Uncle of a Premier League ace starred in Coronation Street AND appeared on Top of the Pops with a no1 hit... but do YOU know who it is?
The gossip down the Rovers Return is that England football sensation Cole Palmer is not the only celebrity in his family.
The gossip down the Rovers Return is that England football sensation Cole Palmer is not the only celebrity in his family.
And MailOnline can reveal that a close relative of the Chelsea superstar once appeared in Coronation Street.
The footballer’s great uncle St Clair Palmer, 70, featured in a classic episode of the much-loved soap opera in May 1983 - when the drama pulled in eight million viewers.
St Clair - who was born on the Caribbean island of St Kitts - appeared alongside legendary characters including Stan and Hilda Ogden, Bet Lynch, Eddie Yates, Mavis Riley and Ivy Tilsley.
He was aged 30 when he was cast to play the character of Wally who worked at local taxi firm Weatherfield Cabs alongside Jack Duckworth played by the late actor Bill Tarmey.
Cole Palmers great uncle St Clair Palmer, 70, featured in a classic episode of the much-loved soap opera in May 1983
St Clair first found fame as a pop star with Manchester soul group Sweet Sensation who appeared on Top of the Pops (pictured)
In hilarious scenes, Wally becomes an unwitting accomplice when Jack joins a dating agency in a bid to spice up his love life.
But wife Vera finds out what he’s up to and pretends to be a rich flame-haired widow called Carol Monroe - before catching him out in a sting in front of stunned regulars at the Rovers.
St Clair first found fame as a pop star with Manchester soul group Sweet Sensation, who had a number one hit in October 1974 with Sad Sweet Dreamer.
He turned to acting after the group split up.
The now retired performer’s son Stephen Goodwin, who is Cole Palmer’s cousin, told MailOnline: The family is talented to be fair. There is a lot of talent there.’
He added of Palmer: ‘I see Cole when we go to family events.
He is an amazing young man and has done so well.’
Palmer - who is set to play a key role in England’s upcoming Nation’s League clashes with Greece and Finland - has been settling the Premier League alight since quitting his hometown team of Manchester City last year.
St Clair was aged 30 when he was cast to play the character of Wally who worked at local taxi firm Weatherfield Cabs (Pictured, St Clair on the show)
St Clair - who was born on the Caribbean island of St Kitts - appeared alongside legendary characters including Stan and Hilda Ogden, Bet Lynch, Eddie Yates, Mavis Riley and Ivy Tilsley
Cole Palmer has been settling the Premier League alight since joining Chelsea after leaving his hometown team of Manchester City last year
The group (pictured) had a number one hit in October 1974 with Sad Sweet Dreamer
Last Saturday Palmer, 22, became the first-ever Premier League to score four first-half goals in Chelsea’s thrilling 4-2 win against Brighton at Stamford Bridge.
The star has previously told how he would never have achieved his footballing dreams without the unwavering support of his father Jermaine, 50, and his side of the family who hail from the tiny Caribbean island.
He has played homage to his roots with the flag of St Kitts featuring on his football boots alongside the English flag of St George.
Last year Palmer’s grandfather Sterry - who is St Clair’s younger brother - told MailOnline of the family’s extraordinary journey from poverty as he revealed the painful struggles they endured as part of the Windrush generation.
Sterry and St Clairs parents took the painful decision to leave them behind when they were just toddlers as they tried to establish a better life for their family after travelling to the UK in 1955.
It was five years before the brothers were able to join them and they started a new life in the tough inner-city area of Moss Side.
After school Sterry went into the construction industry working as a fabricator welder.
Cole Palmer and his father Jermaine doing the Chelsea strikers famous Cold Palmer celebration
Pictured: Cole Palmer always wears pins showing the flags of England and Saint Kitts and Nevis on his boots when he plays
Pictured: Cole Palmer and his grandfather Sterry Cole, who moved to the UK from Saint Kitts and Nevis in 1960
Meanwhile St Clair set off on a career in showbusiness.
