These pages provide details of some of the printed publications - books, theatre programmes, newspapers and magazines - that have featured Lyn Paul during her long career.
On 10th May the New Seekers topped the bill at the Empire Theatre, Sunderland, supported by Pat Hutton and Gloria, Ray Fell, and Ireland's Eurovision winner, Dana.
Dana won the Eurovision Song Contest on 21st March 1970. Her winning song, All Kinds Of Everything, topped the UK singles chart for two weeks in April that year. By May 1971, when she appeared at the Empire Theatre with the New Seekers, Dana had just scored a second hit with Who Put The Lights Out (a UK number 14 in March).
1. Ray Fell
2. Pat Hatton and Gloria
3. Ray Fell introduces
4. Dana
Interval
5. Ray Fell
6. The New Seekers
Neil Diamond
Royal Festival Hall
Saturday, 29th May 1971 at 6.15 & 9.00pm
On 29th May 1971 the New Seekers appeared at the Royal Festival Hall with Neil Diamond. Neil Diamond's trip to the UK came on the back of his first Top 10 hits - Cracklin' Rosie (a UK number 3 in December 1970) and Sweet Caroline (a UK number 8 in March of '71). A third Top 10 hit, I Am... I Said, followed in May.
The programme included a page on the New Seekers, which summarised the group's brief history:
"The New Seekers are not a resurrection of the old "Seekers". When Keith Potger brought them together... he had fulfilled an idea which differed completely in concept from any that the Seekers might have had. And now, 18 months, 3 Ed Sullivan Shows, 1 Andy Williams Show, and 2 U.S. smash hits later, Keith Potger says: The New Seekers do what the old Seekers did and then what the old Seekers couldn't do."
The biographies of the group members were not entirely accurate: Paul Layton's year of birth was given as 1950, while Marty Kristian's and Lyn Paul's birthdays were stated to be 23rd May and 15th February respectively.
In the Autumn of 1971, following the success of Never Ending Song Of Love, the New Seekers set off on a headlining tour of the UK.
The group performed the following songs: We're Gonna Change The World; There's A Light; What Have They Done To My Song, Ma; Blackberry Way; The Nickel Song; Never Ending Song Of Love; Beautiful People; One; Good Old Fashioned Music; My Sweet Lord; I'll Be Home; Get Ourselves Together; Move Me Lord; Streets Of London; I'm A Train; Born Free; Georgie Girl [sic].
On 15th November the New Seekers appeared before Her Majesty The Queen at the Royal Variety Performance.
Programme
1. The Young Generation
2. The Villams
3. Bruce Forsyth
4. Dailey & Wayne
5. The Stupids
6. Lovelace Watkins
7. Norman Collier
8. Hughie Green
9. The Little Angels of Korea
Intermission
10. Jack Parnell and his Orchestra
11. The New Seekers
12. The New Dollys
13. Ken Goodwin
14. Sacha Distel and Stephane Grappelli
15. Tommy Cooper
16. Shirley Bassey
Almost immediately after their appearance at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, in the 1972 Eurovision Song Contest, the New Seekers set off on their second tour of the UK. The artwork and photos used for the tour programme mirrored the artwork and photos on the sleeve of their Eurovision single Beg, Steal Or Borrow and on their UK album We'd Like To Teach The World To Sing.
The group performed the following songs: Beautiful People; Beg, Steal Or Borrow; Blackberry Way; Fire And Rain / My Sweet Lord; Georgie Girl [sic]; Good Old Fashioned Music; 'Hair' Medley; I Believe In Music; I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing; I'm A Train; Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma; Never Ending Song Of Love; Nickel Song; One; Tonight; When There's No Love Left.
Itinerary
27th March, Kelvin Hall, Glasgow
28th March, Odeon, Newcastle
29th March, ABC, Huddersfield
30th March, Odeon, Birmingham
31st March, Grand Hall, Scarborough
1st April, Public Hall, Preston
2nd April, New Theatre, Oxford
3rd April, Capitol, Cardiff
5th April, Victoria Hall, Stoke On Trent
6th April, Guildhall, Portsmouth
7th April, City Hall, St. Albans
8th April, Central Hall, Chatham
9th April, Winter Gardens, Bournemouth
11th April, Lees City Hall, Folkestone
12th April, Royal Albert Hall, London
13th April, Oval Hall, Sheffield
14th April, ABC, Hull
15th April, Free Trade Hall, Manchester
16th April, Empire Theatre, Liverpool
17th April, Colston Hall, Bristol
18th April, Albert Hall, Nottingham
20th April, The Dome, Brighton
21st April, ABC, Plymouth
22nd April, ABC, Northampton
The New Seekers' performance at the Royal Albert Hall on 12th April was recorded and issued in the UK as a double album, Live At The Royal Albert Hall. It was also filmed for television and released many years later on video and DVD.
New Seekers Australasia Tour 1972
As 1972 drew to a close the New Seekers squeezed in a concert tour of New Zealand and Australia. The Winter '72 - '73 Fan Club Newsletter reported that the tour had been a "great success", with the group playing to "the second biggest audience ever known in Aukland."
