Twinkle

Our pick of the pops

Twinkle’s time under the, er, golden lights was all too brief, but the blonde singer-songwriter left an indelible mark on British 1960s pop.

She was born Lynn Ripley on 15 July 1948. Twinkle was a family nickname that she later adopted professionally. By the age of 14 she was singing alongside the group the Trekkers at various London venues and had begun writing her own songs.

Her elder sister Dawn was a music journalist and, through her, Twinkle was introduced to many of the pop stars of the day, including Dec Clusky of the Bachelors.

Clusky helped her land a recording deal, after Twinkle’s father gave him a demo tape over dinner at the Ripley family’s Surrey mansion one evening. On it was Twinkle singing the self-penned Terry, an elegy to a biker killed in a road accident.

Clusky gave the tape to his manager who called Twinkle and asked her to record it. The song shot to number four in the UK charts in December 1964, helped by a BBC ban due to its controversial lyrics. Her bratty vocals suited the song perfectly and the so-called ‘death disc’ is regarded as something of a classic.

(It also proved ripe for cover versions, with Germany’s Marion Litterscheid , Italy’s Le Amiche and Spain’s Karina all recording versions in their

native tongues.)

The follow up, Golden lights, released in

February 1965, was another composition by

the diminutive blonde. Written after a trip to

the English coastal resort of Blackpool to see

the Bachelors play, it told the tale of a girl who

lost her boyfriend after he found fame. It

reached number 21 in the UK charts.

For her next single, like many other European

singers, she released a cover of France Gall’s

excellent 1965 Eurovision song contest winner

for Luxembourg, Poupée de cire, poupée de

son. With new English lyrics, A lonely signing

doll was released in May 1965. It failed to chart

at the time but has since gone on to become

regarded as one of her best recordings.

She appeared at NME magazine’s poll winners’ party that year, after getting her fan club secretary to rig the poll by sending in hundreds of votes for her.

Tommy, a cover of a song by American girl group Reparata and the Delrons became her fourth release, but like subsequent singles Poor old Johnny and The end of the world (a cover of the Skeeter Davis hit), it failed to chart.

A lonely singing doll

1965

What am I doing here with you

1966

Terry

1964

Twinkle on YouTube

Micky

1969

Tommy 

1965

Golden lights

1965

Tommy 

(German)

1965

Twinkle also released a version of Tommy in German, but without success.

Even the magnificent 1966 UK single What am I doing here with you – a kind of British 24 hours from Tulsa – couldn’t end her run of flops. Later that year, Twinkle officially retired from pop.

She carried on writing, however, and in 1969, after a chance meeting with former Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, she released Micky on his independent Immediate label, home to the likes of PP Arnold and Vashti. The song looked set to become a hit – until the record label folded within a week of the single’s release.

Twinkle went on to become a TV theme and jingle writer in the 1970s and made several further recordings of her own, none of which was successful.

Cover cuts

Buy online now

Twinkle 

Golden lights CD

Amazon.co.uk