Lynsey de Paul was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. After initially writing hits for others, she had her own chart hits in the UK and Europe in the 1970s, starting with UK top 10 single "Sugar Me", and became the first British female artist to achieve a number one with a self-written song. She represented the UK in the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest, coming second and scoring another chart-topping hit in Switzerland, and had a successful career as a songwriter, record producer, actress and television celebrity.
Barry Blue is an English singer, producer, and songwriter. As an artist, he is best known for his hit songs "Dancin' " and "Do You Wanna Dance".
Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids, now known as Flash Cadillac, is an American retro rock 'n' roll band known for their appearance as the band "Herby and the Heartbeats" in the 1973 film American Graffiti and a 1975 episode of Happy Days as the band "Johnny Fish & the Fins". During scenes at a high school dance, the band played cover versions of "At the Hop" and "Louie, Louie" as well as their original composition, "She's So Fine". Their version of "At the Hop" was released as a single in 1973. Flash Cadillac had chart hits in the 1970s with "Dancin' ", written by Lynsey De Paul and Barry Blue, "Good Times, Rock and Roll" and "Did You Boogie ". "Dancin' " was listed in the Swedish top 10 in 1974. In 1977, the band released a cover version of Wizzard's "See My Baby Jive" written by Roy Wood. Their cover of "Susie Q" was featured in the film Apocalypse Now.
Thunderthighs were a British backing vocal group, who released records in their own right.
Ronald Ernest Alfred Roker is an English songwriter, singer and record producer.
Taste Me...Don't Waste Me is the third album by the English singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul but the second album of completely new material and de Paul also was the producer for all of the songs. It was released in the UK in November 1974 and was the first album on Don Arden's then new label, Jet Records, and initially distributed by Polydor, although Island Records was soon contracted by Arden to take over distribution and this confusion may have negatively affected sales. Releases in all other countries, such as Spain, Germany, Australia, Japan and South America, were on the Polydor label in early 1975. The album was generally well received by music critics from leading magazines of the day. AllMusic journalist Craig Harris stated that "one of the first successful female singer-songwriters in England, de Paul has had an illustrious career" and lists this as one of her best albums. The Sunday Sun reviewed the album and wrote "Lynsey de Paul has shown her fine smoochy new album "Taste Me Don’t Waste Me" that she consistent song-writing talent". It was also de Paul's personal favourite album and she wrote on her music store website some years later "The Taste Me... Don't Waste Me album was a romantic collection of songs that I wrote and recorded as a relaxing, late night album", echoing earlier comments to the music press. The LP was listed as one of the best album releases of 1975 by journalist Judith Simons. It has stood the test of time in that it is listed as one of the top albums released in 1974 by online site "Best ever albums", as well as one of the top 1000 albums released in the 1970s.
"Ooh I Do" is the fifth single released by Lynsey de Paul on 17 May 1974 and her only single released on the Warner Bros. label, after moving there from MAM Records. Co-written by de Paul and Barry Blue, this Phil Spector-ish song with a nod to the style of the Roy Wood/Wizzard sound, conveys the angst about parents not believing in a teenage love affair represented a change of style for de Paul, who also produced the recording. De Paul performed the song on TV shows in Spain and Germany, however, her only UK performance was for Top of the Pops, but this was never shown because of industrial action at the BBC. De Paul re-recorded the song for this episode and this version was released on the BBC Transcription Services album, Top Of The Pops-495, which also featured an interview conducted by Brian Matthews.
"My Man and Me" is a song written, recorded and produced by the British female singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul for her second album, Taste Me... Don't Waste Me, and released as a single backed with de Paul's smoochy version of "Dancing on a Saturday Night" on 21 February 1975.
"School Love" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue, which was recorded by Blue and released as his third single on Bell Records in 1974. It reached No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 3 on the Danish charts, No. 9 on the Rhodesian charts No. 24 on the Australian GoSet chart and No. 31 in the Australian Kent Music Report chart, making it Blue's last international hit, although he would go on to have another two UK hit singles later that year. It also reached No. 4 on the Radio Northsea Toppers 20 on 15 March 1974 and No. 5 on the Hessische Rundfunk Hitparade International chart.
Bond was a Canadian rock band in the 1970s, most noted for garnering a Juno Award nomination for Most Promising Group at the Juno Awards of 1976. The band released just one album during its lifetime, and had singles with "Dancin' " and "When You're Up" in 1975, but never released another album or had another hit single before breaking up in 1979.
