Lynsey de Paul - songwriter (1975)

Lyndsey Monckton Rubin was born on 11 June 1948, and attended South Hampstead High School followed by Hornsey College of Art, now part of Middlesex University, and she also studied classical music with a tutor from the Royal Academy of Music. She began writing songs at an early age, and two of her earliest efforts were co-written with Don Gould (formerly a member of 60's pop group The Applejacks) and recorded by Oliver! performer Jack Wild, with 'Takin' It Easy' and 'Bring Yourself Back To Me' being included on his 1971 album 'Everything's Coming Up Roses'. Another song co-penned by her was 'E.O.I.O.', this time with Edward Adamberry, and htis was also recorded by Wild as a track on his 1972 album 'A Beautiful World', and it was also released as a single by The Beads. After these initial successes, she was contracted to ATV-Kirshner music publishing by Eddie Levy, where she joined a group of professional songwriters that included Barry Blue (at that time known as Barry Green) and Ron Roker (later to become Barry's brother-in-law). One of their earliest songs (and the only song where all three collaborated) was 'Sugarloaf Hill', recorded by the reggae artist Del Davis as a single in 1972. Her first major breakthrough came early in that year as the co-writer (with Ron Roker) of the Fortunes' Top 10 UK hit 'Storm In A Teacup', and she performed the song herself the same year on the BBC's The Two Ronnies TV show, under her new name of Lynsey de Paul. Around this time she also had chart success in Malaysia and the Netherlands as the writer of 'On The Ride (You Do It Once, You Do It Twice)', which was a Top 30 hit by the Continental Uptight Band, as well as with her song 'When You've Gotta Go', which was an Australian chart hit recorded by Solomon King. All three songs still credited her as 'L. Rubin', which she would continue to use while writing until 1973. Other notable songs from this period included 'Papa Do', which was released by Barry Green as a single, as well as 'Crossword Puzzle', which was another co-write with Green, and which became a hit single for the Irish singer Dana. 

The b-side of 'Papa Do' was another Rubin/Green collaboration, and 'Boomerang' was released as a single in the UK by The Young Generation, a group of dancers and singers recruited by Dougie Squires, who had a number of hits in the 70's, while Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band also recorded their own version of the song. Although she had recorded demo versions of her songs, De Paul was initially a reluctant performer, and although she wrote the song 'Sugar Me' for Peter Noone, her boyfriend at the time, Dudley Moore, suggested that she take a demo version to Gordon Mills, who urged her to record it herself and release it on his MAM record label. Released as a single, 'Sugar Me' rapidly reached the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart, as well as the top of the singles charts in the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium, and this was the start of her becoming a regular British chart and TV fixture over the next five years. She followed 'Sugar Me' with 'Getting A Drag', and her debut album appeared a few months later, leading to her being listed as the best female artist of 1972 by Record Mirror, female performer of the year by Radio Luxembourg, and third best female singer in the 1973 New Musical Express music poll. Her first album 'Surprise' was released in March 1973 on the MAM label, and as well as writing or co-writing all of the songs, she was also the producer for all of the tracks. Following the unsuccessful 'All Night', her next single was 'Won't Somebody Dance With Me', and the b-side 'So Good To You' was covered by Lenny Zakatek on the b-side of his single 'I Gotcha Now', which was also a de Paul co-write. Another song co-written by de Paul, 'Today Gluggo, Tomorrow The World', was the b-side of 'Don't You Let It Bring You Down' by the Spencer Davis Group, as well as appearing on their 1973 album 'Gluggo'. She recorded the spoken passage on Mott the Hoople's album track version of 'Roll Away The Stone', although the female trio Thunderthighs appeared on the hit single version of the song. 

In May 1974 she released 'Ooh I Do', which hit the charts in the UK, Belgium, Japan, Netherlands, and Brazil , and she also wrote her first TV theme tune 'Pilger Theme', for 'Pilger' where journalist John Pilger examined various political issues at the time in a series of 25 minute documentaries between 1974 and 1977. Another theme song, this time co-written with Barry Blue, was a song which was recorded and released in 1974 as a single by the UK group Rain, featuring Stephanie de Sykes as the vocalist, and 'Golden Day' was later used as the theme for the TV game show 'The Golden Shot'. A second Ivor Novello Award followed a year later for 'No Honestly', which was also the theme tune to the hit ITV comedy 'No, Honestly', and provided her with another UK Top 10 hit. The b-side to this single was her version of 'Central Park Arrest', which she'd written for Thunderthighs, and which had provided them with a Top 30 UK hit single a few months earlier. 'No Honestly' was the first release on the newly formed Jet Records, established by Don Arden, and she also wrote the second single that was released on the label, a song called 'My One And Only', which was recorded by UK female singing trio Bones. Her second album 'Taste Me... Don't Waste Me' was the first album release on Jet Records and was her favourite of all her albums, and is mine as well. De Paul continued to release singles through the mid-1970's, including the UK hit 'My Man And Me', along with 'Rhythm And Blue Jean Baby', 'Love Bomb' and 'If I Don't Get You The Next One Will', but this post concentrates on her writing for other artists in her formative years, and it shows how she progressed from those early efforts, including that surprise hit by the Fortunes, to the successful songs that she provided for other people in the 70's once she'd hooked up with Barry Green as her collaborator.  

