LOU CHRISTIE
Lou Christie (born Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco; February 19, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter best known for three separate strings of pop hits in the 1960s, including his 1966 hit, “Lightnin’ Strikes”, and his three-octave vocal range. (More from Wikipedia)
Picking up on the discussion from last month, you would think that picking a name for your band (or yourself) would be a most personal choice. Sometimes though, an artist doesn’t have a choice – and I am not just talking about a birth name. Lou Christie had hit after hit beginning in the early 1960’s and continuing through the early years of the British Invasion; I just loved his muscular falsetto. Actually his real name is Lugee Sacco.
When his first single “The Gypsy Cried” was released on the tiny C&C Records label, the artist was shown as “Lou Christie” without his knowledge or permission. He has been quoted as saying: “I was pissed off about it for 20 years. I wanted to keep my name and be a one-named performer, just ‘Lugee’.”
Additionally, Lou Christie wrote most of his own hit songs, along with his songwriting partner Twyla Herbert (and that is quite a story in itself: She was 20 years older than Christie and a classically trained musician who was also a self-proclaimed mystic). As such, he is one of the first singer-songwriters in popular music, a fact that John Lennon has remarked on, among others.
The preceding two paragraphs come from an article which I wrote on Milan that is set to appear (in abridged form) in the Fall/Winter 2012 issue of Ugly Things magazine. Milan is among the most enigmatic figures in 1960’s rock music; he recorded under a number of other names and also wrote and produced songs for a number of obscure bands. Along the way he worked with several well-known figures in popular music; for instance, he was the songwriter for “How Many Teardrops”, Lou Christie’s follow-up single to his second hit, “Two Faces Have I”.
(September 2012)
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Items: Lou Christie
