny, and pretty darn charismatic. At our photoshoot, despite having only just recovered from a stomach bug “Man that was a rough few days!”, he’s accommodating and seems genuinely humbled when people enthusiastically greet him and his young Staffordshire terrier. According to social media her name is Classified, but he’s calling her Roo. We’re confused. “Ah that was a joke. I meant ‘classified’ in that it was a secret. But people seemed to really dig the name! But she’s called Roo, after Roo the little kangeroo in Winnie The Pooh.” And Roo seems to be drawing the crowds as much as doting dad Huey.

Does he ever get bored by the amount of attention he attracts? “You know back in the 90s and 2000s I was in a band, we sold a lot of records and had a lot of fun, raised a lot of hell, but a man grows up. He grows up to think, ‘Well what can I do to help people get through the day or the night really?’

“When I started doing the radio shows, it didn’t dawn on me right off the bat, it took a while for people actually listen to the shows and then them approach me. But

I really appreciate them saying, ‘hey Huey, play some

Foghat!’ and I’ll say it on my show, this guy I met wants some Foghat, so here’s some Foghat. Because I like being of service, and if it makes somebody happy to listen to music and be a part of what I’m playing, then that feels real good.”

And from the eager response Bath Life got when this interview was mentioned (essentially it was one big

Huey at the Royal Crescent with dog Roo

“Bath is not just one thing, there’s a bunch of different layers to it, and the more I look, the more I see – I really like that”

collective cry of ‘Oh My God! I love him!’), it is evident that Huey does make us happy, and has somewhat stolen our British hearts. While many of us admired him as the Fun Lovin’ Criminal’s suave yet edgy frontman, it’s his award-winning Huey Show on BBC Radio Six Music, which has been running for 12 years, and his BBC Radio Two show, which started in 2011, that’s really cementing his popularity. His warm laid-back tones introducing his eclectic and intelligent music mix means this Lower East Side New Yorker, born of Irish and Puerto Rican parents, is fast earning national treasure status.

And, lucky for us, Bath has the right to claim him as one of our own. He’s been living here now for nearly four years, with wife Becky and their two children, a boy aged nine and a girl aged fi ve. “This will be our third Christmas in Bath. Before that we had a place in Frome but we’ve always kind of wanted to be in Bath because we were travelling to the city most of the time.

“Becky and I are both really big fans of Georgian architecture, if you can believe it, and now we have a Georgian town house that my wife, who

Travelling last year for his BBC series Huey Morgan’s Latin Music Adventure

Huey loves the Georgian architecture of Bath Huey, centre, with his FLC band members back in1996

does interiors among other things, is redoing completely. It’s a lot of fun to see that getting done, plus I think my studio is the next on the renovation list, which is great!” Huey already records his BBC radio shows from home, but since lockdown, almost all of his other work has been conducted from Bath. “Usually you have to travel into a studio to a facility,” explains Huey, “but that all went out the window with the pandemic. I already have a really good studio in the basement, so we set up a connect so I could do the same quality of work remotely.”

Not only did the lockdown change the way Huey worked but, he says, it also came as a relief. “If you would’ve asked me before lockdown, what I would have wanted more of in my life, I would have said more time with my family. I’m not being fl ippant about what happened, and yeah, I miss doing the shows, I miss seeing people happy but all that’s going to happen again.

“I think every once in a while, maybe in everybody’s lifetime, there’s a moment when they’re able to reset. Whether they do or not, that’s up to the person, but I was given an opportunity to recalibrate the whole thing.

“I just changed the way I looked at a lot of things. Maybe I’m getting a little heavy here, but when I was in the service in the Marines, I remember talking to a guy about how sometimes it gets really hard, just living right. He said something that I will always remember, he told me look we can’t ever lighten the load that we carry and we can’t always lighten the pack, but we can open up the pack and rearrange it so it helps how we carry it. It’s like you’re always going to have issues, you’re always going to have problems, and you’re always gonna have things that you have to face, but once you face them and see them for what they are, then you can do something about it.”

Huey used part of his recalibration time to cook for his family. “I’ve always been a keen amateur cook, so I’d try and make the end of the day special with a nice meal,” he says. “I’ve gotten a lot better to the point where the kids can ask me literally anything and I’ll make it, and my wife can ask for something like duck l’orange, and I’m like, gotcha!”

Another way he unwinds is by taking Roo walking. “I go most days to the Bath Approach Golf Course, which is above Victoria Park. If you go to the top of the course, you can see the whole town from up there and

“Bath is probably the place I feel most at home”

While Huey chats, Roo waits patiently for a Scooby Snack

With wife Becky in New York

“We sold a lot of records and had a lot of fun, raised a lot of hell, but a man grows up”

I just really love the view from up there. It really gives me gives me a feeling of peace, and helps clear my head.

“One of the great things about this city, is that you can walk it. It reminds me of New York in a lot of ways, it’s all walkable. I think Bath is not just one thing, there’s a bunch of diff erent layers to it, and the more I look, the more I see – I really like that.”

What makes Huey’s praise for Bath all the more special is that he isn’t exactly unfamiliar with the rest of the world. He’s toured extensively with the band, he travels the globe frequently for solo work, and more recently visited Cuba, Brazil, and Puerto Rico to fi lm the vibrant, musically inspiring and socially informative three-part series, Huey Morgan’s Latin Music Adventure for BBC Four, which is currently available on the BBC iPlayer.

“I really wanted to learn more about this music that I’ve loved all my life. Going on that kind of spiritual music adventure, for me, it was almost a pilgrimage.

“I am very fortunate as I do get to travel a lot for work – but I just think Bath is an easy place to live. When we had kids we wanted a place where we can give them a bit of solace, you know especially in this country in this day and age. It’s hard to fi nd the schools as good as they are round here.” Before he leaves to buy a burrito and return home to narrate a Celine Dion documentary, we ask him, is this it – is he ready to put down his roots here in Bath permanently?

“I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. I haven’t called New York my home for a long time. And Bath is probably is the place I feel most at home, so yeah, this is my home now. I look at it this way, I’m not looking to go anywhere else, so I think that’s a sign that you’re home.” ■

For more: www.bbc.co.uk

Huey likes to take his mom to The Royal Crescent Hotel for tea

HUEY’S BEST OF BATH When was the last time you were at the Royal Crescent Hotel? My mom really likes having tea at the Royal Crescent Hotel – it’s always a really nice place to go with American people because it has that sense of old school Britishness and the staff are really sweet here.

Favourite place in Bath to eat? Rustica on Margaret’s Buildings. It’s run by two brothers and they serve up the best bolognese in town. I also love Beckford Bottle Shop, and Corkage.

Favourite place to drink? I’d probably say my man cave studio. The thing is I’m not a big drinker, so if I’m gonna have a tipple, I try to stay within the confi nes of my house because I don’t want to be kind of wandering around town tipsy.

And what would you do drink? I am a cognac drinker, or very good red or white wine. Life is too short to drink sh***y wine.

Where to…spend date night? We both just like getting to go out! But maybe The Ivy. They always make this drink for my wife called the Lansdown Lady – it’s got gin in it, and peach, I think.

...go for culture I think in a lot of ways, Bath has retained the idea of high art, which is something that we don’t really see too much in society. The Holburne has a great thing going on. My mom used to take me to galleries and museums when I was young, which really helped me appreciate art, so I really want to instill that in my children.

...see live music I go to Moles every once in a while. I also opened The Rock Project concert there, where young teens play in bands. My son was also appearing. I offered to play the guitar but they were like – nah, you’re okay...!

Rustica does the best bolognese in town