timeline
Beige Timeline
1950 Born – Leonard Beigeowitz in East London – parents Hymie and Sadie
1956 Hymie dies face down on his Pants For A Penny Stall on the Brick Lane Market
1958 Sadie and family move to near Hunstanton – with brothers Charlie (older) and Sammy (younger)
1958 Lenny takes part in the Talented Tots Competition (he wins!)
1960 Taken to see Frankie Vaughan and gets given an old tap shoe
1962 Meets Lou Grade and is told he ‘has what it takes’
1967 Joins the Ray McVay Orchestra as a rhythm guitarist.
1972 Shirley Bassey gives him his big break after collapsing in his lap when her wig caught on fire.
1974 Changes his name from Lenny Beigeowitz to Beige.
1973–76 Tours with his four piece band Schmaltz
1976 Elder brother Charlie dies in a freak accident in a car on way home from a BBC recording.
1977 Beige ends touring and opens the first of his nightspots on the East Anglian Riviera – The Onyx Palace in Lowestoft
Many clubs follow during the next decade – they include:
Beige Brothers Bingo Bowling and Bare Breasted Ballet Bar in Hunstanton
Lenny’s Lounge of Lascivious Leanings in Diss
Lenny Beige’s Platinum Plated Palace of Varieties and Boothed Showbar and Hogroast Smorgasboard in Goreleston
1980 Marries Denise McGuire (airline hostess)
1982 Daughter Naomi is born (with lazy eye)
1984 Son Nathan is born
1988 Divorces Denise and moves to London – to a modest 4 bedroom penthouse on Piccadilly.
1990 Launches Lenny’s Kosher Crooning Cruises on the Pride of Thanet
1995 Launches his first London night The Regency Rooms at Number 3 New Burlington St
1996 Moves the Regency Rooms to legendary The Talk of London where it runs 8 seasons till 2000 becoming the most talked about night in town.
1996 House Band Bon Tempi are replaced by The Fickle Hand of Fate – with Guy Chambers as MD
1996 World of Beige goes to The Edinburgh Festival
1997 Beige Cabaret in Edinburgh at the Spiegeltent and first outing for One Man and His Talent
1998 The Lenny Beige TV Show is made for Channel 4
1999 New one-man show The McBeige Lecture Assembly Rooms Edinburgh
1999-2000 2 series of Lenny Beige’s Variety Pack (16 shows) broadcast on BBC Choice
2000 Tax investigation. Beige’s assets frozen and eventually sold off. Brother and manager
imprisoned in Pentonville and Beige leaves for The Phillipines.
2005 Beige returns fitter, leaner and more hungry than ever. He relocates to St Leonards in Hastings (St Lenny’s)
2006 First gig at the brand new Pigalle Club in The West End
2007 first performs Once In A Lifetime – Beige’s Tribute to Anthony Newley
2007-2010 Launches Lenny Beige’s Night of Legends at the Pigalle Club
2010 Launches the World of Beige across the Internet
