Owned and run by Bev Bevan of The Move! and Electric Light Orchestra fame, the shop was located in Sparkhill.
Celebrating Birmingham's Popular Music History
Celebrating Birmingham's Popular Music History
Owned and run by Bev Bevan of The Move! and Electric Light Orchestra fame, the shop was located in Sparkhill.
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
This work by Birmingham Music Archive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
There Are Currently 14 Comments for this Post
Hey, I was wondering if there were any photographs of the shop interior or exterior. My father used to go there a lot when he was younger and wanted to show me.
Thanks.
There must be photos somewhere, the shop had an official opening, I know because I went, not many turned up. I bet your dad told you the outside shop front had big red padded “Rolling Stone’ lips. I lived close by in Woodlands Road, so used to go in when Bev’s mother ran the shop, which I always thought or knew as a dolls hospital. I dont recall anything outstanding about the interior tbh, old style record shop, vinyls in those days of course
I remember this shop as a young boy when it was a toy shop run by Mrs Bevan, Bev’s mom. In my teenage years it became Heavy Head records. Not sure if I ever saw bev serving in the shop when I frequently purchased records..
Yes, he did serve in the shop, I lived in close by Woodlands Road, he served me when I went in (feeling very grown up) to buy the Rolling Stones album Exhile on Main Street, he asked If my parents knew I was buying it or words to that effect, I was probably about 15. I was also there for the shop opening, not many turned up, if you can remember which musican /rock star came along to officially open it , let me know. I got the autograph , but I can’t remember who the heck it was. I always thought the shop was a dolls hospital, I used to go in from time to time, brought dolls shoes and think I took a doll or two to be repaired there. My friend lived above the TSB? bank on the corner next door. I saw Bev a few times on the flat roof top ‘garden’ . Then in later years shopping in Moseley Village, can’t remember if it was a Jag or Bently he drove round in
Remember going there in lunch break from Moseley Grammar School…….Bev and another guy were behind the counter….I bought “Watt” by Ten Years After…they tried to convince me that I should buy the Move Album but at the time ..1970, I was into heavy and considered the Move pop.
i used to work as a rep for Polydor records calling on all the record stores in the Birmingham area.One day i called on Heavyhead and a guy sitting at the counter eating his sandwiches said “i almost signed for your label” i said “who are you” he said “Jasper Carrott” i said “with a name like that you have no chance” What do i know.
I remember the toy shop – and the dolls’ hospital. Mrs Bevan also ran a small lending library from the back of the shop.
When it was a record store, there was a huge purple board in the window with face shapes cut out; and hair painted around the cut-outs to make them look like heads. Each “head” was used to display a different album cover.
Somehow, when my sister and I were teenagers, Mum managed to persuade either Mrs Bevan or Bev to “donate” this board to us (once it was no longer in use) and we used it to display hand-made belts and jewelry (made of leather scraps bought from Midland Educational) at a Christmas fayre. I have no clue what happened to the lovely board after that (Dad probably thought it was cluttering the house!)
Happy Days!
Worked here full time for 4 years from its opening in 1971!
Happy Days, yes you could meet most of Brums musicians here!
The shop in question was at the bottom of my road in Springfield, and Mrs Bevan was a friend of my Moms…. I remember it more from my Springield Road Infants & Junior School days as a sweet & general tuck shop that also sold individual cigarettes & a match, regardless of our age. Later Bev took over with the Records (his Mom had had a few singles on the counter) and ‘yes’, he regularly served behind the counter and occasionally, in full make up, Roy Wood helped on Saturdays. It was a great place to pick up white label promo singles which increased in value enormously many years later… all but a few Tyrannosaurus Rex singles I’ve now sold. Our Saturdays usually began at Heavyhead then on to the guitar store in Hurst Street, followed by a tour of the other instrument stores, Lewis’ record shop and Reddingtons Rare Records… Virgin soon came along by the Law Courts. The big Rolling Stone ‘Red Lips’ front window display at Heavyhead was truly a site to behold! Happy days….
I remember going there regularly in the early 70’s and remember the big red lips though I thought they framed the shop counter, they always reminded me of the cover of the 1st King Crimson album. It would be great if someone had some pictures. I bought loads of albums there, the guy usually behind the counter often suggested interesting new releases worth a listen. It may have been Tom Walton, if so big thanks to you.
I also lived in Springfield Road, and Mrs Bevan was also a friend of my Mums.
when my sister and I were young we used to take our dolls there to be repaired, and Mum used to borrow books from there.
When we were in our teens my sister and I used a Heavy Heads windiw display that was no longer wanted to display the jewellery we used to make and sell
My sister and I also went to Springfield Junior School -I went to the town hall in the school choir, and also played there once in the Junior school Strings orchestra with Stanley Matthews conduncting
I have recently been keeping in touch with an old friend of mine.When we both lived in Hall Green.He lived in Green Road, I in Burnaston Road, Heavyhead was just something that popped into my head, remember going there instead of our local Ralph Hales, or Midland Music, both on Hall Green High Street. We where both massive Slade Fans, and remember very well, buying old new borrowed and blue from heavyhead, album i still own, and still play.guess i was around eleven Years old.any commments plz.
Just in case anyone hadn’t seen this pic:
http://yeatesentertainment.co.uk/media/2038/bev-heavy-head.jpeg
I used to stop at the shop in 1968 and chat to his Mom and Bev Bevan still have those records