John Pickering

In a park in a small town in central England, John Pickering cuts the grass and waters the flowers. But all last week he was in Tokyo and millions of Japanese people watched the thirty-five-year-old gardener on television because John is the number one singer in Japan at the moment. John visited Japan a few months ago to sing in dance clubs in Osaka and Nagoya. A disc jockey heard his songs and played them on his radio show. Hundreds of young people phoned the radio and asked the disc jockey to play the songs once more.

John, who uses the name Jon Otis when he sings in Japan, is not going to stop working in the park in England. He does not know yet how much he will earn from his music. 'I must keep my job in the park,' he says. 'I still have to pay my bills!' The other gardeners do not know that he is famous in Japan. They've never even heard him sing.

John's wife, Denise, a hospital worker, says, 'This will not change the way we live. I only know John Pickering, not Jon Otis!'