I cut my first record for EMI at the Abbey Road Studios, London, in 1959, 4 years before the Beatles burst on the scene; after which, nothing was the same again. Although I was a contemporary of JohnPaulGeorgeRingo, my musical influences were very different. I grew up listening to Frank Sinatra and Mel Torme, et al, and singing the music of Gershwin and Rogers and Hart and Cole Porter. As a child performer from the age of 8, I would belt out these great songs and imagine myself at the Royal Albert Hall, or Carnegie Hall in New York, backed by my orchestra led by Johnny Dankworth or Marty Paiche, while the audience roared their approval and I modestly accepted encore after encore.
Of coure, it didn't quite work out that way. As a recording artist I was forced to make cover records of American hits like Bryan Hyland's Ginny Come Lately; songs that I found to be peurile and stupid. However, I was very popular on the night club circuit and I travelled all over England, Ireland and Europe singing the music that I loved. That was pre-Beatles. Post-Beatles found me a has-been at the age of 19: my record company dropped me, and the night clubs were slowly closing. However, as fortune would have it, I was discovered all over again singing in a night club in Newcastle of all places and signed by one of the biggest talent agencies in England, Frasier & Dunlop. This got me an American agent and I ended riding the crest of the British invasion that was sweeping the States at the time. So, in 1965 I was brought over to New York to appear as a regular on the Merv Griffin show, which led to co-starring roles on TV, including a Hallmark Hall of Fame, co-starring opposite Roddy McDowall , and an ABC Stage 67 with the late Rick Nelson. I also cut an album for MGM on which I got to sing one of my own songs.
In the early seventies I found myself tired of the grind of performing and, to quote Garbo, "making faces." I had always composed and written songs since I first learned to play piano; but in the secret recesses of my soul I harbored the unspoken desire to write a Musical. These days that might not seem to be such a grand passion, seeing as anyone can knock off a musical when the whim takes them. But that's a discussion for another day. I spent a few years writing my first musical (working in the day, writing at night) until, benefitting from beginner's luck, it opened in Los Angeles, where it was a hit. A producer at 20th Century picked it up and took it all the way to New York, where it died, was put to rest in an unmarked grave and forgotten for many years.
It was after the death of the dream, that I went into a self-imposed exile for a long, long time. But the creative urge never deserted me; I didn't stop writing and composing, I just did it for myself. Then, quite unexpectedly, I was pulled back into the light by an angel named Toni, who heard me sing one of my songs at a musical workshop run by Betty Garret at Theatre West in Los Angeles. She tapped me on the shoulder, I turned around and . . . well, in the movie version, the world heaved a sigh and the angels sang. In reality, I thanked her politely and she rushed off into the night and I thought no more about it. But fate had other ideas and over the ensuing weeks we kept running into each other. So, surrending to propinquity, we made plans to meet for coffee, which was the beginning of our love affair.
Toni and I have been married for over 18 years and have written books and musicals and taught children and adults and raised cats and stood fast against the changing times and the death of virtue. And now, we are proud to announce the availability of a special collectors CD of Toni's favorite love songs (all inspired by her of course). The CD is available on our website: http://www.handsdownprod.com/. And will soon be on sale at iTunes and Amazon.com. If you would like to for us to send you updates, please email us at: tonidowns@handsdownprod.com.
-- Stephen Downs --
