The Intro

For most of the first month of 1974, Slade held firm at the top. This is often the case with Christmas number 1s, which I’ve always found strange. Surely you’ve had enough of that song by the time the decorations have come down?

However, you can’t blame the British public for holding on to Merry Xmaƨ Everybody for a few weeks longer. The Three-Day Week began on New Year’s Day, the country was in its first recession since the Second World War, and living in fear of explosions courtesy of the IRA. But eventually people stopped buying it, which left The New Seekers to move up a few notches and claim their second number 1, and this time, they didn’t owe it to Coca-Cola.

Before

Fresh off the success of I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony), the group represented the UK in the 1972 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Edinburgh. Beg, Steal or Borrow finished in second place and reached number two in the charts. Circles climbed to number four later that year, but 1973 saw a dip in their fortunes and their chart placings dropped for singles including their medley of The Who’s Pinball Wizard-See Me, Feel Me. Peter Doyle perhaps felt they couldn’t recover, so he left and was replaced by Peter Oliver. They took to putting members in the forefront and singing leads more often than the five-piece harmonies of old, and You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me was Lyn Paul’s turn.

Lynda Susan Belcher, born 16 February 1949 in Wythenshawe, Manchester, became a child actress as early as 1960, attending regular classes in dance and musical theatre. She led teenage girl band The Crys-Do-Lyns before qualifying as a dance teacher. With the 60s drawing to a close, she changed her name to Tanzy Paul and tried to become a solo star before joining Mancunian group The Nocturnes. Also in its line-up was Eve Graham, who left to join The New Seekers. When Sally Graham left the group, it was Eve who suggested Paul.

Songwriters Tony Macauley and Geoff Stephens had years of experience writing for the biggest British stars, and Macauley was involved with previous number 1s by The Foundations, Long John Baldry and Edison Lighthouse.

Review

Opening with a bawdy blast of brass, You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me is too upbeat sounding for its theme, really. Paul gives a great performance, belting the lyrics with gusto, but it’s a pretty sad song deep down, seemingly about a girl who’s in love with someone in a relationship elsewhere, who won’t commit to her, but keeps going back for more anyway. Having said that, it’s not as if lyrics have to fit the mood of the song, and for what it is, it’s not a bad piece of pop, really. I enjoy it more than their previous number 1.

After

However, after one-more big hit in March (I Get a Little Sentimental Over You), it was announced that The New Seekers were to split. There had been arguments from the band that they weren’t being paid enough, and both Graham and Paul wanted out. They had recorded enough material for Polydor Records to release Farewell Album.

It only took two years though, and The New Seekers were back, but with Kathy Ann Rae and Danny Finn replacing Paul and Peter Oliver. They couldn’t recapture their earlier success, and only I Wanna Go Back in 1976 and Anthem (One Day in Every Week) in 1978 troubled the top 30, and that year, Graham and Finn left the group to marry. In 1980 Marty Kristian was the only original member remaining in the group when they were disqualified from entering the Eurovision Song Contest due to performing a song they had already performed a year earlier. The competition was won by Prima Donna, a group featuring Finn in the line-up.

Since then there have been several versions of The New Seekers. Graham and Finn occasionally toured together and Graham recorded a couple of solo albums. Finn died in 2016 of of pulmonary embolism. Kristian finally left the group in 2002 and has recorded solo work. Doyle also went solo and made advertising jingles for Sugar Puffs and Ribena, before returning to Australia. He died of throat cancer in 2001.

The Outro

Out of all the members, Paul became the most famous. She had success with It Oughta Sell a Million in 1975, which featured Doyle on backing vocals, and it was used on a Coca-Cola advert, of all things. After a quiet decade in the 80s, she became a West End star in the musical Blood Brothers in 1997 until 2010, and also appeared in Footloose – The Musical! and Cabaret, among others. Paul has also been a semi-regular on Emmerdale and starred in Doctors and Holby City.

The Info

Written by

Tony Macauley & Geoff Stephens

Producer

Tony Oliver

Weeks at number 1

1 (19-25 January)

Trivia

Deaths

19 January: Artist Edward Seago