A tribute to Jerry Lordan

Jerry Lordan is, possibly, one of the most underrated and forgotten pop music artists of all time. Why was his success so limited? I don't have the answer.

Jerry Lordan(born Jeremiah Patrick Lordan ), born Paddington, London 30 April 1934 -24 July 1995  was an English songwriter, composer, and singer. He had three hit singles on the UK  Singles Chart before focusing purely on songwriting.

Amongst his songwriting credits were the chart hits "I've Waited So Long" (Anthony Newley), "A Girl Like You" ( Cliff Richard) "I'm Just a Baby" (Louise Cordet).  His Instrumental No 1 hits were "Apache" (Shadows ) "Wonderful Land" (Shadows) "Diamonds" Jet Harris and (Tony Meehan).

By the end of the 1960s, the success was largely over, although he did release two singles in 1974, and continued writing, although his songs were never published. However, he did leave a legacy of top hits, and most people even today still know "Apache" when played, but probably not the man who wrote it. 

In the early 1960s, I became the disc Jockey at the Gaumont Ballroom. It was in this capacity that I had a free pass to go backstage to the concerts and meet and greet some of the stars.

One of the first I tried was Friday 29th April for 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows', Jerry Lordan, Peter Elliott, The Four Jones Boys, The Billy Woods Five' Kathy Kirby, and Norman Vaughan compère. 

Backstage was busy as I wandered around, although no chance of a meet-up with Cliff and the Shadows, I did get a smile and hello from Kathy Kirby,  as all of the other artists I had never heard of.

One who I did spend some time with was Jerry Lordan whom I had watched going through his numbers, singing good and catchy tunes, one being "Who Could be Bluer?". His stage time being over we sat in one of the empty dressing rooms chatting about him and me and both having done National Service. It was an hour well spent and as I left we shook hands as Cliff and the Shadows were now on stage. All noise and screams. I left to catch the bus home.

On reflection, I was naive on my first backstage pass to the pop shows, without my autograph book, plus very different from just seeing them on the TV. However, I would later meet many pop stars and get their autographs, as can be seen on Autographs with a Story, on the website.

Yes, that night was a learning curve for me, of which the main thing I remember was, having that chat with Jerry Lordan. One of his records I did play at both the Gaumont and the Majestic was "Do I Worry", which was appropriate for the lads who had just parted from their girlfriends.

From the early sixties to mid-1980s, I was now a  representative for a sports company and on my way to the head office two-day meeting in Bury St Edmunds. A few miles from there I would call into the Little Chef in Saxham on the A14 for a break. On entering it was quiet as I took a table near one of the windows. Opposite on the next table was a face I recognised, was Jerry Lordan!
We greeted each other and although it had been 25 years ago, he remembered me, but not my name. For the next 30 minutes, it was updates about our careers, he was still songwriting but had other interests. During our conversation, I told him how I used to play 'Do I Worry' , my favourite at the dance halls. We were still talking and left together for our cars both parked nearby. He shook my hand  then said 'Just a minute and went to the boot of his car and came back and gave me a copy of the record in its original sleeve,

'Do I Worry', which I still have in my collection.

The end of my story, and the question "who wrote Apache?" is answered.