Now that's a varied career!
Posted: Thu May 02, 2019 9:14 am
Following on from sharing posts with Ron on the song theme game and I have to say I'm interested in people who have worked across a range of music and particularly those 'did they really do that?!' moments.
The example mentioned was Lyn Cornell (see the thread) and another was John Schroeder.
I got a cheap copy of John Schroeder's autobiography on Ebay (it's quite hard to find) and was pleased with the price and also that it was autographed. It's a fascinating read and madly of it's time with references to dolly birds and pictures of all the cars he owned from an Austin 30 to a 'roller'. He served his time as assistant to Norrie Paramour who produced Cliff & The Shadows among others.
To cut a long story short, he's probably best known now for his loungey orchestral output with 'Sounds Orchestral' and 'The John Schroeder Orchestra':
The John Schroeder Orchestra - Soul Trek
John Schroeder - Scarborough Fair
But he co-wrote this pop classic early in his career:
Walking Back To Happiness ~ Helen Shapiro
Aside from that he was the first to release Motown records in the UK on the Oriole label:
The Contours - Do You Love Me
He also produced and managed Cymande (who deserve their own section) who are now a cult early 70's UK funky soul outfit, much sampled in hip-hop (The Fugees, De La Soul, even Raze) really fine:
Cymande - The Message (1970)
Cymande - Bra (1972)
At roughly the same time he was also managing and producing...Status Quo, including their first hit (apologies for the presenter):
Status Quo - Pictures Of Matchstick Men (1968)
And he was dropped just as they started to get successful in Pt. 2 of their career although this was one of his and recognisable as the beginning of their 'sound':
Status Quo - Mean Girl (1971)
He died in 2017 but leaves his career, cars and dolly birds behind him, as well as this fine compilation (among other releases):
The example mentioned was Lyn Cornell (see the thread) and another was John Schroeder.
I got a cheap copy of John Schroeder's autobiography on Ebay (it's quite hard to find) and was pleased with the price and also that it was autographed. It's a fascinating read and madly of it's time with references to dolly birds and pictures of all the cars he owned from an Austin 30 to a 'roller'. He served his time as assistant to Norrie Paramour who produced Cliff & The Shadows among others.
To cut a long story short, he's probably best known now for his loungey orchestral output with 'Sounds Orchestral' and 'The John Schroeder Orchestra':
The John Schroeder Orchestra - Soul Trek
John Schroeder - Scarborough Fair
But he co-wrote this pop classic early in his career:
Walking Back To Happiness ~ Helen Shapiro
Aside from that he was the first to release Motown records in the UK on the Oriole label:
The Contours - Do You Love Me
He also produced and managed Cymande (who deserve their own section) who are now a cult early 70's UK funky soul outfit, much sampled in hip-hop (The Fugees, De La Soul, even Raze) really fine:
Cymande - The Message (1970)
Cymande - Bra (1972)
At roughly the same time he was also managing and producing...Status Quo, including their first hit (apologies for the presenter):
Status Quo - Pictures Of Matchstick Men (1968)
And he was dropped just as they started to get successful in Pt. 2 of their career although this was one of his and recognisable as the beginning of their 'sound':
Status Quo - Mean Girl (1971)
He died in 2017 but leaves his career, cars and dolly birds behind him, as well as this fine compilation (among other releases):