Kenny Lynch born 18 March 1938

Kenny Lynch, OBE (born 18 March 1938, Stepney, London, England) is an English singer, songwriter, entertainer and actor from London. Lynch appeared in many variety shows in the 1960s. He was one of the relatively few black singers on the British pop scene in the early 1960s.

Lynch grew up in Stepney, east London as one of 13 children and his sister, Gladys (stage name Maxine Daniels) was a jazz singer of some note. After leaving school at 15 and various jobs, he did National Service in the Royal Army Service Corps and was the regimental featherweight boxing champion. He was also a semi-professional singer.

                              

He had several UK hit singles in the early 1960s, including the two Top Ten hits, "Up on the Roof" in December 1962, and "You Can Never Stop Me Loving You" in June 1963. Lynch is most famous for a flop single he issued the same year. 

That was "Misery", the first cover version of a Beatles song to be released. In early 1963, Lynch had been on the same bill as The Beatles on the group's first British tour; John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote "Misery" in January 1963, in the hopes that the artist on top of the bill, Helen Shapiro, would record it. Shapiro's record producer turned it down, but Lynch took the composition and gave it a much more pop oriented arrangement than The Beatles would use when they recorded "Misery" themselves on their debut album, Please Please Me.

Whilst on a coach with The Beatles (on tour with Helen Shapiro), Lynch reportedly offered to help them write a song, but quickly became frustrated and criticised their ability to compose music - at the time Lennon and McCartney were writing "From Me to You". Years later he appeared on the album cover of Wings' 1973 album, Band on the Run, along with other celebrities.

Lynch wrote a fairly high percentage of his own material, but also did some covers of songs originating from the Brill Building writers. In addition, he has written songs for others — notably the Small Faces' #3 UK hit, "Sha-La-La-La-Lee", with the American songwriter, Mort Shuman. Lynch also wrote a couple of other songs from the Small Faces' 1966 debut album, "You'd Better Believe It" (co-written with Jerry Ragavoy) and "Sorry She's Mine".

Lynch took part in the A Song For Europe contest in 1962 with the song "There's Never Been A Girl", but failed to win through to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest. He returned to the contest in 1978, this time as a writer, penning "Don't Bother To Knock" for the group 'Midnight'. This song was placed second.

His numerous TV appearances include the 1970s programme Get This which he co-presented with Harry Fowler, as well as roles in Celebrity Squares, Mooncat & Co., Room at the Bottom and Curry & Chips, as well as minor parts in Z-Cars, The Sweeney, Til Death Us Do Part and Treasure Hunt.

Known for charity work, Lynch has often played in charity football matches and Michael Parkinson's 'Celebrity Cricket' fundraisers. He is a fan of the London football club West Ham United. Nowadays he owns a restaurant in North London and has appeared in the film The Riddle (2007).

In 2011 Kenny & Bobby Davro appeared in “Swinging” a Frank Sinatra Tribute show. This year he has been busy with guest appearances in The Frank Sinatra Centennial Concert and The Rat Pack (Info mainly edited from Wikipedia)