RIP Lynsey de Paul (11 June 1950 – 1 October 2014) was an English singer-songwriter. Allmusic journalist Craig Harris stated that one of the first successful female singer-songwriters in England, de Paul has had an illustrious career. Three of her earliest songs were co-written with Don Gould and recorded by Oliver! performer Jack Wild: Takin It Easy and Bring It On Back to Me from the album Everythings Coming Up Roses, which was released in 1971. Another song co-penned by her, this time with Edward Adamberry, called E.O.I.O., was recorded by Wild as a track on his 1972 album A Beautiful World, and also released as a single by The Beads. Her breakthrough came early in 1972 as the co-writer (with Ron Roker) of The Fortunes top 10 UK hit Storm in a Teacup. She was credited as L. Rubin on the record. Around this time, she also had chart success in the Netherlands as the writer of On the Ride, a Top 30 hit by the Continental Uptight Band. A few months later de Paul gained notice as the performer of her own hit song Sugar Me, which reached the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart,as well as the top of the singles charts in the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium. Sugar Me was covered in the US by Nancy Sinatra and Claudine Longet, and more recent cover versions are still being released Her follow up single to Sugar Me was Getting a Drag (UK No. 18).After the failure of her third single All Night, which was written with Roker, to reach the chart, de Paul returned to the UK Top 20 with Wont Somebody Dance With Me,which was also a hit in Ireland and the Netherlands. For the ballad she received an Ivor Novello Award, the first woman to gain the award.The BBC Radio 1 disc jockey Ed Stewart spoke the words May I Have The Pleasure of This Dance near the end of the record (he often played the record on his Junior Choice programme on Saturday mornings) although Tony Blackburn and Dave Lee Travis spoke these words when she appeared on BBC Televisions Top of the Pops.After appointing Don Arden, her new manager at the end of 1973, de Paul released Ooh I Do, which hit the charts in the UK,Netherlands and Japan. The songs co-writer, Barry Blue, also recorded a version of the song as an album track.A second Ivor Novello Award followed a year later for No Honestly, which was also the theme tune to a hit ITV comedy of the same name, and provided her with another UK Top 10 hit.The B-side to this single was de Pauls version of Central Park Arrest, the song she had written for Thunderthighs which provided them with a top 30 UK hit single a few months earlier. The TV series No Honestly was followed by Yes Honestly, and although Georgie Fame wrote and performed the theme tune to the first series of Yes Honestly, an instrumental version of de Pauls No Honestly was chosen as the theme for the second series. De Paul continued to release a number of singles through the 1970s and early 1980s, including the UK hit My Man and Me, which she performed an acoustic version of on The Old Grey Whistle Test.A prolific songwriter, de Paul also continued to write songs for a wide range of recording artists. In a five-year period (1972–77), she wrote a total of fourteen UK Singles Chart hits,most notably Dancin (on a Saturday Night) which was a hit for co-writer Barry Blue, as well as Flash Cadillac and bond. De Pauls songs have reached the charts in many territories, including the US, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Canada and Australia. She has also performed producing and arranging duties on many of these recordings. In 1976, she was the recipient of the Woman of the Year Award For Music from the Variety Club of Great Britain.Rock Bottom, which she wrote with Mike Moran, was the UK entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977. Although it came second in the Eurovision Song Contest, it became a Top 20 hit in many European countries including France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, where it reached the top of their singles chart.De Paul and Moran subsequently wrote other songs, such as Let Your Body Go Downtown (1977), a No. 38 UK hit for the Martyn Ford Orchestra;and the follow-up Going to a Disco, as well as Without You, and Now and Then, which appeared on the albums Tigers and Fireflies and Just a Little Time, respectively.De Paul also wrote and performed the theme music for the revival by London Weekend Television of the sitcom, The Rag Trade (1977);the same year she composed Hi Summer, the title of another ITV variety show, performed by Carl Wayne. Later TV credits included the theme to the BBCs Hearts of Gold and Olympian Way. In addition to songs composed by her serving as the themes of nine prime time UK television series, de Pauls songs have been featured in such films as The Big Sleep, Anita and Me, Side by Side, American Swing and Aces Go Places.While writing songs for Shirley Bassey, Heatwave and The Real Thing, de Paul also branched out into record production, acting in musicals and plays, interviewing and TV presentation, drawing cartoons and also self-defence.De Paul orchestrated, played, and produced two classical records of compositions by Handel and Bach for Deutsche Grammophon and released Air on a Heart String backed with Arrival of the Queen with panflautist Horea Crishan.In 1985, she was awarded the Rear of the Year title for which she thanked the organisers from the heart of my bottom. Her contribution to the music industry was recognised in 2005 when de Paul received a Gold Badge Award. This was followed by her becoming a director on the board of the Performing Rights Society (PRS) on 30 June 2006 where she has proved to be an active member. The PRS was renamed PRS for Music and in 2009 de Paul was re-elected for a second three-year term.In 2011, de Paul had her own programme on Sky, entitled Lynseys Love Songs. According to a news item on her website, she chose the songs she liked and researched the songwriters and people who made the records. In February 2012, Vintage TV broadcast three episodes where de Paul interviewed the songwriters Gilbert OSullivan, Mike Batt and Howard Jones.On 15 September 2012, de Paul, together with Noddy Holder, co-hosted the Marc Bolan 35th anniversary concert, a special charity event for the PRS for Music Members Benevolent Fund held at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire featuring Marc Almond, Boy George, Tony Visconti, Steve Harley, Alvin Stardust, Linda Lewis, Sandie Shaw, Glen Matlock, Mike Lindup, Andy Ellison and the Marc Bolan tribute band, Danielz and T.Rextasy.Two double CD anthologies of de Pauls songs from the 1970s including previously unreleased tracks, entitled Sugar and Beyond and Into My Music, were released in March 2013 on the Cherry Red/RPM record label.Although never married, at various times de Paul was romantically linked with Ringo Starr, Roy Wood, James Coburn, Sean Connery, Bill Kenwright, Bernie Taupin, Chas Chandler and Dudley Moore.
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 14:10:30 +0000