Lynne Randell
Encyclopedia
Lynne Randell was an Australian pop singer. For three years in the mid-1960s she was Australia's most popular female performer and had hits with "Heart" and "Goin' Out of My Head
" in 1966, and "Ciao Baby" in 1967. In 1967, Randell toured the United States with The Monkees
and performed on-stage with support act Jimi Hendrix
. She wrote for teen magazine, Go-Set
and television programme guide, TV Week
. While on the US tour, Randell became addicted to methamphetamine
, which struggled for most of his life.
She was found dead at her home on 8 June 2007; she had left notes and gifts for family and friends.
, England in 1949 and had started primary school. When five years old, her family migrated to Australia and settled in the Melbourne suburb of Murrumbeena
. She later attended Mordialloc High School
in the same year as future footballer Rex Hunt
. She completed Form Three and won a talent quest at a school fete – the prize was a one-week engagement at Lorne
on the Victorian surf coast. At the age of 14, Randell started working for celebrity hairdresser Lillian Frank on a trial basis and promptly asked for annual holidays to fulfil her singing gig. Frank required proof:
At the Lorne Life Saving Club she sang with a band, The Spinning Wheels, and met a surfie-roadie
and university student, Ian Meldrum
, they formed a life-long friendship. Meldrum became a pop music commentator, writing for teen magazine, Go-Set
; hosting television music series, Countdown; and providing opinions in various media.
and invited local radio DJs including Stan Rofe
. The Spinning Wheels backed Randell as she sang "House of the Rising Sun" and John Lee Hooker
's "Boom Boom". She cut a demo in a dining room and Rofe played it on his radio show.
Randell left school and was signed to EMI
in 1965, her first single "I'll Come Running Over" (cover of a Lulu
song) was released in February on its HMV label and became a No. 11 hit in Melbourne. She appeared on television to promote her single including Bandstand
, Saturday Date and Sing Sing Sing
. The first single was followed by "A Love Like You" (No. 27 in Melbourne) and "Forever". She had regular appearances on TV's The Go!! Show
alongside contemporaries The Easybeats
and Olivia Newton-John
. Randell also appeared on another TV series, Kommotion with fellow pop artists including Burns (now a solo artist) and also featured performers miming to overseas artists' hits: Meldrum, for example, mimed to "Winchester Cathedral
" by The New Vaudeville Band
. Randell signed a new contract with CBS Records
to release two further singles "Heart" and "Goin' Out of My Head" which both became Top 20 hits in Melbourne.
Randell worked the dance scene and discothèques, usually backed by The Spinning Wheels, with her trendsetting clothes and mod style carefully orchestrated by manager, West.
Randell was marketed as Australia's Miss Mod and became the most popular female performer in the mid-1960s. Teen magazine, Go-Set, had separate columns written by Meldrum and Rofe, it also ran a pop poll, with Randell voted 'Most Popular Female Vocal' in October 1966. "Goin' Out of My Head" peaked at No. 16 on the Go-Set National Top 40 in November.
On the back of her Australian success, Randell went to the United Kingdom and performed at Liverpool's Cavern Club. By 1967 she was in the United States, where she met The Monkees
and had a brief relationship with Davy Jones
. She toured with them as part of a bill which also featured Jimi Hendrix
and Ike & Tina Turner
. Randell wrote in Go-Set and television programme guide, TV Week
, of her experiences while touring the US. Her next single, "Ciao Baby" written by Larry Weiss and Scott English
, was recorded in New York and released on CBS Records in Australia. It reached No. 6 on Go-Sets Top 40 in June 1967. Epic Records
also released it in the US, Randell shot a colour video for "Ciao Baby" which is believed to be the first by an Australian artist. The Australian B-side, "Stranger in My Arms" was released in the UK as the A-side. While touring the US, Randell became addicted to methamphetamine
tablets which were sold legally as slimming pills. She developed a long term addiction which subsequently damaged her brain, nervous system
and adrenal glands.
