(Kenny Lynch - Bob Wackett)
New Zealand
#2 New Zealand
Single on His Master’s Voice by popular New Zealand singer and TV star, real name Bogdan Kominowski (b.1945). He charted highly in NZ: they went 1, 1, 2, 1, 5, 6. Opportunity and Thanks To You charted #1 three months apart in 1967, and in 1968 Why Or Where Or When made #1.
Mr Lee Grant became a pop superstar in New Zealand largely through his residency on the TV show C’mon 67. In 1968 he went to the UK, where he recorded some singles as Lee Grant (and one under his real name), but he eventually concentrated on acting. As Bogdan Kominowski he has been seen on stage (Phantom of the Opera), on TV (he had a continuing role in Brushstrokes) and in films (A View to Kill, Jack Ryan:Shadow Recruit): see his filmography at IMDb.
Further reading: 1. Mr Lee Grant page at Bruce Sergent’s NZ Music site. 2. AudioCulture’s page on Mr Lee Grant is packed with scans and photos. 3. “Mr Lee Grant’s Opportunity to Wed”.The New Zealand Herald, 26 May 2013 (spotted by Terry Stacey).
(Kenny Lynch - Bob Wackett)
UK
Original version
Single on His Master’s Voice September 1967 by singer-songwriter from Stepney in London.
Kenny Lynch (1938-2019) charted in Britain with versions of US hits such as Mountain Of Love (1960, #33 UK, originally by Harold Dorman), Up On The Roof (1962, #10, The Drifters), and Stand By Me (1963, #39, Ben E. King).
After touring with The Beatles in 1963 he recorded their new song Misery, released just before their own version appeared on Please Please Me and notable for being the first Beatles composition released by a non-Beatle.
Lynch’s own career as a songwriter has some remarkable highlights, with songs recorded by such top names as Dusty Springfield, The Drifters and Cilla Black. Movin’ Away was written his frequent collaborator the drummer Bob Wackett.
With the major American songwriter Mort Shuman he wrote The Small Faces’ Sha La La La Lee (1966, #3 UK), as well as two songs on their first album, one of them written with another notable American, Jerry Ragavoy.
Johnny Tillotson’s You Can Never Stop Me Loving Me (1963, #18 USA), is a cover version of a Kenny Lynch record that had charted at #10 in the UK a couple of months earlier (written by Ian Samwell & Jean Slater).
Further reading: Biography and other content at KenBootheMusic.com.
(Kenny Lynch - Bob Wackett) UK
Later version
Single on Studio 1 July 1968.
Ska/rocksteady singer Ken Boothe (b. 1948) had a number of hits in Jamaica in the 60s, mainly on the Studio One label, before recording in the UK for Trojan. He had a #1 UK hit on Trojan with his version of Bread’s Everything I Own (1974).
See Steve Huey’s biography of ‘Jamaica’s answer to Wilson Pickett’ at All Music.
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Website by Lyn Nuttall. © Lyn Nuttall 2004-2026. Chart positions courtesy of Gavin Ryan’s Australian Chart Books and Dean Scapolo’s Complete NZ Music Charts. Special thanks to Terry Stacey for information, corrections and suggestions. Thanks also to Tony Watson, Philippe Edouard, Dave Overett.., More…