Alvin Stardust (Bernard William Jewry) was born on September 27, 1944 in North London's Muswell Hill; the Jewry family moved to Mansfield, in Nottinghamshire shortly after Stardust's second birthday. His mother ran a boarding house, which was frequented by musicians and entertainers appearing at the Mansfield Theatre, which doubtless cultivated his lifelong interest in music and the stage. He was appearing in pantomimes when only just out of infancy and he grew up appearing in local shows and plays, while he began to get into music around the age of twelve, at the time of the UK Skiffle boom. He was still a boarder at the Southwell Minster Collegiate Grammar School when he formed his first group, The Jewry Rhythm Band, who played local fetes, youth clubs, etc.