Her next single "That's a Hoe Down" / "I Need You Boy" appeared in 1967 and she won another 'Most Popular Female Vocal' from Go-Set pop poll in October. Randell moved to Los Angeles in 1968 and released "An Open Letter". However, she had health problems with glandular fever and then peritonitis
. Her last single, "I Love My Dog" was released in 1969 on Capitol Records
.
company executive, in 1969. She provided a weekly column for Go-Set as their US correspondent – their home was the US office for Go-Set Publications – during 1970 and 1971. In 1972, their son Jamieson Hoch was born. Abe Hoch later became head of Swan Song Records
and they moved to London in 1976 where Randell had further health problems related to her methamphetamine addiction and prescriptions by doctors. This caused difficulties for their marriage and led to their divorce by the late 1970s.
of Sire Records
as his personal assistant in New York during the late 1980s, living close to her son Jamieson. Randell moved back to Melbourne in the 1990s and made occasional appearances in oldies concerts.
Randell went public about her methamphetamine addiction in 2004 in an interview with Peter Wilmoth of The Age
. She indicated that her adrenal glands were atrophied to about 30% function. Randell was found dead at her home in Toorak
, Melbourne on 8 June 2007. Police said that there were "no suspicious circumstances". She left notes and gifts for family and friends. Her father had died three years earlier, she was survived by her mother, brothers, sister, son (Jamieson) and two grandchildren.
Jamieson Hoch, 35, died of a brain haemorrhage on 24 July 2007 only days after he joined mourners at St Kilda beach where he spoke about his mother and scattered her ashes in the water.
Goin' Out Of My Head
"Goin' Out of My Head" is a song written by Teddy Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein, initially recorded by Little Anthony & the Imperials in 1964. Randazzo, a childhood friend of the group, wrote the song especially for them, having also supplied the group with their previous Top 20 Hit "I'm On The...
" in 1966, and "Ciao Baby" in 1967. In 1967, Randell toured the United States with The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
and performed on-stage with support act Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
. She wrote for teen magazine, Go-Set
Go-Set
Go-Set was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble...
and television programme guide, TV Week
TV Week
TV Week is a weekly television magazine in Australia, first published as a Melbourne-only publication in December 1957 , and bearing a strong affiliation to television station GTV.The publication is still publishing weekly...
. While on the US tour, Randell became addicted to methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
, which struggled for most of his life.
She was found dead at her home on 8 June 2007; she had left notes and gifts for family and friends.
Early life
Lynne Randell was born as Lynne Randall in LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, England in 1949 and had started primary school. When five years old, her family migrated to Australia and settled in the Melbourne suburb of Murrumbeena
Murrumbeena, Victoria
Murrumbeena is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Glen Eira...
. She later attended Mordialloc High School
Mordialloc Secondary College
Mordialloc Secondary College or Mordialloc College is a state co-educational secondary school located in the suburbs of Melbourne at Aspendale, City of Kingston, on the south bank of the Mordialloc Creek....
in the same year as future footballer Rex Hunt
Rex Hunt
Rex James Hunt is an Australian television and radio personality, and a former Australian rules football player. He is an Australian rules football commentator, currently on the 1116 SEN radio station with son in law Lee Raynor conducting a program called Off The Hook. He is better known around...
. She completed Form Three and won a talent quest at a school fete – the prize was a one-week engagement at Lorne
Lorne, Victoria
Lorne is a seaside town on Louttit Bay in Victoria, Australia. It is situated about the Erskine River and is a popular destination on the Great Ocean Road tourist route...
on the Victorian surf coast. At the age of 14, Randell started working for celebrity hairdresser Lillian Frank on a trial basis and promptly asked for annual holidays to fulfil her singing gig. Frank required proof:
At the Lorne Life Saving Club she sang with a band, The Spinning Wheels, and met a surfie-roadie
Road crew
The road crew are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians...
and university student, Ian Meldrum
Ian Meldrum
Ian Alexander "Molly" Meldrum AM is an Australian popular music critic, journalist, record producer , and musical entrepreneur...
, they formed a life-long friendship. Meldrum became a pop music commentator, writing for teen magazine, Go-Set
Go-Set
Go-Set was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble...
; hosting television music series, Countdown; and providing opinions in various media.
