Judie Tzuke History

Judie Myers was born in London on April 3rd of an English Mother and a Polish extract Father.

Her father's family had come to Britain from Poland in the 1920's and had originally settled in Yorkshire. They had changed their name from their original Polish name "Tzuke" to Myers because it was one of the more common names in Yorkshire at that time and they wanted to blend into the community where they had come to live.

Her father Sefton Myers, was a successful Park Lane based property developer, who also managed artists and singers. He co-managed and was responsible for supporting Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice while they wrote Jesus Christ Superstar but unfortunately he died a few weeks before the musical opened. He had also been Chief Barker of The Variety Club of Great Britain and was a very popular impresario.

Her mother Jean Silverside was an actress in films and popular TV series' such as The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin, The Marty Feldman show, The Goodies and various other TV plays.

After an education in the arts, music and drama, by the age of 15 Judie spent most of her time writing poems which she turned into songs and playing folk clubs, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar. She went to Island Records to try and get a record deal and after she'd played two songs was asked if she had any more. She replied that she had twenty, which she didn't, and they asked her to come back and record them the following week. She didn't return, but their interest made her realise that she could have a career in music.

Judie Tzuke

In 1975 she met Mike Paxman and together they started to write the songs that were to become her first releases. After making some demo tapes, they managed to get a record deal with David Bowie producer Tony Visconti's label Good Earth.

Judie, (hereafter spoken of as 'Jude') decided to change her name back to her original family's surname "Tzuke".
A single was released: "These are The Laws" which was recorded and produced by Tony Visconti and came out under the name of "Tzuke and Paxo". Whilst at Good Earth, Jude and Mike met Bob Noble and Paul Muggleton who were also on the label with their band "Omaha Sheriff".

In 1977 Jude went to see managing director David Croker at Elton John's label 'Rocket Records' as their motto was "a label for artists". She played them a few songs, one of which was "Stay With Me 'Till Dawn" and was immediately signed to the new label. Jude and Mike spent the next six months or so recording her first album 'Welcome To The Cruise' at Air Studios in London, with producer John Punter.

The first single was released in the summer of 1978, entitled 'For You' and was greeted with great critical acclaim and substantial air-play but only reached the top 40.

This was to all change with the release of the 'Welcome To The Cruise' album and the single 'Stay With Me 'Till Dawn'. The song stayed in the UK charts for 16 weeks, and she made three live appearances on Top of the Pops. The song became a firm favourite and is still played regularly on Radio in the U.K. It has appeared on dozens of compilation albums and regularly appears in lists of all time most popular songs.

As part of the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II's fifty year reign in June 2002, BBC Radio Two conducted a poll to determine the top fifty British songs of the past fifty years. "Stay With Me Till Dawn" was at No. 39.

Read the Golden Jubilee Best of British Top 50 here: http://www.bbc.co.uk