Category: Beatles

Meet Prudence Bury!

Thank you so much to a comment writer named Janis [Lia Pamina’s old online handle], for identifying the extraordinarily beautiful young woman who was with Pattie Boyd on the train with the Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night! She’s Prudence Bury-Fuchs, and here she is today, still very lovely.

Prudence Bury-Fuchs
Prudence Bury-Fuchs

That photo is from a French article, and if you click here you can read a Google translation of it. Here’s something in English, about a fund-raiser that Prue organized.

This is great! I’ve wondered for decades about the mystery girl on the train with Les Beatles, and now I know. Thanks again, Janis!

Ringo Video

There’s a fun video on Ringo Starr’s site, introducing this year’s All Starr Band line-up. Unfortunately, it’s in the sometimes troublesome Quicktime format, so good luck playing it. Ringo puts on such a good show that I think from now on as long as he continues making appearances in Boston I’ll go see him.

Ringone

Ringo and His All Starr Band put on a super show tonight, at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston! Nearly two and a half hours. I’m tired, and I have an early meeting, so I’d better hit the sack.

Cilla Black, British Import

Will the three K’s in the girl group K3 ever find fame beyond Belgium and the Netherlands? I suspect not, with language being the reason why. Do any American network television producers even know about K3? Oh, yes. As of yesterday I am 100% sure of that.

Cilla Black with George MartinBut now let’s go back to 1965, when Petula Clark had a string of hit records that was perhaps unprecedented for any solo female singer. Certainly no other British woman has met with such success before or since. Julie Andrews specialized in musicals, of course.

Dusty Springfield broke onto the U.S. charts some months before Petula, and she was quite successful, although she never had a #1 hit here. But there was also another female English solo singer seeking success in America. Cilla Black was, like the Beatles, from Liverpool, and she was likewise discovered and managed by Brian Epstein.

Cilla Black provides an interesting contrast to Petula Clark. They’re both petite, with strong voices, but where Cilla’s appeal was being cute and coy, Petula’s primary charm was sexiness. With great popularity in England, Brian Epstein behind her, and George Martin producing her records, Cilla had the necessary advantages to succeed in America. But it didn’t happen.

Cilla Black made one appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. It was on September 12, 1965, the same night the Beatles made their last live appearance for Sullivan. I featured a bit of it at this link eighteen months ago. And this is Cilla on that night.

[flv:/Video/2008/JUN/CillaBlackEdSullivan.flv 440 330]

In the recording studio, Cilla had the benefit of not only George Martin, but several songs written by Paul McCartney.

The first is “Love of the Love,” from 1963, which I think should have been done in a more laid back style.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUN/LoveOfTheLoved.mp3]

Then there’s “It’s For You,” from 1964, which I think has Martin making Cilla sound conspicuously like Shirley Bassey, who he had recorded recently singing the famous “Goldfinger” theme.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUN/ItsForYou.mp3]

… and “Step Inside Love” from much later, in 1968, with production values that point towards George Martin’s work with McCartney on “Live and Let Die.”

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUN/StepInsideLove.mp3]

Where Is Prudence?

It was Pattie Boyd who got to be inside of the baggage cage with the Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night; but as noted previously I think Prudence was the real beauty among the girls on the train. This video was taken from a 20-year-old Laserdisc, played on an equally old LD deck. Back then, it was the only format with the songs from the movie in digital stereo.
[flv:/Video/2008/MAY/IShouldHaveKnownBetter.flv 440 330]