Lyn Paul website: Lyn Paul then ... 1973

The New Seekers start the year in style. On 18th January the group plays for President Nixon at the Kennedy Center, Washington - the first time that an act from outside the USA had been invited to perform at a Presidential Inauguration.

On 26th January the New Seekers make the first of two television appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The first episode is hosted by Mama Cass Elliot and includes Pat Boone among the other guests. The second, screened on 23rd May, features Faye Dunaway and James Hampton.

By now the New Seekers sound less like the original Seekers than ever. In February they release a single which combines two songs from Pete Townshend's rock opera Tommy. Pinball Wizard / See Me, Feel Me (Polydor 2058 338) is a Top 20 hit in the UK (where it reaches number 16) and also does well in the United States (where it reaches number 29). The New Seekers promote the single in the UK with TV appearances, including a guest slot on The Val Doonican Show (ITV, Saturday, 17th February, 8.30pm)

Another single is released in March which is a complete contrast in style. Nevertheless (I'm In Love With You) (Polydor 2058 340) is an old time smoocher and is credited to Eve Graham and the New Seekers.

Having returned to the UK in February for cabaret dates at the Fiesta Clubs in Sheffield and Stockton, the New Seekers embark on a concert tour of the UK and Ireland during the Spring to promote their new album - New Seekers Now (Polydor 2383 195). Released in April, the album was recorded in part at the MGM Studios in Los Angeles with the Osmonds' producer, Mike Lloyd, and includes two songs written by the Osmonds - That's My Guy (originally That's My Girl) and Utah. Lyn takes the lead vocal on a song entitled Everything Changing - one of the five tracks recorded in London.

The New Seekers' tour kicks off in style at the Royal Albert Hall. Lyn Paul's solo spot is a show stopper! She rips off her long dress to reveal a mini skirt, which she wears as she dances a charleston to the tune I Could Be Happy With You. The tour ends at the Pavilion, Hemel Hempstead on 7th May.

The New Seekers at the Royal Albert Hall, 1973.
Pictured (left to right): Paul Layton, Marty Kristian, Eve Graham, Lyn Paul and Peter Doyle.
Copyright © Chris Walter. Photo used with permission.
See more of Chris Walters' photographs at the Photofeatures website.

On 1st April the New Seekers star in the BBC2 series They Sold A Million, featuring the Alyn Ainsworth Orchestra and the Young Generation. On 11th May the group is voted Britain's Top Pop Act by readers of The Sun newspaper.

In June Peter Doyle leaves the group and a single is released aptly titled Goodbye Is Just Another Word (Polydor 2058 368). Peter Oliver is recruited as a replacement and joins the New Seekers on their cabaret and concert tour of the USA. The tour, which had started in May, runs through to August and includes their first appearance in Las Vegas. Then comes an unexpected offer to tour with Liza Minnelli for three weeks. So, instead of returning home as planned, the New Seekers stay on in America until October. In 2006 Lyn recalled this as "the highlight" of her time with the New Seekers:

Back in Britain the New Seekers are used to promote the Keep Britain Tidy Campaign. In September posters featuring the group appear on hoardings all around the country and a single, We've Got To Do It Now (Polydor 2058 397), is used to help get the message across. All proceeds from the sale of the single are donated to the Campaign.

While the New Seekers are in Hollywood Lyn tells Peter Oliver that she wants to leave the group. She contacts Peter Gormley, Cliff Richard's agent in the UK, and prepares to leave. As Lyn tells it:

Success it is, but stay together they don't. On Christmas Eve, Eve Graham announces that she is leaving the group. Eve's and Lyn's contracts state that only one of them can leave the group at any given time. Lyn insists that she is also leaving. The result, as Lyn later explained in another radio interview, was that "I signed everything away ... The only way we could get out of our contracts was to sign everything away. Or so we were told."

Meanwhile, an unsuspecting British public knows only what it sees and hears on the television - five smiling faces and the outward show of "perfect harmony". Following appearances on the Lulu show and two children's programmes, Magpie and The Basil Brush Show, the New Seekers record appearances on The Golden Shot, The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show and a seven week series as special guests on the David Frost Show. You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me enters the UK singles chart on 24th November and rapidly rises into the Top 5. Everything in the garden seems rosy.

Incidentally ...

In June 1973 singer-songwriter Albert Hammond has his only UK hit with Free Electric Band (Mums 1494). The New Seekers had previously recorded two of Hammond's songs. The first, I'm A Train, was issued as a studio recording on the 1970 album Keith Potger & The New Seekers and later released as a concert recording on the album Live at the Royal Albert Hall. The second, Down By The River, appeared on the 1972 US album Come Softly To Me. It was never released in the UK.

In August Roy Wood has the first of four solo hits with Dear Elaine (Harvest HAR 5074). The B-side of the single is Wood's version of Songs Of Praise. The song had originally been submitted as one of the entries in the 1972 Song For Europe and was included on the New Seekers' album We'd Like To Teach the World To Sing.


