August 2025

Cannot believe we’re already into August and what with two heat waves already, and the sunshine coming at the end of April, I’m just hoping that winter isn’t just around the corner. The weather is completely upside down worldwide and it is hard to organize anything in advance.

Being a massive ‘Strictly’ fan, I’d secured tickets to see Anton Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice as my local theatre in Shrewsbury last month. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the ‘Together Again’ tour but it was full of fun, dance and songs showcasing the duo’s incredible talents and irresistible chemistry on stage. Sadly, they announced they wouldn’t be touring again next year and of course the BBC have waved their magic wand and not invited Giovanni back to the television series this year. A decision I am furious about.

I was very sad to hear about the passing of Ozzy Osbourne. He became a founding member of Black Sabbath in 1968, providing lead vocals from their eponymous debut studio album in 1970 to Never Say Die! in 1978. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Black Sabbath in 2006 and as a solo artist in 2024.

Throughout his success he continued to give generously to charitable causes including on his 65th birthday on 3 December 2013, he asked fans to celebrate the day by donating to the Royal Marsden cancer charity in London.

On 22 July 2025, Osbourne died at the age of 76 at his home in Buckinghamshire, seventeen days after his final live performance at the Back to the Beginning farewell concert alongside the original line-up of Black Sabbath, at Villa Park in Birmingham on 5 July 2025. The band and Osbourne each played a short set, watched by a crowd of over 40,000 spectators and a peak livestream audience of 5.8 million. Having been rendered unable to stand from Parkinson’s disease, Osbourne performed seated on a black throne. All proceeds from the event, including livestreams and merchandising are being donated equally to The Cure Parkinson’s Trust, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorn Children’s Hospice, a sum purported to be £140 million. A wonderful legacy to leave behind. My thoughts go to his family and friends.

As you know, even when I’m away, I still look at my messages and emails and once again thanks to those of you that continue to send me your ‘finds’. Last month a fan sent in a cover from ‘June’, a schoolgirls weekly periodical. If anyone spots this at a car boot on online, please grab me a copy.

Former U.S Navy veteran, Shawn Salvadori has his own YouTube Reaction Channel and another one of dad’s fans directed me to a video he thought I’d be interested in. It features a song that isn’t heard that often, the beautiful ‘For Mama” written by Charles Aznavour. It was released as a single on December 11, 1964 and reached #23 in the UK and #135 in the US charts.

‘Matt’s Kind of Podcast’ was launched on dad’s birthday last year and we are putting up one edition every month. So, make sure you pop by in the next day or two to catch the newest edition.

Dad’s podcast is continuing to grow thanks to all your support and I was really excited to announce last month that we are featuring our first special guest. It’s been hard enough trying to find a time that works for both Richard and my schedules, but add a third person in the mix and we’re lucky we can fit it in this year, but we somehow managed it. I hope you’ll tune in to catch the wonderfully talented Bobby Crush.

Bobby and I have been friends for years and as well as being a thoroughly nice guy, he held his hand up as soon as I mentioned that I was hoping he’d been our first guest. One thing you can’t accuse this renowned star of stage and screen of is being shy or reserved and I can assure you it’s an interview you don’t want to miss. In fact, we talked for so long that we have had to split it into two podcasts so part one is this month and part two will be in September.

Although we have garnered several thousand listeners each month, we haven’t had much feedback and questions have been light so if you have a topic or question you would like to see covered then please email either Richard of myself and we’ll do out best to cover it.

Dad’s YouTube channel frequently features rare television performances, interviews and shorts but don’t worry if you weren’t with us from the very beginning as the channel still has all the ones you may have missed by not visiting yet. In fact, Aviator, one of our partners on the site has managed to unearth and license several rare finds so watch out for those during the year.

It’s all totally free and if you register, the site will send you a reminder every time something new is added. It would be amazing to hit the 200,000-subscriber mark so please tell all your friends to visit us and help us grow so that I can keep dad’s legacy of songs burning bright.

Later in the year we are putting together another audio compilation which will be available on dad’s YouTube channel in the near future. The working title at the moment is “Matt at the BBC Volume 2’ so watch this space.

Don’t forget to visit dad’s very own YouTube channel – https://www.youtube.com/c/MattMonroOfficial

I know you’ve all heard this before but in light of a new Argentina interview dad did which has only just landed on our desks, please, please let us know if you have any rare footage, (even if you taped it illegally, lol), jingles or photos of dad. I ranted on for years on every radio interview I did trying to trace dad’s original Camay jingle and 18 years later a fan sent it in. Asking why she had held it back for so long, she replied “I thought you would already have it”.

While I can understand that in the old days recording shows by the public was difficult, I cannot believe that there is no recording of dad’s Barbican concert from 1985, one of the last he did. There are also dozens of jingles still to be found although they are hard to find as the artist is not accredited to the product. Richard and I have spent months and months listening to product jingles that we know that dad was involved in and we, well to be honest Richard, has found several over the years so come on all you diehard fans, take a look in your attics, even if you have reel tapes we have the equipment to listen to it. Fingers crossed.

Once again, I hope you have a happy and healthy year and I look forward to touching base with you all in September. In the meantime, stay safe and keep spreading the MM legacy.

Much love

Michele xx