FORMER Radio 1 DJ Mike Read will be leading the celebrations when Newent gets a permanent reminder of its most famous son, maverick music producer Joe Meek.

The music mogul and deputy chairman of the Heritage Foundation is determined to be in town when the charity unveils one of their famous blue plaques at 1 Market Street.

Relatives of the legendary music producer and local VIPs will join Mike to see the plaque unveiled at Meek's former home which is now Newent Health and Beauty.

Fittingly for a plaque marking the life of a man known for his technical genius, it will be only the second time a blue plaque has been fitted with a special electronic tag which will allow anybody photographing it to download Meek's history onto their phone or computer.

Over the years DJ and broadcaster Mr Read has worked with many of those involved with Meek in the days when he produced scores of sixties hits including Johnny Remember Me and Telstar.

"Joe Meek was an extraordinary talent," he said. "To take on the big boys like EMI and Decca was unthinkable, to take them on from a flat above a shop in London was unbelievable.

"I know all the characters and he was doing something really different at the time. Joe was an innovator who was always experimenting to come up with different sounds and it is even more extraordinary when you think this was somebody who did not play an instrument or sing."

"It's a tragedy that the paranoia got the better of him and Joe died thinking he had failed and lost Telstar.

"I am delighted we are putting the plaque up in his memory and very much looking forward to visiting Newent."

Saturday April 2 will be a proud day for niece Sandra Meek-Williams who has battled to try to keep her uncle's memory alive in his home town.

She said: "I think it's lovely for his achievements to be recognised in Newent and it's nice for Newent as well."

For several years the town has held a music festival to mark its links with the troubled Meek who was the UK's first independent record producer and the first Brit to have an American number One.

Town councillor Peter Street has helped organise the festival to honour the recording star who is also remembered with a black plaque at London's Holloway Road where Meek lived, worked and died.

Mr Street said: "This is fantastic news.

"We have been doing our best to keep his memory alive in the town and this will help bring in visitors," said Mr Street.

In the past some local people in have been reluctant to honour Meek, a paranoid homosexual who turned a gun on himself after murdering his landlady three weeks before a court case ruling in his favour.

Supporters of the volatile genius who turned a gun on himself after murdering his landlady, say the plaque honours his work and not his personal life.

Chairman of the Foundation David Graham said: "We put these plaques up to mark the contribution people make to society and the enjoyment they have given the great British public."

Members of Meek Appreciation Society will retire to the George Hotel for an AGM and a dance where the society's band, The Triumphs, will play.

The day will also mark the opening of a road named after Meek on the nearby Barratt development at Oak Way.