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