Eden Kane | |
---|---|
Birth name | Richard Graham Sarstedt |
Born | New Delhi, British India | 29 March 1940
Origin | Croydon, London, England |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
|
Instrument(s) |
|
Years active | 1959–present |
Labels | |
Website | edenkane |
Richard Graham Sarstedt (born 29 March 1940), [1] [note 1] known by the stage name Eden Kane, is an English pop/rock singer, musician, record producer and actor best known as a teen idol in the early 1960s, in the pre-Beatles era. He has also recorded under his birth name and with backing group the Downbeats.
Born in British India, he is the elder brother of singer-songwriter Peter Sarstedt and singer Clive Sarstedt, with whom he collaborated on numerous Sarstedt Brothers albums. He had success in the early 1960s as a pop star appealing to a teenage audience, in the pre-Beatles era with hits including the co-written "Well I Ask You" which was a UK No. 1 hit in 1961, he then spent time in Australia before moving to the United States, where he began an acting career.
He was born in New Delhi, British India, where his parents Albert James and Coral (nee Byrne) were civil servant and classical musicians. When Richard was a child, the family—including his two younger brothers Peter and Clive, and their three sisters—moved to Kurseong, near Darjeeling, to run a tea plantation. He pursued his schooling from Sherwood College till March 1954, when, after his father's death, he moved with his brothers, sisters and mother to the UK. [1] [2] They settled in Norbury, Croydon, where Richard attended Heath Clark Grammar School. [3] Inspired by Bill Haley, he learned guitar and formed a skiffle group, the Fabulous 5, which included his younger brothers. [1]
He entered a talent contest at the Classic Cinema in Kings Road, Chelsea, where he won a contract to sing an advertising jingle for Cadbury's Drinking Chocolate, which was played frequently on Radio Luxembourg. He was signed by management team Philip Waddilove and Michael Barclay, who changed Sarstedt's name to Eden Kane – "Eden" because of its biblical associations at a time when Adam Faith was a top pop star, and "Kane" because Citizen Kane was Barclay's favourite film [1] [3] – and the song was released as the B-side of a single, "You Make Love So Well", by Pye Records in August 1960. [4]
He then won a recording contract with Decca Records. His first recording for the label, "Well I Ask You"—written by Les Vandyke, arranged by John Keating, and produced by Bunny Lewis—reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in August 1961. It was followed by three more top ten hits in the UK over the next year, "Get Lost" (No. 10), "Forget Me Not" (No. 3) and "I Don't Know Why" (No. 7). [5] Together with a backing band, the Downbeats, which comprised Roger Retting, Ben Steed, Roger St. Clair and Bugs Waddell, he toured widely around the UK with stars such as Cliff Richard, Billy Fury, Marty Wilde and Helen Shapiro. [1] His brother Peter was the band's road manager, later joining on bass, with brother Clive joining on guitar. [3]
His fifth single for Decca, "House to Let", failed to chart, and later releases for the label were equally unsuccessful. He left Decca and joined Philips subsidiary Fontana in 1963. Some momentum was lost when his next release, originally titled "Do You Love Me" (c/w "Comeback"), had to be reissued with a new title, "Like I Love You", to avoid confusion with the UK hit covers of the Contours' US hit of the same name by Brian Poole & the Tremeloes and the Dave Clark Five. Kane's third single for Fontana, "Boys Cry" (No. 8), returned him to the charts in January 1964, but it was to be his last hit. [1]
He made several television appearances on shows with then newly-successful groups the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and toured Australia with Roy Orbison, Del Shannon and the Searchers. Success in Australia led to him host a TV series in there. [1] [3]