For Peter Doyle and Marty Kristian the tour gave them a welcome opportunity to visit home: "Of course Peter and Marty were happy to have another chance to meet their relations and friends in Australia, even though they were only there for a few days."
The tour programme described Lyn Paul as "a singer, dancer and comedienne" and mentioned her past association with Eve Graham in The Nocturnes: "Lyn was with her own vocal trio initially before joining Eve in The Nocturnes. Both girls then left the group to sing in The New Seekers."
The tour included concerts at Town Hall, Christchurch (10th November); Hordern Pavilion, Sydney (16th November); Dallas Brooks Hall, Melbourne (18th November) and Adelaide.
The New Seekers' third UK tour was compered by DJ Alan Freeman, the Pick of the Pops presenter known for his catchphrases "Greetings, pop pickers" and "not 'arf".
The group was supported at some venues by the duo Ofarim and Winter. Abi Ofarim (real name Abraham Reichstadt) was best known for his 1968 hit Cinderella Rockefella, recorded with his wife Esther. Tom Winter had previously been a member of the Dutch band Opus.
The New Seekers performed a selection from the following songs:
22nd March, Royal Albert Hall, London
23rd March, Gaumont, Ipswich (two shows)
24th March, Gaumont, Hanley
25th March, ABC, Chester (two shows)
30th March, ABC, Plymouth
31st March, The Dome, Brighton
1st April, Empire, Liverpool
3rd April, Carlton, Dublin (two shows)
4th April, Savoy, Cork (two shows)
6th April, Capitol Theatre, Cardiff
7th April, Central Hall, Chatham (two shows)
8th April, Winter Gardens, Bournemouth (two shows)
11th April, Usher Hall, Edinburgh
13th April, Caird Hall, Dundee
14th April, Kelvin Hall, Glasgow
15th April, City Hall, Newcastle
17th April, Colston Hall, Bristol
18th April, Guildhall, Portsmouth (two shows)
21st - 23rd April, ABC, Blackpool
26th April, Town Hall, Leeds
27th April, Free Trade Hall, Manchester
28th April, Odeon, Birmingham
29th April, De Montford Hall, Leicester
2nd May, ABC, Gloucester
3rd May, ABC, Northampton
4th May, ABC, Peterborough
5th May, New Theatre, Oxford
6th May, Fairfield Hall, Croydon
7th May, Pavilion, Hemel Hempstead
Vicki Carr
Warwick Musical Theater
6th - 11th August 1973
From the beginning of June 1973 through to the end of August that year the New Seekers made a variety of live appearances across the USA. These included a series of shows supporting Vikki Carr.
Best known in the USA for her 1967 hit It Must Be Him, Vikki Carr had first made a ripple on the pond in 1962 with her recording of He's A Rebel. The song caught the ear of producer Phil Spector, who promptly recorded the cover version that became a number one hit for The Crystals. Carr had to wait five years before she had her own Top 3 hit but then went on to have a string of, albeit more minor, US hits with songs such as The Lesson and With Pen In Hand, the latter written by Bobby Goldsboro. Her last hit, 1971's I'll Be Home, was a Randy Newman song which the New Seekers had also recorded that year. I'll Be Home was featured on Carr's 1971 album Vikki Carr's Love Story, which also included her version of Hurt, a song that Lyn Paul would later record on her album Late Night.
In 1973, in addition to her concert performances, Vikki Carr guest-hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Bob Florence
Musical Director
Randy Marr, Guitar
Dan Mark, Bass
Tom Melton, Drums
New Seekers Farewell Tour 1974
Programme
John Pantry
Interval
The New Seekers
singing a selection from the following songs:
25th March, Granada, Sutton
26th March, Winter Gardens, Bournemouth
27th March, Gaumont, Ipswich
28th March, Central Hall, Chatham
29th March, Odeon, Taunton
30th March, Festival Hall, Paignton
31st March, Capitol, Cardiff
2nd April, De Montford Hall, Leicester
3rd April, Guildhall, Preston
4th April, Usher Hall, Edinburgh
5th April, Caird Hall, Dundee
6th April, Music Hall, Aberdeen
7th April, Apollo, Glasgow
8th April, City Hall, Newcastle
9th April, City Hall, Hull
12th April, Southport Theatre, Southport
13th April, ABC, Blackpool
14th April, Futurist Theatre, Scarborough
16th April, ABC Cinema, Belfast
17th April, Carlton Cinema, Dublin
18th April, Odeon, Cork
21st April, Coventry
22nd April, Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
24th April, The Dome, Brighton
25th April, Guildhall, Portsmouth
26th April, Dreamland Theatre, Margate
27th April, Granada, Kettering
28th April, New Theatre, Oxford
29th April, Victoria Hall, Hanley
2nd May, Town Hall, Birmingham
3rd May, Town Hall, Leeds
4th May, Opera House, Manchester
5th May, Rainbow Theatre, London.
Pictured (left to right): Eve Graham, Peter Oliver, Lyn Paul, Paul Layton and Marty Kristian.
