Lyn Travels Full Circle

Singer Lyn Paul is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of the band that made her a star by bringing the music of the New Seekers to the Costa Blanca.

She toured the world in the most successful line up of the band for over four and a half years and enjoyed continued chart success across the globe. Lyn Paul and the Sound of the New Seekers make their live debut on May 8th and will perform the hits from the seventies – proving life really is made up of Circles, a number four smash back in 1972.

After weeks of rehearsal with some of the coast’s most talented musicians, Lyn is ready to sing the hits as a tribute to the original band. Now living in Spain, Lyn told Round Town News: “When I first came over here, the last thing I wanted to do was sing – it was the last thing I wanted to do. When someone first suggested singing some New Seekers songs I said ‘no’. But then the idea took hold, maybe because it is the anniversary.

CAREER
“It is not the New Seekers, just a tribute to a band I was very lucky to be a part of and gave me a career.” The group’s first UK hit was Never Ending Song of Love – the band had already wooed America with What Have They Done to My Song, Ma - but the New Seekers found global fame with I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing – an adaptation of a number they first recorded for a Coca-Cola advert. Chart success continued with Beg Steal or Borrow, runner-up in the Eurovision Song Contest, Circles, Come Softly to Me, You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me, and I Get A Little Sentimental Over You.

“We went everywhere, all over. It was a wonderful life, and still is,” said Lyn. “We did everything you are supposed to – travelled in limos and stayed in the best hotels. “It was a great life. I just wish I had enjoyed it more. I was 21 when I first started and I did not enjoy it as much as I should have, I missed home and my mum and dad. I was very young.” Lyn auditioned for the fledgling New Seekers being formed by Keith Potger, from the original Seekers, and suggested Eve Graham as another female singer.

NOWHERE
Lyn remembered that Eve later rang her to say “it was going nowhere” and then read her friend was in the band. However, within six months three original members left and Lyn joined. “I left a council estate in Manchester and my parents – who had given me a really good upbringing – and I was suddenly in this band being told we were going to America.”

Before crossing the Atlantic, the band members were each given £100 “to buy decent coats”. Lyn added: “They wanted us to get off the plane looking as if we had something, they didn’t care what we looked like underneath, so I bought this long rabbit coat. “It was just like an absolute dream, it was wonderful.” Lyn Paul and the Sound of the New Seekers were born after the singer met husband and wife team Ian and Gill Henry, performing as duo Double Impact on New Year’s Eve.

Ian offered to re-record some backing tracks and matters snowballed. “I sing lead and Gill and Ian sing the other parts with lead lines,” explained Lyn, who said she was very grateful for the pair’s help in getting the sound right – especially the right blend of voices. And with two members of Strikland and a former member of Lindisfarne, the band plans to be in perfect harmony for the debut. Catch Lyn Paul and the Sound of the New Seekers at Le Cabaret, Cumbre del Sol on May 8th and 9th, and at the Moraira Music Festival on June 14th.