Former East 17 heartthrob John Hendy has released a tell-all memoir detailing his rollercoaster ride with the chart-topping 90s band, revealing that he has returned to his pre-fame job as a roofer. The now heavily-tattooed 55-year-old was a young roofer when he shot to fame alongside Brian Harvey, Tony Mortimer, and Terry Coldwell, selling 20 million singles worldwide and touring the globe.
A Return to Roots
Despite mingling with A-listers and flying across the world at the height of their fame, Hendy admits from his workman's van, "I feel more at home at the pub, having a pint and a few laughs with the other roofers. I prefer my life now - it's less hectic!"
Thirty-four years after their first single, the former boyband hunk - who now calls Epping home - has released his autobiography, Stay, Just for Another Day, offering an intimate look at his life as one of the so-called bad boys of nineties pop.
Childhood and Early Life
The book begins with his tough but loving childhood in a flat in the then less gentrified east London borough of Walthamstow. His father raised him single-handedly after his mother left when he was around five. Hendy reflects, "I don't think any mum wants to leave their kids. But looking back, she wasn't happy with my dad and didn't want us kids growing up around that."
He lost contact with her until, at age 16, he spotted his maternal grandmother entering a shop on the high street, leading to a reunion. "She didn't recognise me! I'd been this blonde-haired, blue-eyed little boy and now I was this big teenager, with earrings and a shaved head. My nan just broke down." When he surprised his mother at her home the next day, she burst into tears. They discussed why she left, and Hendy says, "I never, ever held it against her, but I understood then why it happened. She wanted to protect us."
The Rise to Fame
Fame came knocking at age 16 when his best friend Tony Mortimer suggested they cut some tracks together. "But it was never about getting famous, at that point," Hendy says. "It was literally just to make music." The pair met Pet Shop Boys' dancers at a party, who suggested forming a band. Seven months later, the EastEnd lads received a call from manager Tom Watkins.
Tony quickly told the boys that two wouldn't work, so they approached Terry and Brian, whom they attended school with, and East 17 was born. They burst onto the scene just a year after Take That, filling a gap in the market. "They were going nowhere at the time, these pretty boys. So, we came in and we were the edgy, slightly tougher, street-smart boy band."
Their bad boy image was fueled by headlines like "East 17 are here - lock up your daughters!" but according to Hendy, "we weren't that bad, but we weren't that good either."
Life as a Pop Star
Recalling the sudden fame, Hendy says life went from zero to 100 miles an hour. "I came down off the roof one day having signed our first record deal and saying to my cousin, 'Oh, I'm not doing the roofing any longer. We've got signed.' He burst out laughing and said, 'Yeah, right.'" Five or six weeks later, they performed House of Love on Top of the Pops. "But you're not on holiday, chilling out. It was, get on the plane, leave the plane, get the car to the hotel, do all this promo. We were one of the hardest-working bands. Sometimes it felt like we were doing the same interview 40 times in one day."
On the sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll front, Hendy says, "Sex, not too much. A lot of female attention, yes. We'd smoke a bit of weed. Rock and roll, yeah - we worked hard, but we also partied hard." Standout moments include performing in Moscow Square surrounded by Russian guards after filming a Pepsi ad, meeting Phil Collins backstage, and attending Elton John's infamous 50th birthday party in 1997, where he chatted with Hollywood actor Laurence Fishburne.
The End of an Era
The band's run ended in 1997 after Brian admitted to taking ecstasy on a radio station, causing widespread outrage. He was shown the door, prompting lead songwriter Tony to quit as well. Subsequent reunion attempts have had varying success, but Hendy has no regrets. "It was an incredible time. It's never going to happen again - we did try to reunite but… maybe it was too early."
Now working for a roofing company and setting up his own business, Hendy says, "Being on stage is still the best feeling in the world. It's an adrenaline rush - nothing else comes close."
Stay, Just for Another Day is available for pre-order through Waterstones and all bookshops, releasing on October 27, 2026.