Recording career
Randell was 'discovered' whilst working as a 14-year old apprentice hairdresser for Lilian and Antonio Frank. One of Frank's regular customers was publicist, Carol West. Garry Spry, the manager of Australian mod group The Flies, employed West to organise a publicity shoot for TV and press to display his band having their long hair done at a women's hair salon. During the shoot, The Flies lead singer, Ronnie Burns sang with his guitar and Frank suggested her young apprentice should sing along. Spry was so impressed by her voice he offered her a job at his discothèque, Pinocchios, and West became her manager. For Randell's 15th birthday on 14 December 1964, West held a party in MalvernMalvern, Victoria
Malvern is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 8 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington. At the 2006 Census, Malvern had a population of 9,422.-History:...
and invited local radio DJs including Stan Rofe
Stan Rofe
Stan 'The Man' Rofe was Melbourne's first and most influential rock'n'roll disc jockey. He is remembered as playing the first rock and roll music on Melbourne radio 3KZ in 1956 and as a champion of Australian music, a pioneer who played songs other DJs were too scared to play.-Career:Stan Rofe...
. The Spinning Wheels backed Randell as she sang "House of the Rising Sun" and John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
's "Boom Boom". She cut a demo in a dining room and Rofe played it on his radio show.
Randell left school and was signed to EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
in 1965, her first single "I'll Come Running Over" (cover of a Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
song) was released in February on its HMV label and became a No. 11 hit in Melbourne. She appeared on television to promote her single including Bandstand
Bandstand (Australia)
Bandstand was an Australian musical/variety television show which screened from November 1958 to 1972. It was produced at the studios of TCN-9 in Sydney and eventually became a national program as Nine Network expanded into other Australian cities in the early 1960s.Bandstand was created by Nine...
, Saturday Date and Sing Sing Sing
Six O'Clock Rock
Six O'Clock Rock was an Australian Rock and Roll television show which showed on ABC Television from 28 February 1959 to 1962 and was broadcast at 6PM on Saturday evenings....
. The first single was followed by "A Love Like You" (No. 27 in Melbourne) and "Forever". She had regular appearances on TV's The Go!! Show
The Go!! Show
The Go!! Show was a top rating Australian popular music television series which aired on ATV-0 Melbourne from 1964 to 1967, and was produced by DYT Productions at the Channel 0 studios in Nunawading, Victoria....
alongside contemporaries The Easybeats
The Easybeats
The Easybeats were an Australian rock and roll band. They formed in Sydney in late 1964 and broke up at the end of 1969. They are regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s, and were the first Australian rock and roll act to score an international pop hit with their 1966 single...
and Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
. Randell also appeared on another TV series, Kommotion with fellow pop artists including Burns (now a solo artist) and also featured performers miming to overseas artists' hits: Meldrum, for example, mimed to "Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral (song)
"Winchester Cathedral" is a song released in late 1966 by Fontana Records, whereupon it shot to the No. 1 spot in Canada on the RPM 100 national singles charts and shortly thereafter in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was released by The New Vaudeville Band, a novelty group established...
" by The New Vaudeville Band
The New Vaudeville Band
The New Vaudeville Band was a group created by songwriter Geoff Stephens in 1966 to record his novelty composition "Winchester Cathedral", a song inspired by the dance bands of the 1920s and a Rudy Vallee megaphone style vocal...
. Randell signed a new contract with CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
to release two further singles "Heart" and "Goin' Out of My Head" which both became Top 20 hits in Melbourne.
Randell worked the dance scene and discothèques, usually backed by The Spinning Wheels, with her trendsetting clothes and mod style carefully orchestrated by manager, West.
Randell was marketed as Australia's Miss Mod and became the most popular female performer in the mid-1960s. Teen magazine, Go-Set, had separate columns written by Meldrum and Rofe, it also ran a pop poll, with Randell voted 'Most Popular Female Vocal' in October 1966. "Goin' Out of My Head" peaked at No. 16 on the Go-Set National Top 40 in November.
On the back of her Australian success, Randell went to the United Kingdom and performed at Liverpool's Cavern Club. By 1967 she was in the United States, where she met The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
and had a brief relationship with Davy Jones
Davy Jones (actor)
David Thomas "Davy" Jones is an English rock singer-songwriter and actor best known as a member of the Monkees.-Early life:...
