At Home With A Rock Star - Family Circle (UK)

Singer/songwriter Bill Nelson and his orange-mop-haired wife cut a trendy rock star image. That's not really terribly surprising: Bill has become well known as a brilliant guitarist since starting out with his own group Be Bop Deluxe in 1974. What is surprising, though, is his house - it's not at all trendy, but a four-bedroom Cromwellian hall in deepest Yorkshire (complete with sweeping staircase, stained-glass windows and ornate mouldings). This is their refuge from the frenetic round of concert tours.

They're a local couple - he comes from Wakefield, she hails from Leeds - who have traveled the world with their music, and come home to roost. "We decided to settle here as we've a lot of friends in the area who have nothing to do with the music business," Bill explains. "I can't imagine anything worse than playing music all day, only to come home in the evening and have people discussing nothing but studios."

The Nelsons - Bill, Jan, Elle (pronounced Ellie), three, and Elliot, 16 months - are refreshingly unpretentious. While he's going on about the mowing machine breaking down, she's bright and breezy, yet preoccupied with looking after the children.

You couldn't call the house ordinary, though. When they first saw it, it had been on the market for a long time, was in a bad state of repair and going for a song. They fell in love with the feeling of space, the sweeping lawns, and decided to restore it to its former grandeur - a daunting prospect with their limited resources.

It's taken them three grueling years. Says Jan, "Elle was on the way at the time and I'd been told at my prenatal classes not to move house while pregnant. But we found the house and felt it was too good a chance to miss. By the time I left hospital, the inside of the house was just a pile of rubble, so we had to go and stay above Bill's London studio. There was no heating and we had to share the bathroom with other people in the studio. I felt a bit cheated, really, Elle being my first baby."

They took advantage of their few weeks in London. "I'd rush out and buy bits and pieces of furniture in between studio sessions." says Bill. "I chose classic shapes and they're timeless. Ultramodern pieces would have looked out of place, and anyhow date much too quickly."

The house oozes history - its huge stained-glass window is engraved with the village squire's coat of arms, and each renovation to the house through the ages has left its mark. From the stark Cromwellian exterior and central hall, you move through to the Adam drawing room with its elaborate panels and ceiling, then to splashes of art nouveau and deco, ending up with the previous renovation in the 40's. Finally, Bill and Jan have made their own contributions - a modern pine kitchen which they regard as a practical necessity with their two small kitchen.

Bill has his own room of the 80s too - a studio which features his eight-track recording system. This is where he does most of his demo tapes as he preferes the tranquility here to the distractions of large studios.

Music comes naturally to Bill, though he admits he can't read a note. "My father tried to teach me when I was 14, but I got bored and couldn't see the point of struggling to play Jingle Bells from the score, when I could play more complicated pieces straight off by ear.

He brought out his latest album The Love That Whirls last June and is already working on the next one for the coming year. He's also been asked to play and write for a Japanese group, the Yellow Magic Orchestra, and back home writes soundtracks for the Yorkshire Actors' Company. His most exciting project is working on the sound effects for a Viking museum soon to open in York.

At Home With A Rock Star - Family Circle (UK) - 1982