After his chart success in Britain dried up, Kane moved to live in California, working as a record producer. His brothers, Peter and Clive, both achieved chart success in the UK (the former in the late 1960s and the latter, billed as "Robin" Sarstedt, in the 1970s), and, in 1972, the three brothers recorded an album as the Sarstedt Brothers, Worlds Apart Together. [2] [3] On 20 June 1973, the brothers made their first joint appearance as a group, at Fairfield Halls in Croydon. [6] Eden, Peter and Robin went on to win a joint BASCA Award for composing and songwriting. [3]
Kane has since recorded for Bell, Monarch, HMV and Festival (the last two being Australian releases). He has also occasionally joined "oldies" tours in the UK with artists including Marty Wilde, John Leyton and Brian Hyland. [3] He was a contract actor on the Star Trek team, and made several appearances in the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation , Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager , under his real name Richard Sarstedt.[ citation needed ]
In 2017, Kane took part in a UK tour with the "Solid Gold Rock and Roll Show", which also featured Marty Wilde, Mark Wynter and Mike Berry. [7]
A CD, entitled Y2Kane, was made available on his website. [8]
Kane met the American journalist Charlene Groman, sister of Stefanie Powers, in Los Angeles and they married several years later. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their family. [3]
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Label | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [9] | AUS | IRE [10] | US [11] | |||
1960 | "You Make Love So Well" b/w "Hot Chocolate Crazy" | — | — | — | — | Pye |
1961 | "Well I Ask You" b/w "Before I Lose My Mind" | 1 | 15 | 1 | 119 | Decca |
"Get Lost" b/w "I'm Telling You" | 10 | 85 | 4 | — | ||
1962 | "Forget Me Not" b/w "A New Kind of Lovin'" | 3 | 70 | 6 | — | |
"I Don't Know Why" b/w "Music for Strings" | 7 | — | — | — | ||
"House to Let" b/w "I Told You" | — | — | — | — | ||
1963 | "Sounds Funny to Me" b/w "Someone Wants to Know" | — | — | — | — | |
"Nimm das Mädchen" (Germany-only release) b/w "Meine große Liebe (Wind und Wellen)" | — | — | — | — | ||
"Tomorrow Night" b/w "I Won't Believe Them" | — | — | — | — | Fontana | |
1964 | "Boys Cry" b/w "Don't Come Crying to Me" | 8 | 22 | 6 | — | |
"Rain, Rain, Go Away" b/w "Guess Who It Is?" | — | — | — | — | ||
"Hangin' Around" b/w "Gonna Do Something About You" | — | — | — | — | ||
1965 | "If You Want This Love" b/w "Have I Done Something Wrong?" | — | — | — | — | |
1966 | "Magic Town" b/w "The Whole World Was Crying" | — | — | — | — | Decca |
1967 | "Gotta Get Through to You" (Australia and New Zealand-only release) b/w "A Million Ants" | — | — | — | — | His Master's Voice |
"My Whole World Is Tumbling Down" (Australia and New Zealand-only release) b/w "In the Day of My Youth" | — | — | — | — | His Master's Voice/Impact | |
1968 | "Time, Love, Hope, Life" (Australia and New Zealand-only release) b/w "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" | — | — | — | — | Festival |
1970 | "Reason to Believe" b/w "I Played It Like a Fool" | — | — | — | — | Bell |
1971 | "Another Day (Passes By)" (as Richard Sarstedt; US and Germany-only release) b/w "Charlie" | — | — | — | — | Evolution/Philips |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released |
Michael Peter Hayes, known as Mickie Most, was an English record producer behind scores of hit singles for acts such as the Animals, Herman's Hermits, the Nashville Teens, Donovan, Lulu, Suzi Quatro, Hot Chocolate, Arrows, Racey and the Jeff Beck Group, often issued on his own RAK Records label.
The Tornados were an English instrumental rock group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including the UK and US no. 1 "Telstar", the first US no. 1 single by a British group.
Peter Eardley Sarstedt was a British singer-songwriter and instrumentalist. He was the brother of singers Eden Kane, a teenage pop idol and Clive Sarstedt, with both of whom he also recorded and performed as The Sarstedt Brothers.
