Black and British pioneer Kenny Lynch
Great Lives
BBC
4.2 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 20 April 2021
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kenny Lynch was born in Stepney, East London in 1938. He toured with the Beatles, wrote best-selling songs, was a champion boxer in the army, and a regular face on British TV. He was also - at the start of his career - one of the very few black and British singers in the UK, but he's not really remembered as a pioneer. Out to change that is his nominator, broadcaster and record producer Eddie Piller who first liked Kenny for his effortless style, but loves his records too. "Kenny Lynch was no victim," he says. Features extensive archive of Kenny talking about his East End childhood plus the music he sang and produced.
Presenter Matthew Parris Producer Miles Warde
Transcript
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| 0:25.5 | To get you ready for today's conversations, newscast, |
| 0:29.3 | listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:37.6 | Hello. |
| 0:38.8 | Today's great life was the man who sang this. |
| 0:53.3 | The year is 1962. |
| 0:55.6 | The writers Jerry Goffin and Carol King. |
| 0:58.8 | But the singer is Kenny Lynch. |
| 1:07.2 | In America, it would go on to be an even bigger hit for the drifters. |
| 1:11.3 | And it's regularly listed among the top 500 records of all time. |
| 1:23.3 | More about this song in a while. |
| 1:25.5 | The man singing the first version was born in Stepney in East London in 1938. |
| 1:31.6 | He toured with the Beatles, wrote best-selling songs, was a champion boxer in the army, |
| 1:37.0 | and a regular face-on television in the 1970s, 1980s and beyond. |
| 1:42.3 | Always playing Kenny Lynch himself. |
| 1:45.7 | He was also at the start of his career, one of the very few black singers in UK pop, |
... |
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