Ray Pilgrim


Ray Pilgrim, also known as Bobby Stevens, 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. In later releases he used the names The Typhoons, The Starlings, The Jaybirds and the Beatmen. He was the lead vocalist in the Typhoons alongside Mike Redway, and the lead vocalist 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, in order 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 a 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, wrote a 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" was a successful hit for Dick Jordan, Burt Blanca and Danny Fisher, "Just One More Dance" was recorded by Lee Curtis, and "Big Boy"—which was an 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. However, he briefly came out of "retirement" to record his last session in April 1966, singing the theme song for the film Carry On Screaming!.

Discography

Compositions

  • 1960: "Little Christine"
  • 1960: "Big Boy"
  • 1960: "Tell me No Lies"
  • 1960: "Baby Doll"
  • 1961: "Little Miss Make Believe"
  • 1961: "Love Is Blind"
  • 1961: "Bobby Bingo"
  • 1963: "Just One More Dance"

    Singles

;1960
  • "Fall in Love with You" / "Wild One"
  • "Clementine" / "Stuck on You"
  • "Cradle of Love" / "Heart of a Teenage Girl"
  • "Baby Doll" / "Gambler's Guitar"
  • "Shakin' All Over" / "Angela Jones"
  • "Tie Me Kangaroo Down" / "A Mess of Blues"
  • "I Love You" / "Strawberry Fair"
  • "Lively" / "Lonely Pup"
;1961
  • "Counting Teardrops" / "Sway"
  • "Rubber Ball" / "You're Sixteen"
  • On album Back to the Twenties:
  • *"That's my Weakness Now"
  • *"Here Am I, Broken Hearted"
  • *"If I Had a Talking Picture"
  • *"When the Red Red Robin"
  • "Who Am I?" / "Wooden Heart"
  • "Are You Sure?"
  • "Granada" / "Little Miss Make Believe"
  • "Love Is Blind"
  • Blue Moon" / "Warpaint"
  • "More Than I Can Say" / "Hello Mary Lou"
  • "Mother-in-Law" / "But I Do"
  • "Halfway to Paradise" / "A Girl Like You"
  • "Johnny Remember Me" / "Time"
  • "That's My Home"
  • "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" / "Who Put the Bomp "
  • "His Latest Flame" / "Big Bad John"
  • "Take Good Care of My Baby"
;1962
  • "Multiplication" / "The Young Ones"
  • "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" / "The Language of Love"
  • "Red Red Roses" / "There's Always Me"
  • "Forget-Me-Not" / "Lonesome"
  • "Peppermint Twist" / "Crying in the Rain"
  • "Wimoweh" / "Can't Help Falling in Love"
  • "Never Goodbye"
  • "Good Luck Charm" / "I'm Looking out the Window"
  • "Come Outside" / "Ginny Come Lately"
  • "I Remember You" / Follow That Dream"
  • "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" / Sealed with a Kiss"
  • "Lovesick Blues" / "Let's Dance"
  • "No One Can Make My Sunshine Smile"
  • "Return to Sender" / "It Only Took a Minute"
  • "Baby Take a Bow" / "Bachelor Boy"
;1963:
  • "Please, Please Me"
  • "Some Kinda Fun" / "Walk Right In"
  • "Charmaine" / "Rhythm of the Rain"
  • "Walk Like a Man"
  • "How Do You Do It"
  • "Can't Get Used to Losing You"
  • "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" / "From Me to You"
  • "I Like It" / "Falling"
  • "Confessin' "
  • "Forget Him"
  • "Twist and Shout" / "Bobby Tomorrow"
  • "I'm Telling You Now"
  • "Do You Love Me" / "If I Had a Hammer"
  • "Wishing"
  • "Mule Train"
  • "You'll Never Walk Alone" / "Ain't Gonna Kiss Ya"
  • "You Were Made for Me" / "Sue's Gotta Be Mine"
  • "This Boy" / "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
  • "I Can Dance" / "Swinging on a Star"
;1964:
  • "Hippy Hippy Shake"
  • "Needles and Pins" / "Stay"
  • "Don't Blame Me"
  • "5-4-3-2-1" / "I'm in Love"
  • "Bits and Pieces" / "Candy Man"
  • "All My Loving"
  • "Borne on the Wind"
  • "Over You" / "Not Fade Away"
  • "Tell Me When" / "You Can't Do That"
  • "Can't Buy Me Love"
  • "Baby Let Me Take You Home"
  • "Hold Me" / "You're No Good"
  • A Hard Day's Night
  • *"A Hard Day's Night"
  • *"And I Love Her"
  • *"I Should Have Known Better"
  • *"Tell Me Why"
  • "Kissin' Cousins"
  • "Tobacco Road" / "Do Wah Diddy Diddy"
  • "Have I the Right" / "Such a Night"
  • "Together" / "I'm Crying"
  • "Sha-la-la" / One Way Love"
  • "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um" / "He's in Town"
  • "Somewhere" / Yeh, Yeh"
;1965:
  • "I Apologize"
  • "The Game of Love"
  • "It's Not Unusual" / "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"
  • "Tossing & Turning" / "Heart Full of Soul"
  • "Wooly Bully" / "Help!"
;2010:
  • "The Long and Winding Road" / "In My Life"

    In compilations

  • 1961: Best of the Bunch
  • 1961: Tribute to Elvis
  • 1961: Tribute to Cliff
  • 1962: Twist
  • 1962: Summer Holiday
  • 1962: Jukebox Favourites No. 4
  • 1962: Jukebox Favourites
  • 1963: Jukebox Favourites No. 6
  • 1963: Liverpool Beat Compilation
  • 1963: Jukebox Favourites No. 7
  • 1963: Teenage Beat
  • 1963: Jukebox Favourites
  • 1963: Best of the Bunch
  • 1964: Jukebox Favourites No. 8
  • 1964: Liverpool Beat
  • 1964: 3 Big Beat Films
  • 1964: ''Fourteen Top Pops''

    In backing vocals

  • 1964: Group 64 :
  • *"Hard Day's Night"
  • *"Needles and Pins"
  • *"It's All Over Now"
  • *"She Loves You"
  • *"I'll Cry Instead"