In the News - 1973
Jan	Denmark, Ireland and the UK become members of the European Economic Community. The Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir, visits the Pope at the Vatican on the 15th January. On the same day, following a deal brokered by Henry Kissenger at peace talks in Paris, the US President, Richard Nixon, orders a halt to American bombing in North Vietnam. Five days later, on Saturday, 20th January, Nixon is inaugurated for his second four-year term as President.
Feb	Archbishop Makarios is re-elected President of Cyprus. UK gas workers begin a campaign of strikes, go-slows and overtime bans in pursuit of a pay claim above the government's limits. Women traders are allowed on to the floor of the London Stock Exchange for the first time.
Mar	Hospital ancillary workers in the UK go on strike in support of a claim for an extra £4 per week. A special conference of the TUC calls for a one day general strike in protest at the UK government's pay policy. On 9th March the Northern Ireland electorate votes in favour of remaining in the United Kingdom. The British governor of Bermuda, Sir Richard Sharples, and his assistant, Captain Hugh Sayers, are assassinated on Saturday, 10th March as they stroll in the grounds of the Government House. Noël Coward dies at his home in Jamaica on Monday, 26th March, aged 73. On the same day women are admitted to the London Stock Exchange for the first time in it's 200-year history, though they are still not allowed on the trading floor. Having made famous a song entitled Cover Of The 'Rolling Stone', Dr. Hook are finally pictured on a cover of Rolling Stone magazine, published on 29th March.
Apr	In the UK Value Added Tax (VAT) replaces Purchase Tax. Pablo Picasso dies at his home in France on 8th April, aged 91. An Icelandic gunboat fires at two British trawlers in the disputed 50 mile fishing zone around Iceland. The film That'll Be The Day, starring David Essex and Ringo Starr, is premiered in London on 12th April. President Nixon appears on US television on 30th April to announce the resignation of three of his closest associates at the White House. Nixon denies any personal knowledge of the bugging of the Democratic Party national headquarters but accepts ultimate responsibility.
May	There is a one-day national strike in the UK on 1st May. Dockyards, the engineering industry and car manufacturing all grind to a halt. There are no train services and no national newspapers. On 18th May the UK Minister for Trade, Sir Geoffrey Howe, orders an inquiry into the affairs of Lonrho. On 31st May Lonrho shareholders vote at an extraordinary meeting in favour of Tiny Rowland continuing as the company's Chief Executive. They also vote to dismiss the eight Directors who had tried to get rid of him.
Jun	The Greek government abolishes the Monarchy. The Prime Minister, George Papadopoulos, becomes President (he is sworn in on 19th August). A Russian Tupolev-144 supersonic airline explodes and crashes at the Paris Air Show. Six crew members and eight civilians are killed. Willy Brandt arrives in Tel Aviv on 7th June. He is the first German Chancellor to visit Israel. Architect John Poulsen and Scottish civil servant William Pottinger appear in Court on conspiracy charges.
Jul	Betty Grable dies on 2nd July. Bruce Lee dies on 19th July. President Nixon is admitted to Bethesda Naval Hospital with viral pneumonia. On 21st July the French test an H Bomb on Muraroa Atoll. £20 million compensation is awarded to Thalidomide victims.
Aug	On 2nd August 49 holidaymakers are killed in a fire at the Summerland entertainment complex in Douglas on the Isle of Man. Stevie Wonder is seriously injured in a car accident on 6th August. The political dissident Kim Dae Jung - later the President of South Korea - is kidnapped from a Tokyo hotel room by agents of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency on Wednesday, 8th August. President Nixon appears on US TV on 15th August. Whilst denying that he was involved in the Watergate affair, he admits that some of his subordinates were. Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge get married in Malibu, California on 19th August. The IRA fire bomb Harrods and Libertys in London.
Sep	Len Murray is formally elected General Secretary of the TUC. The President of Chile, Salvator Allende, is deposed in a military coup. Gram Parsons dies of a drug overdose on 19th September. Jim Croce, best-known for songs such as Time In A Bottle and I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song (which became a posthumous hit for him in the USA) dies in a plane crash on 20th September. General Juan Peron, who had been in exile for 18 years, is elected President of Argentina. W.H. Auden dies on 28th September.
Oct	Yom Kippur War: fierce fighting breaks out on 6th October between Israel and her Arab neighbours: Egyptian troops cross the Suez Canal into the Sinai desert while Syrian forces attack the Golan Heights. London's first commercial radio stations are launched - LBC is the first on the air on 8th October, with Capital Radio a close second on 9th October. On 10th October Spiro Agnew resigns as Vice-President of the USA. He is replaced by Gerald Ford. Ten Arab states reduce oil production by 5%, demanding that Israel withdraws from occupied Arab territory and restores the rights of Palestinians. The Sydney Opera House is completed. It is officially opened by the Queen on Saturday, 20th October. On the same day the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, makes his first visit to the UK. President Nixon agrees to hand over the Watergate tapes to Judge John Sirica. At a televised news conference on 26th October Nixon says he will not resign.
Nov	Israel and Egypt sign a cease-fire agreement on 11th November. Coal miners and power supply workers in the UK begin an overtime ban in support of their pay claims. As the fuel crisis deepens, the UK government declares a state of emergency. Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips get married at Westminster Abbey on 14th November. US comedian Allan Sherman, best-known for his 1963 hit Hello Muddah, Hello Fadder! (A Letter From Camp), dies on 21st November, aged 48. President Papadopoulos is deposed by the Greek army.
Dec	Francis Pym is appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 2nd December. The train drivers' union ASLEF announces a ban on overtime and rest day working after the breakdown of wages talks with British Rail. On 13th December the Prime Minister, Edward Heath, announces the introduction of a three day working week for all industries except essential services. John Paul Getty III is freed by kidnappers on 14th December, after being held hostage for six months. On 17th December Arab terrorists kill 32 people at Rome Airport before hijacking a Lufthansa plane and flying to Athens and then Kuwait. Bobby Darin, who had number 1 hits in 1959 with Dream Lover and Mack The Knife, dies of a heart attack on Thursday, 20th December, aged 37. The Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is killed in an Eta car-bomb attack in Madrid on the same day.

Goodbye Is Just Another Word

Incidentally ...

Who said that?