I am not
Lesley Duncan, but have loved her music for over thirty years. Her sound is
unique and evocative - anyone who enjoyed her music when it was first available
will tell you that, on listening again now, the moods, smells, sounds and
feelings of thirty years ago are summoned in an instant. I feel that Lesley
Duncan's music has been lost to the wider world for far too long. Please
understand that I have no intention of annoying, upsetting or angering anyone
(especially Lesley herself!) and will gracefully withdraw if this MySpace page
offends.
Lesley Duncan is a British singer / songwriter. She was born in Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, on the 12th August, (some year prior to 2000,) and currently resides in
the British Isles.
She was mainly a session and singles artist with recordings dating back to 1963 -
but also, early in her career, appeared in Michael Carreras' 1963 film "What A Crazy
World" as "Lil", appeared on 'Juke Box Jury' on 15th February 1964
and made an appearance on ITV's 'Ready Steady Go' on Guy Fawkes Night 1965
alongside Paul and Barry Ryan, The Who, The Moody Blues and Donovan. Her recordings for, and
with, other artists were many and, throughout the later sixties and early
seventies, she worked with a large number of the more recognisable names of the
latter twentieth-century music scene including Elton John, Donovan, the
Dave Clark 5, Pink Floyd, Kiki Dee and Dusty Springfield, (for whom she appeared
as a regular backing singer, for the two two-month seasons during the autumns of
1966 and 1967, on the TV programme 'Dusty' along with Madeline Bell and Margaret
Stredder). She can also be heard as
part of the chorus on the "Jesus Christ Superstar" album. Between 1966 and 1968,
Lesley also made a number of recordings with a studio-based collection of
musicians under the title of "Ministry of Sound". This group comprised members
of the Ivy League and Flowerpot Men and was primarily a recording project which
rarely, if ever, saw the broader light of day - they never toured, never
appeared on television and only released one tune under the collective name. On
many recordings, female vocalists joined the group in the studio, including,
most notably, Val McKenna and Lesley Duncan. (From time to time, a recording
that Lesley co-penned with other members of this group will appear in the
MySpace music player on this page.) 'Ministry of Sound' recorded a huge amount
of material between 1966-1968 at Southern Music studios, the tapes of which have
recently been re-discovered and are being compiled (and hopefully released) by
RPM Records. Despite a growing reputation amongst her fellow musicians, Lesley
had little success with her own string of single releases, but finally found recognition when Elton John,
whom she had worked with for years as a fellow studio musician, recorded her
"Love Song" for his "Tumbleweed Connection" album while she played guitar
and harmonised. Elton John, certainly, knew that here was a rare jewel.
After
Elton John recorded "Love Song", Lesley landed a recording contract with CBS /
Columbia Records. Producer Jimmy Horowitz gathered some of the top studio
musicians in England to record on her albums including:
- Chris Spedding (stalwart of the music industry who has played with and for most of the influential artists of the last forty years, and who some of us will probably never forgive for "motorbiking")
- Tristan Fry (probably best known to the general public for his membership of, and involvement with, the supergroup "Sky")
- Andy Bown (has been rocking with Quo for some time!)
- Terry Cox (original Pentangle drummer)
Her first album "Sing Children Sing" included Elton John on Piano. "Sing Children Sing", "Love Song" and "Help Me Jesus" were all released as singles in the US and some of her songs were covered by other artists, including Olivia Newton-John and Long John Baldry.
Those of you who are old enough may also remember that she appeared on the first
ever 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' (BBC2, 10.55 pm on Tuesday, 21st September
1971). The band (group) America were the only other billing on that first show.
In 1972 her second album "Earth Mother" was released. Unlike the first, this was not directly available in the US, due to less than successful singles sales from the first album. She also sang on Joyce Everson's album "Crazy Lady" which was recorded in 1971 and released by Warner in 1972 and the single from which, "To Be A Pilgrim" was issued in 1974 in the UK. This ended her time with Columbia and her next album was issued by the GM label in the UK.
Lesley's next album was "Everything Changes" - a gorgeous collection which led to her signing with MCA records in the US in 1976.
MCA released her next two albums, "Moonbathing" (purportedly Lesley's favourite album) which again included the help of Elton John and, in 1977, "Maybe It's Lost". She also did a short tour in the US in 1976. After low sales of these albums Lesley went back to being a singles artist releasing singles in England with producer Tony Cox up until 1986.
In 1979 she appeared on a release by the Alan Parsons Project called "Eve" on which she sang "If I Could Change Your Mind".
In 2000 "Sing Children Sing" was released on CD in the UK, followed by "Earth Mother" in 2001. Those of us who appreciate Lesley's music, and who have battered their thirty-year old vinyl to death, often demand to know when the rest of her albums will be released on CD. It is said that the original masters for all but the first two albums were lost in a fire. There are rumours, however, that copies of the masters have been unearthed recently. Bring on the CD releases!
Lesley can still be heard from time to time on Terry Wogan's playlist (weekday breakfast show on Radio 2) - usually the single "Everything Changes" - and has recently been spotted on BBC4's re-showings of sixties' and seventies' concerts.
She features occasionally on the playlists of a number of stateside stations.
Click here for a RealAudio play of 'Love Song' (the single, or 'let's hoover up this mess' version, not the album, or 'whistling rainstorm' version)
from Doug Schulkind's 'Give
The Drummer Some' on WFMU, August 19th 2005. (As an added bonus, the song that follows on the playlist is most definitely worth a listen too - Shelby Lynne's 'One With The Sun'. Just leave the player running.)
Other Websites:
Lesley Duncan's Corner Yahoo Group
Discussion, News, Pictures
Chris Spedding's Lesley Link
RazorFace's Lesley Duncan Page
Lesley Duncan Web Site (lesleyduncan.net)
Comprehensive site with media clips and
biographical information
Get Music:
Amazon (UK)
Earth Mother CD
Amazon (UK)
Sing Children Sing CD
MP3.com
Lesley Duncan downloads
Tesco.com
Seventies compilation CD containing the single 'Everything Changes'
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Tesco.com
Sixties compilation CD containing the single 'You Kissed Me Boy'
Tesco.com
Sixties compilation CD containing the single 'Something's Coming Along'
Amazon (UK)
Eve CD (Lesley sings 'If I Could Change Your
Mind')
Amazon (UK)
Here and There CD (Lesley sings 'Love Song'
with Reg)
amazon.com
Live at the Reading Festival CD (Lesley sings
'Earth Mother' live)
Tesco.com
To Marcos III CD (Black Flower) (Lesley sings
'Love Suite')
Online Now!
