The Troggs singer Reg Presley dies (From Bournemouth Echo)

The Troggs singer Reg Presley dies

1:58pm Tuesday 5th February 2013 in News By Darren Slade, Chief Reporter

ROCK singer Reg Presley, who has died aged 71, once said that taking Bournemouth out of Hampshire was the biggest sadness of his life.

Presley, frontman of The Troggs, was born in Andover and lived in Hampshire until his death.

The Troggs’ most famous hit was Wild Thing, although their only number one was With a Girl Like You.

Reg enjoyed a new success in 1994 when his composition Love Is All Around made number one in a cover version by Wet Wet Wet and stayed there for 15 weeks. He claimed to have written the song in 10 minutes, but its newfound success was said to have made him a millionaire.

In 2010, Reg joked with the Daily Echo of his greatest sadness.

“It was when they took Bournemouth out of Hampshire – my mother’s family was all from Bournemouth and we used to go there all the time, then we had to start going to a different county, ’twasn’t right,” he told the Daily Echo in 2010.

He even joked about starting a campaign to bring the town back into Hampshire.

He said Wild Thing had been described as “the first punk rock record”.

“When you first pick up a guitar at the age of eight you look around for the simplest song to play, and you find Wild Thing. I still like the song, mind,” he said.

“With A Girl Like You has done all right as well, but Love Is All Around, that was something else. I love the Wet Wet Wet version.”

In the same interview, he talked light-heartedly about the prospect of vacating The Troggs to make way for Paul McCartney.

“Yes, when they asked Paul if he couldn’t have been in The Beatles, which other band would he have liked to be in, he said The Troggs!

“I would’ve moved over for him, but then we’d have had hits like Love I Do and She Loves Ee, Ar Ar Ar…!”