I always liked Colin though his ill fated attempt to make a star out of his 11 year old son ended in tragedy.

Hopefully, my own attempt with Marty Wilde's son Ricky gave that young man a far happier life.See Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Yes, very sad news indeed. I received an email from his brother-in-law on October 30th (coincidentally, the 18th anniversary of Darren's suicide) that Colin had died on October 19th at the age of 76. He had been ill for some time and went to see his doctor in Hertfordshire and collapsed and died in the waiting room of the surgery. The cause of death is not yet known, but I believe it may have been a heart attack. Even on the Man Alive - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star film OF 1973, Colin comes across as someone who works very hard; works long hours and looks tired in his eyes and looks as though he's living on his nerves. He certainly worked hard to get where he did at EMI.

Yes, he took a famous (or infamous) gamble with young Darren and it all ended in a terrible tragedy. But as you say, JK, you did a far better job with Ricky Wilde, who is still with us over thirty-six years later and living a happy life...even though, with his shaven head, he's completely unrecognisible now from his 1972 / 1973 self.

I think that one reason for the difference in what happened to Darren and Ricky is that UK records seemed more of a close-knit set up in those days, while EMI was a huge, anonymous organisation with its fingers in many pies that didn't have much time or concern for their artistes unless they were making bags of money for the company. If Darren Burn had been a UK recording artiste, he would probably still be here today, even if he had as little success in the charts of the time as he had at the vast EMI.

I would very much like to hope that Colin and Darren are now reunited in spirit.