Eden Kane | |
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| Birth name | Richard Graham Sarstedt |
| Born | (1940-03-29)29 March 1940 (age 84) New Delhi, British India |
| Origin | Croydon, London, England |
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| Years active | 1959–present |
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| Website | edenkane |
Richard Graham Sarstedt (born 29 March 1940),[1][note 1] known by thestage nameEden Kane, is an Englishpop/rock singer, musician, record producer and actor best known as ateen idol in the early 1960s, in the pre-Beatles era. He has also recorded under his birth name and with backing group the Downbeats.
Born in British India, he is the elder brother of singer-songwriterPeter Sarstedt and singerClive Sarstedt, with whom he collaborated on numerous Sarstedt Brothers albums. He had success in the early 1960s as a pop star appealing to a teenage audience, in the pre-Beatles era with hits including the co-written "Well I Ask You" which was a UK No. 1 hit in 1961, he then spent time in Australia before moving to the United States, where he began an acting career.
He was born inNew Delhi, British India, where his parents Albert James and Coral (nee Byrne) were civil servant and classical musicians. When Richard was a child, the family—including his two younger brothersPeter andClive, and their three sisters—moved toKurseong, nearDarjeeling, to run atea plantation. He pursued his schooling fromSherwood College till March 1954, when, after his father's death, he moved with his brothers, sisters and mother to the UK.[1][2] They settled inNorbury,Croydon, where Richard attended Heath Clark Grammar School.[3] Inspired byBill Haley, he learned guitar and formed askiffle group, the Fabulous 5, which included his younger brothers.[1]
He entered atalent contest at the Classic Cinema inKings Road,Chelsea, where he won a contract to sing an advertisingjingle forCadbury's Drinking Chocolate, which was played frequently onRadio Luxembourg. He was signed by management team Philip Waddilove and Michael Barclay, who changed Sarstedt's name to Eden Kane – "Eden" because of its biblical associations at a time whenAdam Faith was a top pop star, and "Kane" becauseCitizen Kane was Barclay's favourite film[1][3] – and the song was released as theB-side of a single, "You Make Love So Well", byPye Records in August 1960.[4]
He then won a recording contract withDecca Records. His first recording for the label, "Well I Ask You"—written byLes Vandyke,arranged byJohn Keating, and produced byBunny Lewis—reachedNo. 1 on theUK Singles Chart in August 1961. It was followed by three more top ten hits in the UK over the next year, "Get Lost" (No. 10), "Forget Me Not" (No. 3) and "I Don't Know Why" (No. 7).[5] Together with a backing band, the Downbeats, which comprised Roger Retting, Ben Steed, Roger St. Clair and Bugs Waddell, he toured widely around the UK with stars such asCliff Richard,Billy Fury,Marty Wilde andHelen Shapiro.[1] His brother Peter was the band's road manager, later joining on bass, with brother Clive joining on guitar.[3]
His fifth single for Decca, "House to Let", failed to chart, and later releases for the label were equally unsuccessful. He left Decca and joinedPhilips subsidiaryFontana in 1963. Some momentum was lost when his next release, originally titled "Do You Love Me" (c/w "Comeback"), had to be reissued with a new title, "Like I Love You", to avoid confusion with the UK hitcovers ofthe Contours' US hitof the same name byBrian Poole &the Tremeloes andthe Dave Clark Five. Kane's third single for Fontana, "Boys Cry" (No. 8), returned him to the charts in January 1964, but it was to be his last hit.[1]
He made several television appearances on shows with then newly-successful groupsthe Beatles andthe Rolling Stones, and toured Australia withRoy Orbison,Del Shannon andthe Searchers. Success in Australia led to him host a TV series in there.[1][3]
After his chart success in Britain dried up, Kane moved to live in California, working as a record producer. His brothers, Peter and Clive, both achieved chart success in the UK (the former in the late 1960s and the latter, billed as "Robin" Sarstedt, in the 1970s), and, in 1972, the three brothers recorded an album as the Sarstedt Brothers,Worlds Apart Together.[2][3] On 20 June 1973, the brothers made their first joint appearance as a group, atFairfield Halls inCroydon.[6]Eden, Peter and Robin went on to win a jointBASCA Award for composing and songwriting.[3]
Kane has sincerecorded forBell, Monarch,His Master's Voice andFestival (the last two being Australian releases). He has also occasionally joined "oldies" tours in the UK with artists includingMarty Wilde,John Leyton andBrian Hyland.[3] He was a contract actor on theStar Trek team, and made several appearances in the TV seriesStar Trek: The Next Generation,Star Trek: Deep Space Nine andStar Trek: Voyager.
In 2017, Kane took part in a UK tour with the "Solid Gold Rock and Roll Show", which also featured Marty Wilde,Mark Wynter andMike Berry.[7]
A CD, entitledY2Kane, was made available on his website.[8]
Kane met the American journalist Charlene Groman, sister ofStefanie Powers, in Los Angeles and they married several years later. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their family.[3]
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Label | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [9] | AUS | IRE [10] | US [11] | |||
| 1960 | "You Make Love So Well" b/w "Hot Chocolate Crazy" | — | — | — | — | Pye |
| 1961 | "Well I Ask You" b/w "Before I Lose My Mind" | 1 | 15 | 1 | 119 | Decca |
| "Get Lost" b/w "I'm Telling You" | 10 | 85 | 4 | — | ||
| 1962 | "Forget Me Not" b/w "A New Kind of Lovin'" | 3 | 70 | 6 | — | |
| "I Don't Know Why" b/w "Music for Strings" | 7 | — | — | — | ||
| "House to Let" b/w "I Told You" | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1963 | "Sounds Funny to Me" b/w "Someone Wants to Know" | — | — | — | — | |
| "Nimm das Mädchen"(Germany-only release) b/w "Meine große Liebe (Wind und Wellen)" | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Tomorrow Night" b/w "I Won't Believe Them" | — | — | — | — | Fontana | |
| 1964 | "Boys Cry" b/w "Don't Come Crying to Me" | 8 | 22 | 6 | — | |
| "Rain, Rain, Go Away" b/w "Guess Who It Is?" | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Hangin' Around" b/w "Gonna Do Something About You" | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1965 | "If You Want This Love" b/w "Have I Done Something Wrong?" | — | — | — | — | |
| 1966 | "Magic Town" b/w "The Whole World Was Crying" | — | — | — | — | Decca |
| 1967 | "Gotta Get Through to You"(Australia and New Zealand-only release) b/w "A Million Ants" | — | — | — | — | His Master's Voice |
| "My Whole World Is Tumbling Down"(Australia and New Zealand-only release) b/w "In the Day of My Youth" | — | — | — | — | His Master's Voice/Impact | |
| 1968 | "Time, Love, Hope, Life"(Australia and New Zealand-only release) b/w "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" | — | — | — | — | Festival |
| 1970 | "Reason to Believe" b/w "I Played It Like a Fool" | — | — | — | — | Bell |
| 1971 | "Another Day (Passes By)"(as Richard Sarstedt; US and Germany-only release) b/w "Charlie" | — | — | — | — | Evolution/Philips |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released | ||||||
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