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Richard Sarstedt was born in India, but returned with his parents to England while he was still a child. Although he formed a skiffle group with his younger brothers Peter and Robin his first recording was sponsored by Cadbury; 'Hot Chocolate Crazy'- an advertising jingle used on Radio Luxembourg. By this time he had created the name 'Eden Kane' for himself. This was thought more fashionable at the time than Sarstedt. The new name, allegedly inspired by the film 'Citizen Kane', had similar biblical connotations to that of the highly successful Adam Faith. His natural good looks enabled him to get a part in the 1960 film 'Drinks All Round', but then came the opportunity to record 'Well I Ask You' which was penned by UK songwriter, Les Vandyke. This proved to be a smash hit and was followed up with two more Vandyke songs, both of which reached the UK top ten. This was followed by a revamp of the old standard 'I Don't Know Why', some of which was spoken rather than sung. This also managed the chart's upper reaches, but then the string of hits halted despite a return to Vandyke with 'House To Let'. Even changing his recording company to Fontana did nothing to restore fortunes. However, after a gap of more than eighteen months, record buyers finally sent 'Boys Cry' to #8, a song more suited to his growling vocal style than some of his previous material. The song also met with great popularity in Australia which encouraged the singer to go and live there, though he also spent long periods in the UK and the USA. His two younger brothers also enjoyed individual chart success though unlike Eden they decided to retain the family name. Eden and his wife Charlene have now made their permanent home in Los Angeles. However, he still makes regular trips back to the UK for concert appearances. Eden's sister-in-law is 'Hart To Hart' TV star Stephanie Powers. |
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The EP illustrated here (Decca DFE6696) was Eden's first release on the format and- typical for the time- was just a coupling of both of his first two hits singles- including the B-sides. Nevertheless, this did not prevent Decca using the title "Eden Kane Hits" on his next EP release a few weeks later which then simply included Eden's first four hits! |
