Glasgow Mods - R&B, British Beat Music, Motown, Northern Soul

Lorraine Silver first recorded this song at the tender age of thirteen in 1965. Boredom during the school holidays had driven Lorraine on a shopping spree to London’s Oxford Street, whilst there she found herself sifting through the discs in the record department when she decided that she should make a record. She’d had a love of singing for as long as she could remember and had always enjoyed entering talent competitions.

Back in 1965 Woolworth’s was the home of the record booth, these were contraptions which would record your voice on vinyl for a couple of shillings as only the wrinklies amongst you will remember. Lorraine deposited her two shillings into the recording machine and gave a hearty rendition of ‘Sealed with a Kiss’.

Lorraine had serious faith in her efforts and carried things a step further. She marched into PYE Records, Marble Arch, London, with this rough acappella disco which must have been a pretty brave move for a 13 year old girl to make in the 1960’s and she politely asked if anyone would like to listen to it.

Two months later Lorraine excitedly received a letter from the record company asking her to attend an audition following which she was given a recording contract.

Lorraine was caught up in an exciting whirlwind of events, she was originally destined to record “I’ll keep on holding on” which had been released by The Marvelettes in the USA but then she was given a slow ballad by American songstress Shelley Fabares which she was asked to cover. The tempo was raised, a big band hired, which included on bass guitar Klaus Voorman, who, unbeknown to Lorraine at the time was a close friend of The Beatles, having been with them in their Hamburg days. He also later designed The Beatles’ Revolver sleeve for their album. Lorraine did her stuff and “Lost Summer Love” was born.

For a brief moment Lorraine Silver was famous. Articles about her appeared in the press, she got frequent airplay on Radio Luxembourg and appeared in a radio show, which was broadcast live at the Marquee Club in London, called ‘Ready Steady Radio’. It was here that she met many other stars of the period including Lulu. Tales of such events made Lorraine a heroine amongst her school friends who shared in her excitement and weren’t even jealous when she was allowed to miss lessons for more glamorous things such as photo sessions and interviews.

However, fame is a very fragile commodity and fate was not kind to Lorraine Silver. She was on the verge of an appearance on ‘ Ready Steady Go’ which could have thrust her into national stardom, when The Overlanders popped up. They were a group who were managed by the same agent as Lorraine and when their only big hit ‘Michele’ began to shoot up the charts Lorraine was forced to let them take her prime time television spot.

Lorraine did cut another single ‘The Happy Faces’ an original song written by Johnny Harris who was the record producer of both her singles. He went on to record numerous hits with Petula Clark. On the B Side of ‘The Happy Faces’ was a version of The Supremes ‘When the Love Light Starts Shining Thru His Eyes’. This track featured backing vocals by The Ladybirds and hand clapping by Lorraine’s father who had to accompany her to all recording sessions because of her age. ‘The Happy Faces’ just didn’t get the push that it needed from Lorraine’s agents whose attention was still fully focused on The Overlanders and the single flopped.

Read more of Lorraine’s story here: www.lorrainesilver.com

written by stevie fae cranhill \\ tags: Lorraine Silver, Lost Summer Love