. She toured with them as part of a bill which also featured Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
and Ike & Tina Turner
Ike & Tina Turner
Ike & Tina Turner were an American rock & roll and soul duo, made of the husband-and-wife team of Ike Turner and Tina Turner in the 1960s and 1970s. Spanning sixteen years together as a recording group, the duo's repertoire included rock & roll, soul, blues and funk...
. Randell wrote in Go-Set and television programme guide, TV Week
TV Week
TV Week is a weekly television magazine in Australia, first published as a Melbourne-only publication in December 1957 , and bearing a strong affiliation to television station GTV.The publication is still publishing weekly...
, of her experiences while touring the US. Her next single, "Ciao Baby" written by Larry Weiss and Scott English
Scott English
Scott English is an American songwriter and record producer, best known as the composer of "Brandy", which became a number-one hit for Barry Manilow in 1974 under the revised title of "Mandy"...
, was recorded in New York and released on CBS Records in Australia. It reached No. 6 on Go-Sets Top 40 in June 1967. Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
also released it in the US, Randell shot a colour video for "Ciao Baby" which is believed to be the first by an Australian artist. The Australian B-side, "Stranger in My Arms" was released in the UK as the A-side. While touring the US, Randell became addicted to methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
tablets which were sold legally as slimming pills. She developed a long term addiction which subsequently damaged her brain, nervous system
Nervous system
The nervous system is an organ system containing a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals between different parts of its body. In most animals the nervous system consists of two parts, central and peripheral. The central nervous...
and adrenal glands.
Her next single "That's a Hoe Down" / "I Need You Boy" appeared in 1967 and she won another 'Most Popular Female Vocal' from Go-Set pop poll in October. Randell moved to Los Angeles in 1968 and released "An Open Letter". However, she had health problems with glandular fever and then peritonitis
Peritonitis
Peritonitis is an inflammation of the peritoneum, the serous membrane that lines part of the abdominal cavity and viscera. Peritonitis may be localised or generalised, and may result from infection or from a non-infectious process.-Abdominal pain and tenderness:The main manifestations of...
. Her last single, "I Love My Dog" was released in 1969 on Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
.
Marriage
Randell married Abe Hoch, an Atlantic RecordsAtlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
company executive, in 1969. She provided a weekly column for Go-Set as their US correspondent – their home was the US office for Go-Set Publications – during 1970 and 1971. In 1972, their son Jamieson Hoch was born. Abe Hoch later became head of Swan Song Records
Swan Song Records
Swan Song Records was a record label launched by the English rock band Led Zeppelin on 10 May 1974. It was overseen by Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant and was a vehicle for the band to promote its own products as well as sign artists who found it difficult to win contracts with other major labels...
and they moved to London in 1976 where Randell had further health problems related to her methamphetamine addiction and prescriptions by doctors. This caused difficulties for their marriage and led to their divorce by the late 1970s.
Later career and death
After the end of her marriage, Randell returned to Australia in 1980, she worked as a personal assistant to Meldrum, then compère of Countdown, until 1986. Randell worked for Seymour SteinSeymour Stein
Seymour Stein is an entrepreneur in the music industry who has been a part of the business since getting his first job as a clerk for Billboard magazine in 1958. Stein is a vice president of Warner Bros...
of Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
as his personal assistant in New York during the late 1980s, living close to her son Jamieson. Randell moved back to Melbourne in the 1990s and made occasional appearances in oldies concerts.
Randell went public about her methamphetamine addiction in 2004 in an interview with Peter Wilmoth of The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
. She indicated that her adrenal glands were atrophied to about 30% function. Randell was found dead at her home in Toorak
Toorak, Victoria
Toorak is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district located on a rise on the south side of a bend in the Yarra River. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington...
, Melbourne on 8 June 2007. Police said that there were "no suspicious circumstances". She left notes and gifts for family and friends. Her father had died three years earlier, she was survived by her mother, brothers, sister, son (Jamieson) and two grandchildren.
Jamieson Hoch, 35, died of a brain haemorrhage on 24 July 2007 only days after he joined mourners at St Kilda beach where he spoke about his mother and scattered her ashes in the water.
Extended plays
- CBS Presents Lynne Randell – (CBS, 1966)
- Ciao Baby – (CBS, 1967)
Singles
External links
- [ Lynne Randell biography] at Allmusic