Jackie Lee - Lonely Clown (1967)

Jacqueline Flood was born in Dublin, Ireland on 29 May 1936, and by the age of 14 she was singing on Irish radio and with various dance bands. After moving to London in the early 50s' she worked as a hospital lab technician until joining singing group Ronnie Aldrich’s Squadronaires, performing frequently on BBC radio with them. After changing her professional name to Jackie Lee, she left the group in April 1955 and made her recording debut for Decca Records, but 'I Was Wrong' and her subsequent single were not successful. In 1959 she joined the group The Raindrops as lead singer, but their first single 'Along Came Jones' fared no better than her solo material, and further releases suffered the same fate. In 1962 Lee took part in A Song For Europe to find the UK's entry for the Eurovision song contest, but she lost out to Ronnie Carroll's 'Ring-a-Ding Girl'. in 1963 she recorded her first German-language single 'Tschau, Tschau, Amigo', which was aimed at the lucrative German market, but that also failed to sell, and so she rejoined The Raindrops to appear in the film 'Just For You', performing their version of Little Eva's 'The Locomotion'. Within a year she'd quit the group and released 'I Cry Alone', written by up and coming songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, but it did no better than any of her other records, as did her next two singles. The quality of her records definitely increased, even if this didn't translate into commercial sales, and both 'The Town I Live In' and 'You Too (Can Have Heartaches)' were strong songs. For her next single she was renamed Emma Rede, but 1967's 'Just Like A Man' also disappeared without trace, although the b-side 'I Gotta Be With You' has since found favour on Britain’s Northern soul scene. Due to the lack of success of 'Just Like A Man', a planned second single, a recording of 'Window Cleaner', only reached acetate stage, and later that year she reverted to the Jackie Lee name for the strident 'Born To Lose', from the film 'Robbery!', to the same response as all her other releases. Undespondent, she kept busy with a variety of engagements as leader of two groups of session singers, Tears Of Joy and the Jackie Lee Singers. In January 1968, under the name Jacky, she released 'White Horses', which was the theme to a Czech children’s TV programme, and she finally got the hit single that she'd spent so long trying to achieve, spending three months in the UK charts in early 1968, peaking at number ten. Even though the follow-up single 'We’re Off And Running' didn't emulate that success, she was able to release the 'White Horses' album off the back of her hit single. She carried on recording and releasing singles well into the mid-70's, but this collection is to highlight the fact that despite their lack of commercial success, her 60's singles are all worth hearing, and as a special bonus there's also an E.P. from her alter ego Emma Rede.  

Track listing

01 There Goes The Lucky One (single with The Raindrops 1962)
02 There's No-One In The Whole Wide World (single with The Raindrops 1962)
03 (I Was The) Last One To Know (b-side of 'There's No-One In The Whole Wide World')
04 The End Of The World (Ended When You Said Goodbye) (single 1963)
05 Goodbye Is Such A Lonely Word (b-side of 'The End Of The World')
06 Down Our Street (single with The Raindrops 1963)
07 My Heart Is Your Heart (b-side of 'Down Our Street')
08 Come On Dream, Come On (single with The Raindrops 1963)
09 Here I Go Again (b-side of 'Come On Dream, Come On')
10 I Cry Alone (single 1964)
11 Cause I Love Him (b-side of 'I Cry Alone')
12 Lonely Clown (single 1965)
13 Love Is Gone (b-side of 'Lonely Clown')
14 I Know Know Know I’ll Never Love Love Love Anyone Else (single 1966)
15 So Love Me (b-side of 'I Know Know Know I’ll Never Love Love Love Anyone Else')
16 The Town I Live In (single 1966) 
17 You Too (Can Have Heartaches) (b-side of 'The Town I Live In')
18 It's A Big Mistake ‎(acetate 1966)
19 Till You Come Back To Me ‎(acetate 1966)
20 Your Other Love ‎(acetate 1966)
21 Born To Lose (single 1967)

Bonus E.P. by Emma Rede

Track listing

01 Just Like A Man (single 1967)
02 I Gotta Be With You (b-side of 'Just Like A Man')
03 Ever Or Never At All ‎(acetate 1967)
04 Window Cleaner (acetate 1967)
05 Someday You'll Love Me (acetate 1967)
06 For The Last Time (previously unreleased)
07 This Is My Love (previously unreleased)
08 When He Wants A Woman (previously unreleased)