Eden Kane (born Richard Graham Sarstedt, 29 March 1941 (1941-03-29)
(age 66), in Delhi, Punjabi, Northern India) was an
archetypal, early 1960s,
British
pop
singer.
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Contents
- 1 Life
and career
- 2 Singles
discography
- 3 References
- 4 External
links
|
Life and career
Like Cliff Richard and Engelbert Humperdinck,
Eden Kane was born in India, but returned to Britain
as a child. He first created some interest for his talent, with an advertising
jingle
for Cadbury's,
called "Hot Chocolate Crazy", issued as a single
by Pye
Records. This was played almost as often as Horace Batchelor's football
pools advertisement on Radio Luxembourg.
This was quickly followed in 1961, by his only number
one hit
in the UK Singles Chart - "Well I Ask
You". The song was written by Les Vandyke, who had earlier
penned two chart topping singles for Adam
Faith. These were "What Do You Want", and "Poor Me". The
further quirky connection is that both artist's stage names owed more
than a little of their originality to Genesis, Chapter One.
Success was short-lived for Eden Kane. A couple of flops,
financial problems, and a change in labels (from Decca
Records to Philips
subsidiary Fontana Records) marked a decline
similar to that of which most of the pre-Beatles
UK
stars experienced. Like many of his teen idol peers, Kane sought to stave off
chart oblivion by hitching a ride onto the Beat Boom bandwagon, teaming
with a group with a real Liverpool pedigree - Fontana labelmates
Earl Preston and the TT's. This energetic attempt, originally titled
"Do You Love Me" (c/w "Comeback") was reissued with a new title "Like I
Love You", to avoid confusion with the UK hit covers
by Brian
Poole and the Dave Clark Five of the The
Contours' U.S. smash, and some momentum was lost.
Kane's next release, a UK and Australia Top 10
comeback hit with "Boys Cry" in 1964, was just a hiccup on the general downward
spiral and did little to sustain his career. However, he was arguably
the last British solo star to hit before the arrival of The Beatles,
and his five chart singles all made the Top Ten.
Certainly not, therefore, a one hit wonder.
The family was far from finished. His brother, Peter
Sarstedt, got to number one himself in 1969, with "Where Do You Go To
(My Lovely)"; whilst the youngest brother Clive,
who had earlier recorded under the supervision of Joe
Meek as Wes Sands, later used his middle name to
call himself Robin Sarstedt and reached the
British top three in 1976
with his rendition of the old Hoagy Carmichael classic, "My
Resistance Is Low".
As a footnote, in the mid 1970s all three brothers sang together
briefly, but it generated no more chart action for Kane. Eden, Peter
and Robin went on to win a joint BASCA Award for composing and
songwriting.
As
of 2006, all three of the Sarstedt brothers are still active in the
music business and Eden has toured Britain several times with the Solid
Gold Rock and Roll Tours.
Kane was a contract actor on the Star Trek team, and made many appearances
in the TV
series under his real name of Richard Sarstedt.
Singles discography
- "Well I Ask You" - 1961 - Number 1
- "Get Lost - 1961 - Number 10
- "Forget Me Not" - 1962 - Number 3
- "I Don't Know Why" - 1962 - Number 7
- "Boys Cry" - 1964 - Number 8
References
- Guinness Book
of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN
0-85112-190-X
- The Guinness Book Of 500 Number One Hits - ISBN 0-85112-250-7
External links
