Michael Julien

Michael Julien (aka Peter Warne) is a British songwriter, who is the co-writer of a number of hit songs across the world. He co-wrote the winning song at the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest and has been presented with an Ivor Novello Award for songwriting.

Early career

During his early years, Michael Julien wrote a song for Norman Wisdom's album "Heart of a Clown" called "Impossible" in 1954. Julien's first major hit came with "Kiss Me, Honey Honey, Kiss Me" sung by (Shirley Bassey)^[1] in 1958. It proved a great success, peaking in the charts at number three, and staying in the charts for an impressive 17 weeks.^[2]After this, Michael Julien composed songs for films, including in 1960 Jazz Boat.^[3][4] During the sixties, he continued to write songs for established artists such as David Hughes for whom he wrote "Teach me (how to love him)". Julien wrote the English lyrics to Cliff Richard's adaptation of "L'Edera (song)", translating as "Constantly". It was a global hit, reaching the top ten in six countries.^[5] Julien's first major hit in the United States came with what is today a wartime classic. He wrote the title and lyrics of "Let's Live for Today", recorded by The Grass Roots in 1967.^[6] It was originally recorded a year earlier by The Rokes. This song was voted by troops in the Vietnam war as their favourite song, and is now a pop standard in the US.^[7]

Eurovision success

After his success in the United States and with Shirley Bassey, Julien wrote the English lyrics for the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest winning song "La, la, la". Although it was the Spanish version that had the most success, Julien's version reached number seventeen in the Rhodesian charts.^[8] The next year, Julien was invited to write the lyrics for a song for the BBC's national selection process for the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest. His song, "Boom Bang-a-Bang" won the televised competition, and represented the United Kingdom in Madrid. The song placed joint first, with a total of 18 points. It went on to be a hit, peaking at number two in the charts in the UK, in which it remained for 13 weeks.^[9] The song also had success in Europe and Australia, in its foreign language versions.

Later works

Following Eurovision, Julien co-wrote "Love is a Gamble" with Alan Moorhouse, sung by "Jackie Lee", marking her debut with her record label Pye Records.^[10] In more recent years, he has composed many other songs that have been recorded by American artists.

More recently, in 2015 Julien did a number of other works. In April, for the first time Michael released a song as the artist. The track, entitled You're so Loveable, was released worldwide on iTunes and other major distributors.^[11] He did a one-off concert at The Pheasantry, Chelsea to showcase his songs, in association with Test of Time Productions. The show featured Rhiannon Drake and Richard Beavis, amongst others. On 1 October, he appeared on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show talking about his career and all things Eurovision. ^[12]

Awards and accolades

References

External links

• Chartwatch.co.uk