Biography
Jerry Lordan entered the world as Jeremiah Patrick Lordan in Paddington, London, and ranked among England’s earliest rock & roll songwriters to gain traction. Self-taught on guitar and piano during childhood, he later studied at Finchley Catholic High School and completed National Service as a radar operator in the Royal Air Force in the early 1950s. Returning to civilian life, he sampled roles as a comedian and singer before trying advertising. That field opened the door when a producer heard his demo of “A House, A Car and a Wedding Ring” and arranged its recording by Mike Preston for Decca. The single made no chart impact, yet Dale Hawkins covered the song on Checker Records, the rock & roll subsidiary of Chess Records, giving Lordan’s budding reputation a lift from the transatlantic placement. Further momentum arrived via “I’ve Waited So Long,” cut by Anthony Newley, whose version reached number three in England in spring 1959. Two additional Lordan numbers appeared that same year in the Newley vehicle Idol on Parade. Parlophone then signed him as a vocalist, and three of his singles charted in 1960, the strongest being “Who Could Be Bluer?”.
His decisive breakthrough as a composer came around the same period with the instrumental “Apache.” Bert Weedon recorded it first, though release was delayed, while Lordan toured with the Shadows, Cliff Richard’s backing quartet at the time. Dissatisfied with Weedon’s approach, Lordan played the piece on ukulele for bassist Jet Harris. The band, still seeking its first hit independent of Richard, responded by cutting the track. Issued in July 1960, the Shadows’ “Apache” ascended to number one in August and held the summit for five weeks. Danish guitarist Jorgen Ingmann subsequently took a version to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States; Ingmann’s recording became the familiar American hit, while the Shadows’ original endured in English oldies compilations. Lordan thereby established himself on both sides of the Atlantic, and the Shadows’ single earned Top Record of 1960 honors in the New Musical Express Readers’ Poll. Abandoning performance, he focused exclusively on songwriting thereafter, supplying the Shadows with the U.K. chart-topper “Wonderful Land,” the number-two single “Atlantis,” and the 1965 vocal hit “The Next Time I See Mary Ann.” Another number one arrived with “Diamonds,” recorded in 1963 by former Shadow Jet Harris alongside Tony Meehan, who also reached number two with Lordan’s “Scarlett O’Hara.” By then the Ventures had added his material to their American instrumental repertoire. Additional successes included Cliff Richard’s “A Girl Like You” and Louise Cordet’s “I’m Just a Baby.”
The 1960s constituted Lordan’s prime era; once the decade closed, so did most of his commercial fortunes. Hits ceased, and an acting appearance in the Harrison Marks sex comedy Come Play with Me yielded nothing. Apart from reissues of his earlier singles, his most notable 1970s visibility came via the apparent nod to “Apache” embedded in Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s “From the Beginning.” Later compositions produced scant results, yet his catalog continued to attract covers through the 1970s and beyond from Link Wray, the Edgar Broughton Band, Hot Butter, Cilla Black, and the Incredible Bongo Band. Lordan died of acute renal failure in 1995 at age 61.
His decisive breakthrough as a composer came around the same period with the instrumental “Apache.” Bert Weedon recorded it first, though release was delayed, while Lordan toured with the Shadows, Cliff Richard’s backing quartet at the time. Dissatisfied with Weedon’s approach, Lordan played the piece on ukulele for bassist Jet Harris. The band, still seeking its first hit independent of Richard, responded by cutting the track. Issued in July 1960, the Shadows’ “Apache” ascended to number one in August and held the summit for five weeks. Danish guitarist Jorgen Ingmann subsequently took a version to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States; Ingmann’s recording became the familiar American hit, while the Shadows’ original endured in English oldies compilations. Lordan thereby established himself on both sides of the Atlantic, and the Shadows’ single earned Top Record of 1960 honors in the New Musical Express Readers’ Poll. Abandoning performance, he focused exclusively on songwriting thereafter, supplying the Shadows with the U.K. chart-topper “Wonderful Land,” the number-two single “Atlantis,” and the 1965 vocal hit “The Next Time I See Mary Ann.” Another number one arrived with “Diamonds,” recorded in 1963 by former Shadow Jet Harris alongside Tony Meehan, who also reached number two with Lordan’s “Scarlett O’Hara.” By then the Ventures had added his material to their American instrumental repertoire. Additional successes included Cliff Richard’s “A Girl Like You” and Louise Cordet’s “I’m Just a Baby.”
The 1960s constituted Lordan’s prime era; once the decade closed, so did most of his commercial fortunes. Hits ceased, and an acting appearance in the Harrison Marks sex comedy Come Play with Me yielded nothing. Apart from reissues of his earlier singles, his most notable 1970s visibility came via the apparent nod to “Apache” embedded in Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s “From the Beginning.” Later compositions produced scant results, yet his catalog continued to attract covers through the 1970s and beyond from Link Wray, the Edgar Broughton Band, Hot Butter, Cilla Black, and the Incredible Bongo Band. Lordan died of acute renal failure in 1995 at age 61.