Surprise is the first album released by Lynsey de Paul on the MAM record label in 1973. In Australia, the album name was changed to Sugar Me, after de Paul's first hit single. All of the songs on the album were written or co-written by de Paul. On the album, de Paul was accompanied by some of the UK's leading session musicians including Terry Cox, Ralph McTell, Ray Cooper, Jeff Daly, John Gustafson, Chris Rae, Danny Thompson, Gary Boyle, Barry de Souza, Dick Katz, Robert Kirby, Francis Monkman, John Richardson and violinist Johnny Van Derrick. The album front cover is a portrait photo of de Paul photographed by Clive Arrowsmith, and a gatefold sleeve with illustrations provided by de Paul, a nod to her previous career of designing album sleeves and song lyrics.
"Sugar Me" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Green. The first version of this song to be released was recorded by de Paul as her first single on MAM Records in 1972. It was produced by Gordon Mills and the B-side was de Paul's version of "Storm in a Teacup", a song she had co-written and had been a hit for the Fortunes earlier that year.
"Miss Hit and Run" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue. Blue released the single in 1974 as a follow-up single to "School Love" on Bell Records in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain and on the Barclay label in France and recorded it with a "Beach Boys" type of arrangement. Indeed, the Liverpool Echo wrote "Barry Blue could easily have a case of mistaken identity on his hands this week - for on his new release "Miss Hit And Run" he sounds more like the "Beach Boys" than they do themselves". The single sided acetate label of the single reveals that the original title was "Little Miss Hit and Run", confirming what was reported in the music press at the time. The song was Blue's fourth consecutive hit, reaching number 26 on the official UK Singles Chart in August 1974. It also reached number 9 on Capitol Radio's "Capitol Countdown" chart, number 24 on the Melody Maker singles chart and it spent three weeks on the Dutch Tipparade. In some UK regional charts based on sales, it reached the Top 20 The original single version of the song performed by Blue was also a track on the K-Tel album, Music Explosion, Music Power and the Polydor LP "20 Super Power Hits".
"Tip of My Tongue" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue that was originally registered as "On the Tip of My Tongue" (ISWC:T0104548028). It has been a modest hit in different territories for at least 4 artists during the 1970's and 1980's and is also a Barry Blue fan favourite.
"House of Cards" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue and is one of their most covered songs. It was first released as a single by Chris Kelly on the CBS label on 7 April 1972, credited as being written by Rubin and Green (Blue). The song was a radio hit in Italy, receiving multiple plays on national radio stations.
Love Bomb is the fourth album released in 1975 by the British singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul, and her second album released on Jet Records in the UK and Polydor in Germany, Australia and Japan. In the US and Canada, it was released in January 1976 on Mercury Records. The album was recorded at the Marquee Studios, London, England, produced by de Paul and arranged by Tony Hymas, with Terry Cox playing drums, John Dean percussion, Chris Rea guitar and Frank McDonald bass. The striking sleeve cover photo of de Paul in U.S. military style clothing was taken by Brian Aris.
Just a Little Time is an album by Lynsey de Paul. It was originally released on 30 September 1994 on the Music Deluxe label but has since been released on the Tring International PLC label and on Arc Records/The Magic Collection. All of the songs on the album are written or co-written by de Paul.
"Hot Shot" is a song written by Barry Blue and Lynsey de Paul, that was released as a single on 2 September 1974 on the Bell Record label by Barry Blue. It was Blue's last chart entry with an original song, reaching no. 23 on the UK Singles Chart. Despite this, it is considered as one of Blue's best songs. The song was also his biggest hit in Sweden where it reached no. 1 on the Poporama singles chart, and in Zimbabwe where it peaked at no. 3. "Hot Shot" also reached no. 8 on the Hessischer Rundfunk Hitparade, and spent three weeks on the Dutch Tipparade in 1975.
"All Night" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Ron Roker. De Paul released her version of the song on 27 April 1973 as her third single released on MAM Records, with arrangements by Martyn Ford and John Bell and produced by de Paul. The song is listed in the U.S. Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries and in "The Directory of American 45 R.p.m. Records". It features an uncredited male vocal. A slinky, sexy song, it compares a love relationship to that of the spider and a fly. The single is backed by the more socially aware song "Blind Leading the Blind", composed and produced by de Paul. The song was an unusual release since neither the A-side or the B-side featured as tracks on her debut album. Surprise had been released a little more than a month earlier - presumably it was not included since "All Night" has a very different style than the tracks on Surprise.
Sugar and Beyond is a double compilation album by the British singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul released on 18 March 2013, together with a second double album, Into My Music. De Paul personally oversaw the project and was involved in the digital remastering of the tracks from the original tapes. The CD includes all her hits as well as the two LPs released in the period between 1972 and 1974.
