Jeremiah Patrick "Jerry" Lordan (30 April 1934
— 24 July 1995) was an English songwriter, composer and singer.
Jerry's musical work at this time, 1958, didn't pay the
rent but he managed to get a few of his songs made into demos while working for
a London advertising agency. These drew interest from Decca who used one of
Jerry's songs to launch the career of a young singer called Mike Preston. The
song, "A House A Car And A Wedding Ring" did not sell particularly
well, but gave sufficient encouragement to Jerry to carry on writing. However,
another career launch by Decca a few months later consolidated Jerry's
songwriting credentials- this was "I've Waited So Long" by another
newcomer- Anthony Newley.
Jerry's records weren't big hitters perhaps, and his style was rather gentle 'Pop' rather than rock and roll. However, his work was distinctive and found itself a following. Produced by George Martin, his first six singles were released between 1959 and 1962 and the first three of these, "I'll Stay Single" (# 26), "Who Could Be Bluer" (# 17) and "Sing Like An Angel" (# 36) charted in the UK, all in the first six months of 1960. Although Jerry would have no more hits in his name, within a month of his last exit from the chart he would make a yet greater impact on British popular music.
Among Jerry's songs were a handful of numbers without
lyrics. One of these was an instrumental called "Apache" which was
recorded by the popular UK guitarist Bert Weedon. As things transpired, it was
fortunate that Top Rank had not been in any hurry to release Bert's rather
bland interpretation of the number. Up until that time, Cliff Richard's backing
group 'The Shadows' had not been successful on record without their famous lead
singer.
The group was looking for something to put on the flip
side of a recording of "Quartermaster's Stores"- a number suggested
by Norrie Paramor- and probably destined to the same fate as their first three
releases. Through a chance meeting with Jerry- brought together while on tour-
"Apache" was suggested despite already having been canned by Bert Weedon.
The rest, as they say, is history. Although Top Rank rushed their version into
the shops following the Shadows' release, and despite the strength of the
number, Bert Weedon sank almost without trace. The reaction to the Shadows
version was amazing and "Apache" was to provide the template for a
very long string of subsequent successes by the group.
"Apache" is the number for which Jerry will
always be best remembered although he wrote many more instrumentals for the
Shadows- including "Wonderful Land" and "Diamonds" for Jet
Harris & Tony Meehan- both of them number 1s. Unsurprisingly, Jerry
neglected his own fading recording career and concentrated on songwriting
instead. The hits flowed fairly steadily through the 1960s with "I'm A
Moody Guy" for Shane Fenton, "I'm Just A Baby" for Louise
Cordet, and "Good Times, (Better Times)" for Cliff Richard among
them.
Jet Harris 23, Tony Meehan 19 & song writer Jerry Lordan 28 |
Things started to go less well for Jerry as the 1960s
gave way to the 1970s. The end of that decade saw his life at its lowest ebb
and he reached a point when he no longer felt able to write any more.
Fortunately, Jerry did eventually start to write music again, but he never
managed to rekindle his past success, although his older work was still
recorded, across the 1970s and beyond, by the likes of Link Wray, the Edgar
Broughton Band, Hot Butter, Cilla Black, and the Incredible Bongo Band.
Sadly, Jerry Lordan died on July 24th 1995 and Britain
lost one of its most talented songwriters and surely the creator of the most
memorable instrumental of them all.
(info mainly from 45rpm.org)
5 comments:
For “Jerry Lordan – The 50th Anniversary Album” go here;
https://www.sendspace.com/file/9jvt6v
1. I'll Stay Single,
2. Can We Kiss,
3. Who Could Be Bluer?
4. Do I Worry?
5. Sing Like An Angel,
6. Ev'ry Time,
7. Ring Write or Call,
8. I've Still Got You,
9. Let's Try Again,
10. You Came A Long Way From St. Louis,
11. Secondhand Dream,
12. One Good Solid 24 Carat Reason,
13. The Old Man and the Sea,
14. Harlequin Melodies,
15. A House A Car A Wedding Ring,
16. I've Waited so Long,
17. Leave Me Alone,
18. First Romance,
19. Man on my Trail,
20. Love Where Can you Be?
21. I Want to Fall in Love,
22. All Night Long,
23. Apache,
24. I'll Stay Single,
25. Married,
26. The World's Loneliest Man,
27. Apache (The Shadows) BONUS TRACK
Please Note: Poor scans from original up-loader at the now defunct “Music Pop Hits” forum (many years ago)
Link has expired, any chance of a re-up please?
Hi colmalk, Here's a new link. OK for 30 days
https://www.upload.ee/files/12653191/Jerry_Lordan.rar.html
Most grateful Bob, a thousand thanks. Terrific article on Jerry ..... I'm delighted to have discovered FROM THE VAULTS
Many, many thanks.
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