Ray Pilgrim

Ray Pilgrim
(Bobby Stevens)
Birth name Ray Pilgrim
Born 1936 (age 79–80)
Origin London, England
Genres Pop
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, record producer, musician
Years active Mainly 1960 – 1965
Labels Embassy (main), Oriole, Pye, Top Rank, WRC, Redrock
Associated acts Lead vocals in The Typhoons, The Starlings, The Jaybirds and Beatmen
Website Official Site

Ray Pilgrim (born 1936, London, England) was one of the most prolific big band singers, radio broadcasters, recording and session singers in Britain in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Biography

Music career

He recorded mainly for UK's Embassy Records under the Ray Pilgrim name and also made nearly 150 cover records for the Embassy Records label using in addition to Ray Pilgrim the name Bobby Stevens (particularly in earlier 1960–1962 releases). In later releases he used the names The Typhoons, The Starlings, The Jaybirds and the Beatmen.[1] He was the lead vocals in The Typhoons alongside Mike Redway, and the lead vocals in The Starlings alongside Joan Baxter).

His recordings under various names were released on over 30 different labels in over 20 different countries with aggregate sales estimated at around five million. He also recorded TV jingles, demos, and film soundtracks.

Pilgrim did not regard singing as a long-term career and said he only became a professional singer to enable him to give up his job at a bank to go to university and get a degree at the London School of Economics. He sang with the Oscar Rabin Orchestra and was featured for over 190 consecutive weeks singing live on the popular BBC radio programme, Go Man Go. He was also guest on other shows such as the BBC's Saturday Club and ITV's Cool For Cats.

Pilgrim, although concentrating on singing cover versions of many famous songs, he wrote few original songs including "Baby Doll", "Little Miss Make Believe" and "Love Is Blind" which he recorded himself for Oriole. His songs were also interpreted by other artists. "Little Christine" written by Pilgrim was a successful hit for Dick Jordan, Burt Blanca, and Danny Fisher. Pilgrim's "Just Once More Dance" was recorded by Lee Curtis, and his song "Big Boy", which was the English version of the Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest song "Voi Voi", was performed and recorded by Nora Brockstedt.

Professional career

Eventually, Pilgrim gave up singing after he gained his degree and made a successful career in information technology. But he came out of "retirement" at a day's notice to record his last session in April 1966, being the theme song for the movie Carry On Screaming!.

Discography

Compositions

Singles

1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
2010

In compilations

In backing vocals

References

  1. ↑ Real Names of Embassy Records artists

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, March 29, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.