Our pub community was sad to learn of the passing of Honey B Mama (aka Cleo Sylvestre MBE). Our thoughts are with her family and friends.

We had the pleasure of hosting Honey, Hackney’s Queen of the Blues, a number of times at the  Antwerp Arms. She always delivered a great set of rocking blues with her crack band of musicians.

Honey was the alter ego of Cleo Sylvestre. As a pioneering black performer, Cleo was unique as being one of the first black British born recording artists and stage performers in the 1960s. Brought up in the Euston area she was once muse to Mick Jagger and the late Brian Jones when the Rolling Stones were establishing themselves as a blues/rock band in the early 1960s.  In 1964 the Stones backed Cleo on a single of “To Know Him is To Love Him” (the Phil Spector song) produced by the Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham. The Antwerp has a copy of the single in its donated vinyl collection. When Honey was at the Antwerp last year we played it for her. She told us the story of when Brian Jones came round to her Mum’s flat resplendent in a brown velvet suit and their white cat sat on Brian’s lap. Before Brian left they had to Hoover all the hairs off him. Cleo also said she was due to record the Doris Troy song Just One Look as her follow up but it was given to the Hollies instead and got to No2 in the charts. So she never became the big recording star she might have been but maintained her love of singing the blues all her life.

Honey B Mama with the Rolling Stones  Brian Jones.

As an actress Cleo was the first black actress to be given a leading role at the National Theatre in Peter Nicholl’s satire The National Health in 1967. She recalls Laurence Olivier knocking on her dressing room door and complimenting her on her performance. Ken Loach cast her regularly in his films like Poor Cow, Cathy Come Home and Up the Junction. Later on Cleo had parts in series like Doctor Who, Coronation Street, Z Cars and Til Death Us Do Part and most notably Crossroads. For her services to entertainment she was awarded an MBE. Cleo had struggles with her health for a while. At one of her last Antwerp performances, Cleo told us she had recently recovered from a stroke and thanked the NHS for their work in getting her fit enough to resume her singing career.

Thanks for the great times Honey.

Honey B Mama performing at the Antwerp