Peter Sarstedt

Peter Sarstedt Biography

Peter Eardley Sarstedt (10 December 1941 - 8 January 2017), briefly billed early in his career as Peter Lincoln, was an English singer, instrumentalist and award-winning songwriter. He was the brother of musicians Eden Kane and Clive "Robin" Sarstedt.

Although his music was classified as pop, it generally encompassed ballads derived from traditional folk music rather than traditional rock and roll. He was best known for writing and performing the single "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?", set to a European style faux-waltz tune, which topped the UK Singles Chart in 1969 and won the Ivor Novello Award along with "Space Oddity" by David Bowie. Sarstedt remained a one-hit wonder, despite having released numerous successful albums and singles beginning from the late 1960s and releasing two singles a year from 1967 until 1987, with the popular track "Frozen Orange Juice" and the novelty song "Take off Your Clothes" entering the top ten.

He continued to tour throughout the 80s, 90s and 2000s, mainly in 1960s revival-type shows, until his retirement in 2010 due to ill health.

Early life

Sarstedt was born in Delhi, India, in what was then part of the British Raj, in 1941, where his parents were civil servants in the British administration. Both of his parents had trained as classical musicians. Sarstedt attended Victoria Boys' School in Kurseong in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal, where his parents worked in a tea plantation. His family returned to the UK in 1954, settling in south London just before the rock 'n' roll boom, and the Sarstedt brothers started out performing skiffle music.

Sarstedt was a younger brother of the 1960s pop star Eden Kane, for whom he briefly played bass, and an elder brother of pop singer Clive Sarstedt.

Career

Sarstedt was best known for his 1969 UK number-one single, released on the United Artists label, "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?", a portrait of a poor-born girl who becomes a member of the European jet-set. The song topped the chart in 14 countries. It was also awarded the 1970 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. Other Sarstedt songs include "Beirut", "Take Off Your Clothes", "I Am a Cathedral" and "Frozen Orange Juice" (UK No. 10 in 1969).

In the 1980s and 1990s, Sarstedt frequently toured the southern UK as part of the "Solid Silver '60s" package tours, having returned to England after several years residing in Denmark. In the 1990s and 2000s, he continued to release new albums and tour. In 1997 he released the album England's Lane and in 2007 an album of new material called On Song. He sang harmonies on "Don't Think Twice" and "Last Thing on My Mind" on Canadian singer Peter Thompson's 2007 album, Taking a Dive (Heart First).

New interest was sparked in his music after "Where Do You Go To" was used in the 2007 Wes Anderson films Hotel Chevalier and The Darjeeling Limited. In 2012, a compilation of songs called Highlights - the Demos was released.

Sarstedt's final album, released in 2013, was entitled Restless Heart. It was produced by Ray Singer and the single and accompanying video clip "Valentine" was released on Singer Records and distributed by Proper/Finetunes. Sarstedt last performed live in 2010.

Personal life and death

Sarstedt was married to Jill Wall. From 2013 he lived in a retirement home in Sussex, England. He had progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), diagnosed in 2015 but originally diagnosed as dementia in 2013. He died on 8 January 2017 at the age of 75.

Siblings

Sarstedt's brothers are:

"Rick" Sarstedt (born Richard Graham Sarstedt, 29 March 1940, in New Delhi, India) who also topped the UK Singles Chart himself in 1961, with "Well I Ask You", under the stage name Eden Kane.
Robin Sarstedt (born Clive Robin Sarstedt, 21 January 1944, in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India), the youngest brother, who made his recording debut as "Wes Sands" (recorded by Joe Meek), and then continued as "Clive Sands". He had a hit in 1976 (as "Robin Sarstedt") with the Hoagy Carmichael cover "My Resistance Is Low".

Discography

Singles

"In the Days of My Youth" / "My Monkey Is A Junkie" (Major Minor MM520, 1967) as "Peter Lincoln"
"I Must Go On" / "Mary Jane" (Island WIP-6028, 1/1968)
"I Am a Cathedral" / "Blagged" (1968)
"Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?" / "Morning Mountain" (UK No. 1, US No. 70) (United Artists, 1969)
"Frozen Orange Juice" / "Arethusa Loser" (UK No. 10, US No. 116) (1969)
"As Though It Were a Movie" / "Take Off Your Clothes" (1969)
"Without Darkness" / "Step into the Candlelight" (1970)
"You're a Lady" / "Useless" (1971)
"Every Word You Say" (1975)
"Tall Tree" / "Mellowed Out" (1975)
"Beirut" / "Hollywood Sign" (1978)
"You'll Never Be Alone Again" / "Waitress in the Whiskey" (1978)
"Mulberry Dawn" / "I Am No Longer" (1979)
"The Far Pavilions" / "Juli's Theme" (1979)
"English Girls" / "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)" / "Frozen Orange Juice" (1981)
"Love Among the Ruins" / "Don Quixote" (1982)
"Other People's Lives" / "You'll Never Be Alone Again" (1984)
"Hemingway" / "Don Quixote" (1986)
"Suzanne" / "Stress" (1987)

Albums

Sarstedt issued 15 albums in his 50-year-long career.

Peter Sarstedt (UK #8) (1969)
As Though It Were a Movie (1969)
Every Word You Say Is Written Down (1971)
Another Day Passes By (1971) (credited to Richard Sarstedt)
Worlds Apart Together (1973) (credited to "The Sarstedt Brothers")
Tall Tree (1975)
Ps... (1979)
Up Date (1981)
Colors: Asia Minor (1986) (credited to Peter and Clive Sarstedt)
Never Say Goodbye (1987)
England's Lane (1997)
Singer/Songwriter (2004)
On Song (2006) (credited to Peter Sarstedt with Clive Sarstedt on guitar)
The Lost Album (2008)
Restless Heart (2013)