Search - David & Jonathan :: Very Best of

Two songwriting stars

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 01/14/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway first came together as members of the Kestrels, a group that also featured Tony Burrows. Given the subsequent careers of the three men, it is surprising that the Kestrels were a commercial failure. After that group broke up, Tony went on to sing with several groups including the Ivy League and Edison Lighthouse, but the other two focused initially on their songwriting. They wrote You've got your troubles, giving a copy to George Martin (of Beatles fame). He signed them to a recording deal but it was left to the Fortunes to have the hit with You've got your troubles.



David and Jonathan had two UK hits - a cover of Michelle (which made number eleven despite losing the head-on contest with the Overlanders, who topped the chart with their version of the song) and Lovers of the world unite, one of their own songs, which did better in the UK, peaking at number seven. In between those hits, they missed the charts completely with another Beatles cover (She's leaving home) and other singles. Their version of Michelle made the American top twenty.



With so little reward for their own efforts, they gave up recording and performing and reverted to songwriting, though Roger Cook enjoyed more success as a singer when he became a member of Blue Mink, in which he was co-lead singer.



This compilation, book-ended by their two Beatles covers, includes all the essentials including their own versions of songs they wrote for the Fortunes (You've got your troubles, This golden ring). As performers, David and Jonathan were only a minor part of the sixties music scene but as songwriters, they were much more successful."