Down from the roof

And so, farewell then Mr Kenny Lynch, one of the last of the great British "all-round entertainers" - singer, dancer, comedian and actor, he was often on our telly in the heyday of "variety" shows in the 60s and 70s, alongside the likes of Bruce Forsyth, Anita Harris, Cilla Black and his "old mucker" Jimmy Tarbuck.

He had a slew of chart hits in the early 60s, including his version of Goffin & King's Up On The Roof (also a hit for the Drifters, who then went on to record some of Mr Lynch's own compositions) and You Can Never Stop Me Loving You (which became a hit for Johnny Tillotson in the US); he even toured as a support act to The Beatles. He was also an accomplished songwriter; he co-wrote Sha-La-La-La-Lee for the Small Faces, Long Dark Road for The Hollies and Love's Just A Broken Heart for Cilla. For a time, he had his own record shop in the heart of Soho; and he famously appeared (with an odd assortment of characters that included Michael Parkinson, James Coburn, Clement Freud, John Conteh and Christopher Lee) on the cover of Wings' Band On The Run LP!

Phew.

By way of a tribute, here is the great man himself, performing two of his own "Swinging 60s" numbers. First up, I featured this one in my tribute to Kenny on his 80th:

Kenny Lynch - Crazy Crazes

And this is another rather groovy little number:

Kenny Lynch - Monument

RIP, Kenny Lynch OBE (born 18th March 1938)