Glastonbury Arts: Music is still in Julie Grant’s blood
- Peter Marteka
- 5 days ago
- 6 min read
Closing in on 80, Grant still active in the concert scene
By Peter Marteka
Editor
Julie Grant walked around the apartment stopping at a framed montage of photos of her with stars like Taylor Swift, Meatloaf, the Amazing Kreskin, B.J. Thomas and Donovan. The photos take her back in time to when she was a co-producer for the Pollstar Awards.
“And I was the one who had to find the stars to do the presentation. And that was her first appearance,” she said, pointing to Taylor Swift. “She didn't sing. She was 18. Oh, she was beautiful. Still gorgeous...Life has been amazing. And I'm still loving every minute - and it keeps me on my toes.”
Grant, born Vivien Foreman, has been in the music business since she was four years old after winning a talent contest. The prize? Sing with a big band on a weekend.
“And I went and sang and they liked me so much. The reaction was ‘Oh, my God. This little thing here with the voice.’ And they hired me - once a week for a summer season. And I got paid, so I was actually a professional. I don’t know how much they paid, but I was a professional at four.”
And now nearly 80, Grant still runs her and her late husband’s business – English Wolf Music – one of the agents for Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den. She brings 6-8 acts to the Wolf Den each year. This year’s groups include The Idol Kings (Journey tribute band), Rubix Kube (1980s tribute band), Magic of Motown, Fleetwood/Heart, Voices of Rock.
“All of these shows are really top shelf and have been at Wolf Den many times and are very popular,” she said.
Grant was a pop singer during the 1960s in England and even toured with the Rolling Stones, The Everly Brothers and Bo Diddley when she was 16 years old. She had 15 singles, the most popular a dance version of “Up On The Roof.” (Editor’s note: It’s really good!)
“They're on YouTube, you can hear them, all of them,” she said of her songs. “The first two were not hits. The third one, my record producer Tony Hatch had heard the record of The Drifters’ ‘Up On The Roof.’
“And he loved it. And I loved it. But he said, ‘Let's do a dance version.’ And it was speeded up, so it's a bit different...I prefer The Drifters,” she said with a laugh. Grant’s version topped out at No. 19 on the music chart.
Grant credits training for her career to singing with big bands on weekends.
“As you did in those days, there was a guy singer and a girl singer, and they alternated with the big band,” she said. “Then I took opera for a year and a half because it built up your diaphragm. So it's very, very good for the breathing and stuff. I had the same teacher as Julie Andrews. Her name was Madame Stiles Allen. Very posh. If she would have heard what I was going to sing later on, she'd turn on her grave - me doing Tina Turner and all that.”
Grant was “discovered” after singing “Moon River” at a bar mitzvah by her father’s accountant and signed a five-year contract for Pye Records at 15 years old.
After “Up On The Roof,” she had two or three more hits in the top 20 - like “Every Day I Have To Cry Some” - and two in the top 30.
“You go crazy,” she said of watching the music chart each week. “And when you hear yourself for the first time on the radio, that's an amazing thing.”
She started to tour in 1963 when her manager Eric Easton became manager of the Rolling Stones.
“So, wherever they were...I was on the bill,” she said.
She continued her career until 1967 when there came a change in musical tastes.
“And then the girl singers were out. It was all rock. It was The Who and all that...So we were done. My records weren't selling, and my contract came to an end,” she lamented.
She joined a Spanish group – Zaras and performed for the USO in Germany at the military bases. She ended up marrying the group’s leader Marino Zaratiegui. The group came to America and performed in Vegas and Tahoe.
“We were like the Spanish Osmonds. Very, very popular. No records, but just very, very popular,” she said.
After a divorce, she met her second husband David Connelly, the road manager for the Carpenters. They married and found their way to Connecticut. Eventually Grant’s singing came to an end.
“I quit singing because I just was done. And David had an entertainment agency at the time. So, I joined the agency and became an agent,” she said.
Then came a venture with an entertainment venue opening up in Uncasville – the present day Mohegan Sun.
“And I got a phone call from a friend of mine who was the entertainment director in Atlantic City and she said, ‘Julie, I know you're not singing anymore, but I'm going to be entertainment director at a new casino in Uncasville.’ Well, we looked at each other and said, ‘Uncasville, what the hell is that?’ So David and I went down and walked that place in hard hats.”
The first group the pair booked was the Everly Brothers and then came singers like Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan. She continued booking acts after David passed away.
“It keeps me busy. So, I'm still there. It's a wonderful thing. Keeps me on my toes,” she said. “I love that end of it. And Mohegan liked that I was there. We were always there from sound check to the end. And we took care of the artists, but number one was Mohegan because they were our client.
And we took care of them and the artists because I knew what they needed,” she said. “And they never got one phone call in 30 years that there was a problem in the Den. And I think that's why I stayed.”
So does she watch today’s talent shows like American Idol and The Voice?
“Everything,” she says with a laugh. “More American Idol and America's Got Talent. I like those better. I love Lionel Richie and Carrie Underwood. And some of those people? Oh my God, so talented.”
Any advice you would give young singers today?
“Don't listen to the press. Don't listen to your own press. Keep your head on the ground. Keep people around you who don't ‘yes’ you. Because when that happens, you can end up badly, you know? They'll say yes to drugs, they won't say no to you, you know. I mean, look at Elvis. They were all wiped out because of that.
“What else? Just study hard,” she added. “Learn all the aspects of the business. Not just singing. Yeah, acting, whatever. Learn how to walk on stage and walk off. Some people just know how to hold a microphone. Some people don't how to do it.”
And always have your mother in your corner.
“Of course, I toured a lot with the Stones because of my manager, and they all knew me and they knew my mummy. She was always in the wings of the show. And one day, Mick came up and he said, ‘You here again, Mrs. Grant?' And she said, ‘As long as there's villains like you, I'll be here.’”
Grant has begun to write a book about her life story.
“When David passed, it was difficult for me to sort of write that down and go on to the new thing. I'm past it now and I'm sort of doing it. I'll get it there. There's no rush. I mean, hopefully I’ll do it before I'm dead.”
And there’s no retirement plan.
"I don't think I should, because, I mean, it's really painless doing what I do at Mohegan...And it gives me a little extra money...this is what I do now and I love living here in Glastonbury.” GL