Track listing

01 Takin' It Easy (Rubin/Gould) by Jack Wild 1971
02 Bring Yourself Back To Me (Rubin/Gould) by Jack Wild 1971
03 E.O.I.O. (Rubin/Adamberry) by Jack Wild 1972
04 Sugarloaf Hill (Rubin/Green/Roker) by Del Davis 1972
05 Storm In A Teacup (Rubin/Roker) by The Fortunes 1972
06 On The Ride (You Do It Once, You Do It Twice) (Rubin/Adamberry) by 

                                                                                              Continental Uptight Band 1972
07 When You've Gotta Go (Rubin/Roker) by Solomon King 1972
08 Papa Do (Rubin/Green) by Barry Green 1972
09 Crossword Puzzle (Rubin/Green) by Dana 1972
10 Boomerang (Rubin/Green) by Geno Washington And The Ram Jam Band 1972
11 I Gotcha Now (de Paul) by Lenny Zakatek 1973
12 So Good To You (de Paul) by Lenny Zakatek 1973
13 Today Gluggo, Tomorrow The World (de Paul/York) by The Spencer Davis Group 1973
14 Pilger Theme (de Paul) from the TV series 'Pilger' 1974
15 Golden Day (de Paul/Blue) by Rain featuring Stephanie De-Sykes 1974
16 Central Park Arrest (de Paul) by Thunderthighs 1974
17 My One And Only (de Paul) by Bones 1975

Gary Boyle - ...and on guitar (1973)

Gary Boyle is best known for his work with the outstanding jazz-rock band Isotope, but like so many musicians before him, he'd paid his dues in a number of lesser-known bands and with session work before he was recognised for the superb guitarist that he is. Gary Winston Boyle was born in 1941 in Patna, India, moving to the UK when he was eight, and attended the Leeds College of Music in the early 1960's. By 1965 he was backing acts such as Millie Small (of 'My Boy Lollipop' fame), and Lulu and The Luvvers, before joining The Echoes in 1966. Later that year he left The Echoes to join a new incarnation of Steampacket, the famed 'supergroup', whose line-up included Long John Baldrey, Rod Stewart, Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger, and Mickey Waller. When Steampacket folded shortly afterwards, Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll formed The Trinity with guitarist Vic Briggs, who was replaced in 1967 by Boyle, where he stayed until November, when he left to go to music college. On leaving college in 1969 he joined folk-rock band Eclection, but left in June to re-join Brian Auger in the re-named Brian Auger Trinity. By 1971 he was playing with bands like Caparius and Cirrus, and backing The Eddie Harris Group for a season at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, before joining The Mike Westbrook Band, and playing on the classic 'Metropolis' album in 1971. 
After assembling a progressive rock band for Paul Jones, including Roy Babbington, Dave McRae, Pip Pyle, and Dave Wintour, he formed Isotope in 1972, which was to take up most of his time for the next four years, before he disbanded them to form The Gary Boyle Band with the same members. In 1973, while still with Isotope, he guested on recording sessions for a dazzling variety of artists, including jazz-fusion pioneer Stomu Yamash'ta, pop singers B.J. Arnau and Lynsey De Paul, comic trio The Goodies, and folkies Bert Jansch and Doggerel Bank. In 1972 he was added to Australian band Python Lee Jackson's line-up to record some more songs which could be added to the three that had been taped with Rod Stewart as vocalist in 1969, and the 'In A Broken Dream' album was released that year to some success, following the re-release of the title track as a single, which earned the band a top 3 UK chart placing. The same year he guested on jazz singer Norma Winstone's 'Edge Of Time' album, adding his guitar to 'Erebus (Son Of Chaos)', although I've omitted that from this album, along with his appearance on Mike Westbrook's 'Metropolis' (where his only solo is very short and hardly audible) as they are both examples of extreme free jazz, and didn't really fit in with the rest of the tracks. However, I have included them as a bonus in the file in case you want to check them out yourself.    

Track listing
  
01 Isola Natale (from 'Open' by Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity 1967)
02 Black Horse (from 'Dedicated To You, But You Weren't Listening' by Keith Tippett 1971) 
03 Sweet Consolation (from 'In A Broken Dream' by Python Lee Jackson 1972)
04 Swing Song (from 'A Little Taste' by Ann Odell 1973)
05 Taking You Back (from 'Sing Songs From The Goodies' by The Goodies 1973)
06 Mama Do (from 'Surprise' by Lynsey De Paul 1973)
07 Jubilation (from 'B.J. Arnau' by B.J. Arnau 1973)
08 Rolling Nuns (from 'Freedom Is Frightening' by Stomu Yamash'ta's East Wind 1973)
09 Lullabye (from 'Silver Faces' by Doggerel Bank 1973)
10 Oh My Father (from 'Moonshine' by Bert Jansch 1973)