Where are they now? New Seekers’ singer Lyn Paul
Former New Seekers’ vocalist LYN PAUL chats about to Yours about her early days, the role that changed her life and a poignant farewell theatre tour
I’d Like to Teach The World To Sing, Never Ending Song of Love and You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me – just a few of the hits the New Seekers topped the charts with in the Seventies. And they also came a very respectable second in the 1972 Eurovision Song Contest with Beg, Steal, or Borrow – with blonde Lyn Paul – one of the two female singers – on lead vocals.
Lyn, born Lynda Susan Belcher in Manchester in 1949, started performing at 14. The Sixties were spent first as a member of her own teenage girl band The Crys-Do-Lyns before she joined Manchester group The Nocturnes. In the summer of 1970, Lyn was drafted into the New Seekers at the suggestion of her former Nocturnes’ bandmate Eve Graham – the other New Seekers’ girl singer.
“The New Seekers days were wonderful,” Lyn recalls. “Apart from the joy of performing and supporting huge acts like Gene Pitney, Liza Minnelli and Neil Diamond in the US, we were wined and dined, feted everywhere we went, and, oh, the parties… When I look back, I don’t think I appreciated it enough. I was in my early 20s but more like a 16-year-old, really. There I was in a gorgeous LA apartment, on the phone to Mum and Dad and feeling homesick! If I could, I’d say to my younger self, ‘Get a grip and enjoy it!’. Hindsight is wonderful.”
After leaving the group in 1974, Lyn embarked on a solo career, recording John Barry’s theme song to the film The Dove, and scoring a Top 40 hit with, It Oughta Sell A Million. She also became a favourite on the UK cabaret circuit and appeared in panto. In 1997, she started playing the character of Mrs Johnstone in the award-winning musical, Blood Brothers.
“Mrs Johnstone and Blood Brothers changed my life,” she says. “I’d been singing in a London club and the late Carl Wayne, vocalist with The Move and a great friend of mine, had come to see me. He suggested I audition for Blood Brothers. I said I’d love to but I wasn’t sure – I mean, I’d never acted, but Carl said, ‘Why not give it a go?’ My mum suggested I write to theatrical impresario, Bill Kenwright, who was staging the production. Three weeks later, I was rehearsing in the West End. I owe Bill so much!”
After 23 years of playing Mrs Johnstone, Lyn is currently playing the character for the last time in a UK touring production of the show.
“Yes, it’s my farewell tour,” she smiles. “Why am I stopping now after all these years? Well, I’m 71 and even though I hope I look good for my age, it is stretching it a bit to think that I could possibly give birth to twins as Mrs Johnstone does in the musical. I’ll miss the
show and the people – the camaraderie you build up with a touring company is wonderful – but I won’t miss the touring aspect so much. I like my home comforts!”
Not that Lyn, who shares a 30-year-old son with husband Alan, is considering retirement.
“Absolutely not,” she says. “That would be the end for me. I still love working and, from the end of the tour in April, I shall be back to being a jobbing actress and will start auditioning again. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes up!”
■ For more details about venues and dates for Blood Brothers visit www.kenwright.com