Son Stephen, who runs a hairdressers in Stoke-on-Trent, added: My dad was in a band who had a Number One in the 1970s.
He was in a band in the 1970s and had contacts in Coronation Street. I think he was an extra in one episode where he was standing at the bar in the Rovers Return.
He wasnt an actor but in the music scene and that scene in Manchester was small.’
Debut hit Sad Sweet Dreamer also reached number 14 in the US charts and the group’s follow up single Purely by Coincidence took them to number 11 in the UK charts in January 1975.
Music impresario Tony Hatch signed the band and produced their hits after they first came to prominence on the ITV talent show New Faces where he was appearing as a panellist.
St Clair was one of four vocalists in the band which also featured four musicians.
In 1977, the group took part in A Song for Europe in a bid to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Their song Youre My Sweet Sensation ended in eighth place and they disbanded shortly after.
However, they were the trailblazers for a series of UK soul acts including the Real Thing and Imagination.
St Clair’s other acting credits include an appearance in Brookside in 1985 and in the 1991 feature film Firestar: First Contact starring Oliver Tobias and James Bond baddie Charles Gray.
Stephen insisted that ‘football was always in the family’ and Palmer’s father Jermaine was a keen amateur player who the star has credited with launching him onto the road of fame and fortune.
Jermaine, who fixes dental equipment for a living, spotted the talent in his young son when he was aged around four and quickly instilled in him a love of the game.
Pictured: Cole Palmer seen playing in Englands match against Switzerland in Dusseldorf during Euro 2024
Pictured: Palmer with his dad, mum and one of his sisters signing for Man City as an academy player
Palmer has said: Without my dad I probably wouldnt be a footballer.
‘He did numerous hours with me every night, working with me to try and make me a professional footballer. And yeah I am trying to repay him as much as I can.
Last year Sterry gave an insight into the struggles the family had endured.
He told how he and St Clair ended up sharing a bed along with two cousins at the family’s modest home in Basseterre, the capital of St Kitts and Nevis.
They were brought up by their grandmother and two aunties who also lived in the cramped three-bedroomed house with other relatives.
Sterry, 71, told MailOnline: My mum and dad were part of the Windrush generation who left the West Indies to help rebuild Britain and get the country back on its feet after the Second World War.
They knew people whod already moved to Manchester. In the area where we came from in Basseterre most people had set up home in the city and the North of England.
The family were finally reunited after the brothers joined their aunt Pearl and two cousins on a two week voyage from St Kitts to Southampton in 1960.
Sterry said of the journey: ‘It was awful. I came over with my Aunt Pearl, my brother St Clair and two of my cousins and we shared a cramped cabin. I was seasick pretty much right the way through the crossing.
When we finally docked at Southampton I was massively relieved to leave the ship but my first recollection of being in England was how cold it was. Even in May.
My mother and father met us at the docks. That was the first time I remember meeting them because I cant even have been two-years-old when they left.
‘We got on a train from Southampton to our new home in Moss Side, Manchester.
We had a terraced home and whilst theyd been in England, my parents had had three more boys who were aged four, two and six months old. So I also met my three younger brothers for the first time.
Theyd go on to have a daughter and another son, so its just me and St Clair who were born in the Caribbean.
Speaking of his new life in the tough inner city area he said: Life was very different in Manchester, the people were different as was the weather and the food so it was a bit of a culture shock at first but when youre young you adapt quite well.
‘My dad was a mechanic back in St Kitts and he got work in a garage in Manchester when he first arrived but he later got a job at the Turner & Newall asbestos cement plant in Trafford Park but moved before it shut down due to health fears over asbestos.
He finished his working days at the nearby Kelloggs factory. Thats where he retired.
My mum worked for years as a sewing machinist based in Ancoats.
She passed away in her 70s in 2008. My father died about six-years ago aged in his late-80s.
