Irene Spetti (aka Lorne Lesley) was born on 30 October 1938 in Tiger Bay, Cardiff in South Wales, and is an actress and singer, who featured in the 1962 film 'Marriage Bureau Aurora'. She also made appearances on the live Danish studio entertainment shows 'Sommer-weekend' in 1963/1964, and 'Vinterhaven' in 1963, made while she living in Copenhagen and making her name as a cabaret singer on the continent. Like other black female singers from the area, she hoped to follow in Shirley Bassey’s glittering footsteps, but she was keen to distance herself from the whole Tiger Bay mythology, so rather than adopting a 'sex kitten' persona she instead promoted her strong sense of humour, to such an extent that during the early part of her career she was promoted as a comedienne/singer. She started her recording career in 1958 with the 'My Yiddishe Mama' single on Ronnex Records, but this style wasn't really her forte, and her 1959 Parlophone record 'Some Of These Days' was a huge improvement, establishing the style that she'd keep for the rest of her career. Three more singles followed in the same year, one on the Polydor label, before returning to Ronnex Records for the cabaret-styled 'Bloodshot Eyes' in 1960. In an attempt to cash in on the rise of the Beatles, she joined up with Norwegian rockers The Beatniks for a rewrite of 'Ma He's Makin' Eyes At Me' as 'Ma, Let's Twist', before taking a break from the studio for a couple of years, returning in 1965 with a new label and new single in 'Where My Heart Has Never Wandered' on the Phillips label. She stayed with Phillips for a couple of years, releasing two more singles, before recording the Christmas single 'Little Snowflakes' on Parlophone in late 1966, which turned out to be her last record. She carried on with the live performances, and was an in-demand cabaret artist, as well as appearing on TV entertainment shows in the UK. It was at one of her appearances at a club in the late 60's that she met TV presenter and antiques dealer David Dickinson, although at the time he was working in the Manchester rag trade, and they married in 1968. They are still together and have two grown-up children. With the exception of that first, rather strident single, most of Lesley's records are fairly typical of the girl singers of the era, and this post collects together all the available records from her catalogue, showing her versatility with songs in a number of different styles. There was only a 37-second clip of 'So High, So Low' online, so with some careful editing I've managed to extend it to a one and half minute song (lucky that the lyrics were fairly repetitive), and I've rounded off the album with two TV performances which are still available to view on Youtube.
Track listing
01 My Yiddishe Mama (single 1958)
02 Some Of These Days (single 1959)
03 So High So Low (single 1959)
04 I Don't Know (b-side of 'So High So Low')
05 Till The End Of Time (from Spanish EP 1960)
06 We're Gonna Dance (single 1960)
07 Bloodshot Eyes (b-side of 'We're Gonna Dance')
08 Ma, Let's Twist (single with The Beatniks 1962)
09 He's Got The Whole World In His Hands (b-side of 'We're Gonna Dance' re-issue 1964)
10 Someone Like You (b-side of 'Where My Heart Has Never Wandered')
11 Fire Down Below (b-side of 'Rainy Days Were Made For Lonely People')
12 Somebody's Gonna Be Sorry (single 1966)
13 Little Snowflakes (single 1966)
14 It's Alright With Me (TV appearance 1967)
15 Give Me A Man (TV appearance 1967)
