Page 56 - Phonebox Magazine November 2010

Hey Jude
A review by Steve Clark
Judie Myers was born at The Middlesex Hospital in London on 3rd april 1956, the daughter of sefton Myers and Jean silverside. Judie’s paternal grandparents moved to yorkshire from Poland in the 1920’s and had changed their surname from Tzuke to Myers, a common name in yorkshire, to blend in with the local population. as well as being a successful property developer, sefton Myers tried his hand in the music business and was managing andrew Lloyd webber and Tim rice around the time of “Jesus Christ superstar”. Jean silverside was an actress and appeared in various films as well as programmes such as “The rise and Fall of reginald Perrin”, “The Marty Feldman show” and “The Goodies”. Given the pedigree of her parents, it is perhaps not too surprising that Judie would find her way into the entertainment business. as Judie began to emerge as a promising singer-songwriter she took the decision to revert her name back to that of her grandparents.
Judie Tzuke went on to get a record deal with elton John’s rocket records which resulted in three albums, “welcome to the Cruise”, “sports Car” and “i am the Phoenix”. Judie’s second single from the first album was to prove her biggest chart success. The beautiful and haunting “stay with Me Till dawn” spent 16 weeks in the charts in 1979 and earned Judie three live appearances on Top Of The Pops. some years later in June 2002 “stay with Me Till dawn” was voted by the British public as one of the best 50 songs of the period 1952-2002.
Over the following years Judie released a further 13 studio albums and four live recordings. recordings since 1996 have been released on Judie’s ‘Big Moon’ label. There were also a number of compilation albums. Judie toured consistently throughout most of the three decades, taking time out for the birth of her first daughter Bailey in 1987 and her second daughter Tallula in 1994. Judie has now released a new double Cd entitled “Moon on a Mirrorball” to mark the 30 years since she found herself in the pop charts. “Moon on a Mirrorball” is a collection of re-mastered tracks from 12 of her studio albums, two re-recorded tracks from earlier albums and four completely new tracks. in total there are 33 tracks on the double Cd, which is available at the incredibly modest price of £10 from Judie’s website.
Over the past few weeks Judie has been on tour to mark the release of the “Moon on a Mirrorball” collection. The tour started in Leatherhead on 29th september, followed by appearances in sheffield, worcester, Barnstaple, Bristol, London, Burgess Hill, Milton Keynes, Manchester, Basingstoke, Glasgow and edinburgh before a final date in Gateshead on 18th October. The Milton Keynes leg of the tour saw Judie paying a return visit to our wonderful theatre at The stables on saturday 9th October.
There really is something very special about The Stables as a venue an
main event.
Judie and Bailey Tzuke
The evening opened with a very interesting 25 inspirational as was Jonny on keyboards. The
minute performance from david saw. david is a only possible criticism was that Bailey and Tallula
with a band on outstanding form and an enthusiastic and appreciative au
singer-songwriter who has co-written a number were a little lost in the mix in a couple of the
very memorable event. Judie’s 90 minute set featured the new songs al
of songs with Judie. The first part of the set heavier numbers. all too soon Judie announced
featured sdealveicdtoion nacofursotimc gutihtaer. Hpirsesvoniogsuasrethretehadt tehceaedndeso.f Ithhe asevtewasseaepnproJaucdhineg.cTohue ntless ti
thoughtful and often humorous and it is worth penultimate number was to be “stay with Me Till
but this performance was one of the best yet. It was particularly lo
checking out his website or My space page to dawn”, the song that launched Judie’s career all
performing on stage with both of her daughters on backing vocals,
have a listen. Most of the material came from his those years ago.
enchanting “One Minute”. Various numbers gave individual members
current album “Broken down Figure”. For one
song david was joined on stage by Graham Judie advised the audience that she had tried to
chance to highlight their skills. Matthew on drums was particularly inspirat
Kearns (guitar) Jimmy sims (bass) and Matthew select the songs for the tour and retrospective
on keyboards. The only possible criticism was that Bailey and Tallula wer
racher (drums) for an astounding rendition of album by asking for nominations from Facebook
mix in a couple of the heavier numbers. All too soon Judie announced that
his new single, which has the amazingly subtle Friends. a number had suggested “sports Car”,
title of “wBuaysMayprpecroradc”.hdinavgid. qTuhipepedpenultimathtetintleutmracbkefrowmaJusditeo’s sbeceon“dSatlbauymwofith Me Till
that launched Judie’s career all those years ago.
“There’s a subliminal message in there” after 1980. This was an amazing finish to the set and
performing the song. i was particularly had the audience in raptures. impressed by Matt’s drumming style, which has
Judie advised the audience that she had tried to select the songs
to be seen to be believed! The inevitable encore saw Judie return to the retrospective album by asking sftoagre wniothmBainileaytaiondnTsallfurloa,mwithFthaececobmomoeknt Friend
after a brief change-around on stage the “Here’s two i made earlier”! The three sang “For
suggested “Sports Car”, the title track from Judie’s second album of 1
audience was treated to a wonderful you” a Capella. The stunning and faultless amazing finish to the set and had the audience in raptures.
performance from Bailey Tzuke. as Bailey walked on stage to join her band my mind was transported back to the day when i first saw Judie perform live. The line-up of Bailey’s band was Matt racher on drums, Jonny dyke on keyboards, Graham Kearns on lead guitar, david Klinke on guitar, Jimmy sims on bass and Tallula Tzuke on backing vocals. Bailey’s first single “strong” is available to buy from iTunes and you can also hear it on her My space page. at the end of Bailey’s set there was a short interval, as the capacity audience prepared for the main event.
There really is something very special about The stables as a venue and the combination with a band on outstanding form and an enthusiastic and appreciative audience made for a very memorable event. Judie’s 90 minute set featured the new songs along with a whole selection from the previous three decades. i have seen Judie countless times over the years, but this performance was one of the best yet. it was particularly lovely to see Judie performing on stage with both of her daughters on backing vocals, especially on the enchanting “One Minute”. Various numbers gave individual members of the band the chance to highlight their skills. Matthew on drums was particularly
rendition of this beautiful song was literally spine-tingling, and many members of the audience later admitted to having tears in their eyes as well. a second encore saw Judie and Bailey joined on stage by Jonny dykes on keyboards for another stunning song “if (when you Go)”, one of the new tracks recently written. Tallula and the rest of the band returned for the final encore “The Choices you’ve Made”. This is apparently one of Bailey’s favourite songs, so she took the lead vocal with mother and sister on backing. what an end to a wonderful evening. i can only hope that it will not be too long before Judie and friends will be touring again.
Links:
email: stephen.clark89@yahoo.co.uk website: http://tinyurl.com/km9hdd
steve on Facebook: http://facebook.com/tiliacus
The stables: http://stables.org
Judie Tzuke: http://tzuke.com and http://myspace.com/tzuke
Bailey Tzuke: http://baileytzuke.com and http://myspace.com/baileytzuke
david saw: http://davidsawmusic.com and http://myspace.com/davidsaw
56 Phonebox Magazine
d d
o m
i e
f s