Kenny Lynch Biography

Kenny Lynch was born Kenneth Lynch, on March 18, 1938, in Stepney, East London, England. He was of mixed descent. While his father had moved to the U.S. from Barbados in the late 1890s, his mother had both Irish and Jamaican roots. Kenny’s father worked in the merchant navy.

Kenny was also known by his nickname, “Kipper.” He was one of the 13 (or 11, according to some sources) children in the family. One of his sisters, Gladys, grew up to become a jazz singer, with the stage name “Maxine Daniels.”

Kenny grew up amid the Second World War, as the war began just 18 months after he was born. He quit school at the tender age of 15 and began working soon after.

After quitting school, Kenny Lynch worked several odd jobs. He was part of the national service in the Royal Army Service Corps. He also became the regimental featherweight boxing champion.

In the 1960s, he participated in various variety shows, while gearing up to launch his singing career. In 1962, Kenny participated in A Song for Europe Contest, with the track There's Never Been A Girl. However, he was not chosen to represent the U.K. at the Eurovision Song Contest.

In 1963, he suddenly shot to fame with his tracks Up on the Roof (January 1963) and You Can Never Stop Me Loving You (August 1963). Both of these tracks were featured on the U.K. Top Ten charts.

The same year, he released the cover version of the Beatles song Misery. It was the first Beatles cover to be released in history. The song had been written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney in January 1963, with Helen Shapiro in mind.

However, Shapiro’s record producer had rejected the song. Thus, Kenny, who had accompanied The Beatles on the band’s first U.K. tour, released an overtly pop version of the song later.

The Beatles version of the track was featured in their first album, Please Please Me. In 1973, Kenny was featured on the cover of the of the album Band on the Run by Paul McCartney's band Wings.

In the mid-1960s, Kenny set up a record shop named the Kenny Lynch Record Centre, located in Walker's Court, Soho. Kenny wrote songs such as the U.K. no. 3 hit track Sha-La-La-La-Lee for the rock band Small Faces and the U.K. no. 5 hit track Love's Just A Broken Heart for Cilla Black. Kenny also wrote the songs You'd Better Believe It and Sorry She's Mine for the Small Faces.

In 1978, he wrote the song Don't Bother to Knock for the band Midnight. The same year, Kenny also wrote Love Crazy, the Carry on Emmannuelle (a 1978 British comedy movie) theme song, and You Can't Fight It, the theme for the 1976 John Carpenter action movie Assault on Precinct 13.

Kenny Lynch�wrote most of his songs by himself, but some of his songs were originally written by songwriters of the Brill Building of New York. Most of his songs were released under the labels HMV and Satril Records.

Kenny was in charge of the production for Hylda Baker and Arthur Mullard's version of You're the One That I Want. The track was featured at the 22nd spot on the U.K. Singles Chart in 1978. In the early 1980s, Kenny teamed up with former tennis player and political activist Buster Mottram to write songs.

Kenny also appeared on many TV shows, such as Celebrity Squares, Room at the Bottom (as Horace Robinson, 1967), Mooncat & Co., Curry & Chips (1969), and Bullseye. He had also been part of series such as Z Cars (as Ted Holmes, 1968), Till Death Us Do Part (1972), The Sweeney (1976), and Treasure Hunt.

In 1982, Kenny completed the London Marathon. He also participated in quite a few charity football matches. Kenny was also part of the Celebrity Cricket fundraisers of Michael Parkinson.

In 2018, Kenny toured across the U.K. with Jimmy Tarbuck and Anita Harris. The same year, he appeared on the ITV show Last Laugh in Vegas.

Kenny Lynch�had also been part of many films, one of the most recent being the 2007 thriller The Riddle. Kenny had also appeared in the movies Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965), The Alf Garnett Saga (1972), and Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair (1979).

In the Queen's New Year Honours List in 1970, Kenny Lynch was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), for his contribution to entertainment.

Kenny Lynch was never married. However, he had two daughters, Amy Karen and Bobby Chelsea. In 2018, Amy was featured as one of the judges on the BBC talent show All Together Now.

On December 18, 2019, Kenny died of prostate cancer, in the U.K. He was 81 at the time of his death. Kenny’s daughters shared the news of his death with his fans through his Twitter page. They also posted a few pictures of themselves with their father.