It is not uncommon for a singer to have two or more careers under different names, but such attempts are frequently all failures. However, Shane Fenton managed to have successful chart careers under his adopted name during the early 1960s and also as Alvin Stardust a decade later.

Although he was born in London during World War II, Bernard spent his formative years in Nottinghamshire and has always regarded Mansfield as his home town. His musical career began through the demise of a vocalist who sang with a group calling themselves the Tremelos during 1959. Bernard Jewry, as he then was, filled the vacancy and adopted the more commercial sounding name of Shane Fenton- he later made it his real name by deed poll. When the group got the chance of a radio broadcast on the BBC's 'Saturday Club' the backing group hurriedly became the Fentones.

The Fentones were a competent outfit, broadly similar to the Shadows and had Bobby Elliott on drums until he left to replace Don Rathbone in the Hollies. Their instrumental skills can be found on two Parlophone issued singles, which both made the lower reaches of the charts despite the absence of their vocalist.

Shane Fenton achieved four chart appearances with the group. After the last of these hits, which was the only one to get inside the top twenty- thus hinting at a possible future breakthrough, his following singles were issued without the Fentones. It seems unfortunate that he should have done this at the time 'Merseybeat' emerged and when a 'group sound' would appear to have been an essential for chart survival. The expectation was that he would slowly sink into obscurity during the next decade along with other pioneers of British rock and roll. In fact, he re-emerged as the black leather clad 'Alvin Stardust', riding high on the tide of 'glam' rock, managing to turn his former anachronistic style into a new fashion and appealing to a new younger audience.
 

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