ONE of Merseyside’s adopted sons, who earned his spurs on the city’s folk club circuit, has been honoured by the University of Liverpool.

Elvis Costello was made a doctor of music at the Philharmonic Hall yesterday in recognition of a varied career which has encompassed post punk and high opera.

“I’m slightly humbled to receive it in the company of those who have actually been working hard for their degrees,” he joked yesterday, before a packed theatre of graduates.

But the musician has risen from the Merseyside club scene to become one of the most revered musical polymaths in a career that spans three decades.

Elvis, or Declan MacManus as he was known when he moved to Birkenhead in 1970, played his first gigs at the 800 club in Wallasey and the Great George Project at the Blackie in Liverpool.

These performances earned him about 50p from gate receipts, according to his contemporaries.

Professor Kelvin Everest introduced yesterday’s graduates to the legend, drawing attention to his Liverpool roots.

He said: “He first met Nick Lowe in The Grapes in 1972 in Liverpool.

“Nick would go on to produce the first five albums.” It was this collaboration that helped Costello and his trademark glasses shoot to fame with The Attractions.

At the height of his powers, he was often compared to a menacing Buddy Holly.

Yesterday, dressed in academic robes that covered silver wrist bangles and skull-and-crossbone cufflinks, he still cut a slightly dangerous figure among the lecturers.

He said: “A school friend was killed at Saint Francis of Xavier School in front of us in the stupid avoidable accident that just shouldn’t have happened.

“Life seemed brief and it became important to live properly.

“We were visited by a career advisor who told us we could either go to Uni or go into the Army.

“I told that gentleman I wanted to write words and put them to music.”

Instead, he fell out of school and into a computing job in Bootle.

From these beginnings, Costello developed into a musician capable of composing the hugely challenging music that he performed with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra last week.

Costello now divides his time between Canada and the UK. But yesterday he revealed how Liverpool helped shape one of the most intriguing musical careers.

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