Bobby Cookson - I Could Have Loved You So Well (1963)

(Barry Mann - Gerry Goffin)
 Australia
#14 Melbourne

Single on Astor by Melbourne singer and guitarist Bobby Cookson.

Cookson was vocalist with The Premiers before going solo on Astor but the band still backed him in the studio and were named on four of his nine singles 1961-65. He charted four times:
• Flutter Flutter (1961, #20 Melbourne, #46 Australia)
• Timber (1962, #29 Melbourne, #68 Australia, covering a 1960 single by Curtis Carrington)
• I Could Have Loved You So Well (1963, #14 Melbourne, #44 Australia, with The Premiers)
• Rona (1963, #28 Melbourne, #57 Australia, with The Premiers, written by band member Lee Conway, later a successful country artist).

His last single was on the new Go!! label, Funny Man (1965), the song that was later a hit in Australia for Ross D. Wyllie.

The Premiers also recorded under their own name (Mary Had A Little Lamb, 1963, #37 Melbourne) and backed Betty McQuade, although not at the time of Midnight Bus.

Cookson possessed a powerful, Roy Orbison-style voice that made him a powerful attraction

Ian McFarlane

References: 1. Ian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop. 2. Spencer et al, Who’s Who of Australian Rock.
Further reading: 1. Notes on a 2004 Premiers reunion (without Bobby Cookson) at the Peter Doyle website.
Suggestion from Bruce R. Gillespie.