From the tormented youngster who tried to kill himself, Chris Needs turned his life into an extraordinary and inspiring success story.
Broadcaster, musician, author, linguist, actor – and fund-raiser – Chris went from being viciously bullied for his sexuality to a man with literally thousands of friends.
Chris Needs Friendly Garden is the late night BBC Wales show, which recruits listeners, and their pets, as members, and membership is heading towards a phenomenal 50,000.
Last year he almost died when reaction to medication produced throat sores which prevented him eating and he shed about seven stone in almost as many weeks.
With the help of his thousands of loyal listener friends – one man spent £37.50 a week sending him special honey – he has shrugged it off and is on the fund-raising trail again.
An insight into his remarkable life has been recorded by independent award-winning TV company, Ceidiog, for S4C’s series about extraordinary lives in Wales, Pobol (People).
Producer Nia Ceidiog said: “Chris’ late evening show Friendly Garden has a massive following. Every night of the week, between 10pm and 1am Chris is a friend to everyone, and he’s been doing this for years.
“He’s a fascinating man. Chris’s roots are back in the village of Cwmafan near Port Talbot, where he and partner Gabe, along with their dog Buster Llyr, run a family grocery shop, alongside a souvenirs, CDs and card charity shop.
“When Gabe is not running the shops he is answering telephones for Chris’s late night show.
“Chris started on commercial radio but he’s been with Radio Wales now for about 15 years and although he is a Welsh speaker we don’t get to see or hear him much on Welsh language media so this is a great treat.
“I’ve known him for many years and wanted to make a programme about him 10 years ago but it never happened.
“Then, a few months ago I decided to give him a call and he had not been well but was getting better and I thought it would be the right time to do the programme.
“I went to S4C and they liked the idea so we started filming last October.
“The climax of the programme will be a fund-raising concert which Chris is staging at the Grand in Swansea on March 24 which will feature loads of his talented friends. Chris’s eventful life has been described as a “bit of a roller coaster” and it certainly has.”
Chris, 58, admits he is “scarred” by the horrendous sexual abuse he suffered as a youngster and the constant taunts about being gay.
“Even at school he was given 100 lines – ‘I am a nancy boy and must change’ – and was driven to a suicide attempt which failed only when the strap he tried to hang himself with, broke.
He has written about the early days in a searingly honest autobiography.
But it has also produced someone of steely resolve. He speaks five languages, was a professional translator in Spain, he has a doctorate in music, played piano for the legendary Dorothy Squires and also for Bonnie Tyler, who remains a fan of his radio show.
He opened the Cardiff Castle show for Shirley Bassey in 1995 and his charity fund-raising for South Wales hospitals helped him to receive the MBE in 2005.
On the Friendly Garden people ring in and talk about anything, from an illness to a broken relationship and Chris is always there with a friendly word and plays whatever music they want to hear – from AC/DC to Gracie Fields.
And when Chris, who has type two diabetes, wants to raise money for charity, his friends come running.
The show at Swansea Grand on March 24, which will help raise money for the Chris Needs Hospital Appeal, already includes Cardiff-born actor and singer West End star Simon Bowman, Welsh operatic star Rebecca Evans, singer Bruce Anderson, opera singer Wynne and his brother Mark Llewellyn Evans, South Wales Gay Mens Chorus, Samantha Link, Mandy Starr, and Carole Rees Jones as the Dorothy Squires Experience.
Pobol featuring Chris Needs can be seen on S4C at 9pm on Wednesday, March 28.