Ronald Wycherley, better known by his stage name Billy Fury, was an English musician. An early star of rock and roll, he equalled the Beatles' record of 24 hits in the 1960s and spent 332 weeks on the UK chart. His hit singles include "Wondrous Place", "Halfway to Paradise" and "Jealousy". Fury also maintained a film career, notably playing rock performers in Play It Cool in 1962 and That'll Be the Day in 1973.
Unit 4 + 2 were a British pop band formed in Hertfordshire, England, who had a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1965 with the song "Concrete and Clay". The track topped the UK chart for one week.
David Justin Hayward is an English musician. He was the guitarist and frontman of the rock band the Moody Blues from 1966 until that group's dissolution in 2018. He became the group's principal vocalist and its most prolific songwriter over the 1967–1974 period, and composed several international hit singles for the band.
Mike Berry is a British singer and actor. He is known for his top ten hits "Don't You Think It's Time" (1963) and "The Sunshine of Your Smile" (1980) in a singing career spanning nearly 60 years. He became an actor in the 1970s, and was best known for his appearances as Mr. Spooner in the British sitcom Are You Being Served? in the early 1980s.
The Tremeloes are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, England. They initially found success in the British Invasion era with lead singer Brian Poole, scoring a UK chart-topper in 1963 with "Do You Love Me".
Marty Wilde, is a British singer and actor. He was among the first generation of British pop stars to emulate American rock and roll, scoring several 1950s and 1960s hit singles including "Endless Sleep", "Sea of Love" and "Bad Boy". During the late 1960s to early 1980s, Wilde continued to record and, with Ronnie Scott, co-wrote hit singles for others including the Casuals' "Jesamine" and Status Quo's "Ice in the Sun". He is the father of pop singer Kim Wilde and co-wrote many of her hit singles including "Kids in America" with his son Ricky. He continues to perform and record.
Alex Wharton, later also known as Alex Murray, was part of the singing duo the Most Brothers with Mickie Most, and later, co-manager and producer of the Moody Blues.
The Shadows were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the pre-Beatles era from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard from 1958 to 1968, and have joined him for several reunion tours.
Daniel Joseph Anthony Meehan was a founder member of the British group the Drifters, with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, which would evolve into the Shadows. He played drums on early Cliff Richard and the Shadows hits and on early Shadows instrumentals.
James George Tomkins, known professionally as Big Jim Sullivan, was an English guitarist.
The Vernons Girls were an English musical ensemble of female vocalists. They were formed at the Vernons football pools company in the 1950s in Liverpool, settling down to a sixteen strong choir and recording an album of standards.
Crispian St. Peters was an English pop singer-songwriter, best known for his work in the 1960s, particularly hit songs written by duo The Changin' Times, including "The Pied Piper", and Ian & Sylvia's "You Were on My Mind". His popularity waned after he claimed he was a better performer than other well known singers and declared that he was a better songwriter than the Beatles.
Mark Wynter is an English singer and actor, who had four Top 20 singles in the 1960s, including "Venus in Blue Jeans" and "Go Away Little Girl". He enjoyed a lengthy career from 1960 to 1968 as a pop singer and teen idol, and developed later into an actor in film, musicals and plays.
Clive Robin Sarstedt, who also recorded as Clive Sands, Wes Sands, and Robin Sarstedt, was a British pop singer and instrumentalist active from the late 1950s. He was best known for his 1976 UK hit "My Resistance Is Low", a version of a song written and originally recorded by Hoagy Carmichael. He was the younger brother of singers Eden Kane and Peter Sarstedt.
Michael George Farr, known professionally as Mike Leander, was a British arranger, songwriter and record producer.
"Well I Ask You" is a song written by Les Vandyke and successfully recorded in 1961 by English singer Eden Kane.
Thomas Kilpatrick, known as Tommy Scott, is a Scottish songwriter, producer and singer. As a songwriter and producer in the 1960s and 1970s he had numerous hits in pop, rock, and folk styles; including records with Them, The Dubliners, Sydney Devine, Twinkle, and Lena Zavaroni. From the 1980s onwards, he has sung and recorded traditional Scottish music.