Jackie Lynton born 27 February 1940

Jackie Lynton (February 27, 1940) is a British guitarist and singer who emerged from the 2i’s coffee bar at the turn of the 60’s and proceeded to carve out a reputation as a memorable live performer and great favourite of the RnR package tour circuit..

Born John Bertram Lynton in Shepperton, Middlesex, Jackie first began singing in his church choir. However he was bitten by the rock ‘n’ roll bug early on and, after performing Blue Suede Shoes

at a talent show he and his band (originally known the Plect-Tones, before changing their name to the Teenbeats) started to attract attention. In no time at all he was playing at the famous of rival agents: consequently, by the time he got around to establishing a residency at 2 I’s Coffee Bar in Soho: proprietor Tom Littlewood subsequently became Jackie’s first professional manager.

Under Littlewood’s guidance Jackie graduated to the Larry Parnes package tour circuit where he worked alongside Billy Fury, Vince Taylor & the Playboys, Wee Willie Harris, Terry Dene, Lance Fortune, Screaming Lord Sutch & His Savages, John Leyton, Freddie Starr & the Midnighters and others. Later on Littlewood managed to score a recording deal with Pye’s new Piccadilly label.

His first disc Over The Rainbow, was an odd choice and it failed to chart, although it did pick up some decent reviews. Oddly, Lonnie Donegan also covered the song around the same time. Hailed by New Musical Express as ‘Most Promising Newcomer’, Jackie was widely tipped to make it big – but never quite did. The follow up, Wishful Thinking also failed to hit the charts. Then came a rocking version of the classic All Of Me, which marked the recording debut of blues guitarist Albert Lee.  The single was well reviewed, but despite selling steadily it again missed the charts. Similarly I Believe also failed to find an audience.

                                

It was at this point that Jackie’s career took a bizarre twist: his next single was an insane version of the children’s song The Teddy Bears' Picnic. An utterly ridiculous record, it however went on to become Jackie’s best selling single and was the closest he came to scoring a bone fide chart hit. But, like all of the singles that preceded it, The Teddy Bears' Picnic also proved unsuccessful.

One of the many Brit rockers to find an audience in Hamburg, he recorded 16 tracks in the city in just one day in 1964, although these were released credited to Boots Wellington & His Rubber Band, as he was still under contract to Pye/Piccadilly. After a couple more releases, Jackie left Piccadilly records. The sessions he had performed on had been graced by some of the biggest names of the early 60s rock scene - Big Jim Sullivan, Jimmy Page, Herbie Flowers, Clem Cattini and Albert Lee among them. There was even talk of him forming a band with the young Ritchie Blackmore as early as 1962: apparently the pair were to be mentored by legendary producer Kim Fowley.

He issued one last single on Piccadilly, Laura, before he left the music scene for a while. However the stage still beckoned and, in 1965, he cut a number of independently-produced sides with Ray Horricks, two of which turned up on a Decca single of Three Blind Mice & Corrina Corrina. Jackie went on to cut three singles for Columbia, all produced by Mark Wirtz but again he failed to score that elusive hit which would have finally taken him into the big time. With little in the way of steady income from his recordings Jackie maintained a day job, working as a painter and decorator (he worked on John Lennon’s Weybridge mansion) whilst gigging at weekends and cutting the occasional disc. During the 70s he became a member of Savoy Brown (and finally charted – in the US at least – with the album Jack the Toad) and, in 1974, finally issued his first full-length solo album The Jackie Lynton Album, which included his live favourite The Hedgehog Song.

He spent a few years dabbling in the pop ballad field: he recorded a few sides for European release, recorded the vocals for an Ennio Morricone song The Ballad of Hank McCain for the Italian market and even made demos for smug repeat offender Mike ‘Ukip Calypso’ Read. Then, in 1978, Status Quo scored a massive hit with Again And Again, co-written by Jackie and Quo’s Rick Parfitt.  The following year he assembled a host of old friends - including Parfitt, Clem Clemson, Chas and Dave and several members of Manfred Mann's Earth Band - to record his second solo album, No Axe To Grind.

Since then he’s continued to gig and record and has enjoyed resurgence on the Festival circuit, with appearances in 2017 at "Weyfest" and "A New Day" festivals. And despite a career of 'almost', 'nearly' and 'what could have been', Lynton to his credit has stayed within the music scene for nearly 60 years, despite the fact he himself admits he was "never gonna be a star".

(Edited from jackielynton.com)