New book claims star was recruited to spy on communist leader when he visited Cuba in 1990s

The late Adam Faith had a versatile career, veering from teen idol, pop star and actor to manager, investor and financial journalist. But according to a former colleague, the 60s star also added espionage to his curriculum vitae.



It is claimed in a new book by David Courtney, whom Faith managed, that the singer told of being asked by MI6 to spy on Cuba’s communist leader, Fidel Castro, during a visit there in 1997.



Faith, born Terry Nelhams-Wright, died of a heart attack aged 62 in 2003. According to the book, in the years before his death he was developing business interests in the Caribbean island and was ultimately approached by the intelligence agencies.



Courtney, who also worked with Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, became a close friend of the star when he and Faith collaborated on Leo Sayer’s first album.



Courtney told the Sunday Times he had gone to the Savoy hotel in London to meet Faith when he found him sitting in animated conversation with another man. Faith signalled to him to wait at another table while he finished his meeting.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Faith in 1963. Photograph: Dezo Hoffmann/Rex

He said Faith later told him: “I am going to tell you something but you must never repeat it. I have been filming a travelogue series for the BBC in Cuba, and that guy is from MI6.”

Courtney said Faith told him MI6 knew he had built business connections in Havana, and asked him to “basically spy on them in preparation for the post-Castro era”.



At the time of the incident, Cuba’s economy was opening up to outside investment following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

On a subsequent trip Faith met Castro and was “crapping himself with fear” that the dictator knew what he was doing, Courtney told the newspaper.



Faith had recalled being shown into a room where Castro was seated behind an ornate desk, telling Courtney: “He looked up at me and said: ‘I know you.’ He held up a copy of my first record in his hand and said to me in broken English: ‘What Do You Want If You Don’t Want Money?’” That was the opening line of Faith’s first No 1 single.



Although Faith did not reveal what he had done for MI6, Courtney is convinced the former singer was telling the truth about Castro.



The revelation Faith may have been recruited as a spy follows the recent suggestion that Richard Whiteley, the late former host of Countdown, was in the pay of MI5.