Kenny Lynch, 60s showbiz pioneer, is dead at 81
Kenny Lynch, a pioneer for black entertainers in British showbusiness in the 1960s, died yesterday aged 81.
The singer and actor, whose hits included Up On The Roof, toured with The Beatles and regularly appeared on television alongside Jimmy Tarbuck and Bruce Forsyth.
His death was announced on Twitter by his daughters Bobby and Anna, who said they were ‘saddened to share this news’.
They thanked the NHS and palliative care charity Sue Ryder.
Lynch, who had surgery in 2009 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, had been ill for some time. Tarbuck, who visited him at his home last month, was among the first to pay tribute yesterday.
‘He was such a good singer and good talent,’ the 79-year-old comedian said. ‘A wonderful personality who looked great in a good suit.’
Lynch was born in the east end of London to a Barbadian father and a British- Jamaican mother. He spoke last year of growing up in Stepney the youngest of 11 children, saying he ‘never had racial problems’ with neighbours ‘ because basically we were probably a novelty’.
He left school at 15 and did his national Service. He sang in a pub where he worked as a barman, which led to engagements at clubs.
He is said to have been spotted at one by Shirley Bassey and soon had a recording contract.
Following a top ten hit with Up On The Roof in 1962, he was booked to tour with Helen Shapiro on a bill with an up-and-coming band, The Beatles, in early 1963 and became the first person to cover a John Lennon-Paul McCartney song, Misery. He would later appear among a group of celebrities dressed as escaped convicts on the cover of Band On The Run, the 1973 album by McCartney’s subsequent group Wings.
Lynch, who co-wrote the Small Faces hit Sha- La- La- La- Lee, became close to Tarbuck and Forsyth, appearing as a guest on their TV shows. In 1996 they released a single as The 3 Fivers. Lynch, who was appointed an OBe in 1970, also appeared in films including Carry On Loving, the sitcom Curry And Chips and as a guest in TV shows such as The Sweeney.
Others to pay tribute yesterday included actor Martin Kemp, who described Lynch as an ‘old showbiz giant’ and singer Boy George, who tweeted: ‘Absolutely huge part of my 70s life.’